2nd edition of the Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice

Please join us in celebrating the publication of the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. This booksigning event will take place on October 9th at 4pm in the Trustee Room at Teachers College.
To learn more, click here.

See the contents list here.

Kathryn Crawford
International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution
525 West 120th Street, Box 53
New York, NY 10027
www.tc.edu/icccr
crawford@tc.edu
Ph: 212.678.3402
Fax: 212.678.3784

New Book: La Dignité par Bernard Doray

Ce livre est celui d’un mot, « dignité », qui court aujourd’hui le monde, et qui est pris ici dans sa signification majeure : les lieux du psychisme et de la culture par où les femmes et les hommes affirment leur appartenance au monde humain.

L’auteur est psychiatre, psychanalyste, et anthropologue de formation. Son travail résume de nombreuses années de réflexions théoriques nourries d’engagements de terrain exigeants.

On questionne l’histoire du concept de dignité en Occident. Des figures se détachent : Pic de la Mirandole, Rousseau, Kant, Marx. Ces grandes pensées sont mises en regard de questions contemporaines : la psychiatrie, la bioéthique, l’aspiration à une économie postcapitaliste de la valeur-dignité.

On interroge également la discrétion du concept de dignité chez Freud à partir d’une hypothèse biographique originale.

Les sciences sociales sont convoquées autour des dossiers de la pauvreté et de la dissidence. Du juge chilien Juan Guzmán à Henri Alleg, du sous-commandant Marcos au professeur biélorusse Bandazhevsky, une quinzaine de porteurs de dignité viennent enrichir cet ouvrage, le plus souvent à partir d’entretiens originaux.

Ce travail n’a pas de précédent. Il ouvre un ensemble de perspectives nouvelles: dans les champs des projets politiques, de la thérapeutique, de l’analyse du travail et de l’économie. Il propose un chemin vers un humanisme
de notre époque.

La Dignité
Bernard Doray
LA DISPUTE
éditeurs
109, rue Orfi la
75020 Paris
01 43 61 99 84
la.dispute@wanadoo.fr
Diff usion et distribution
en France : CDE-Sodis
Diff usion en Belgique, au Canada et
en Suisse : Gallimard export
416 pages, 26 €
Code Sodis : 973451.3
ISBN : 2-84303-130-3
en libraire, le 21 septembre 2006

Sommaire
Présentation
Première partie. Le terrain et le concept dans ses oeuvres
Chapitre premier. Chiapas : Le miroir de la dignité
Chapitre II. L’Occident et le concept de dignité
Chapitre III. Le monde humain : fondements matériels du pacte éthique
Chapitre IV. Jean-Jacques Rousseau et le métier d’homme
Chapitre V. Citoyenneté et folie
Chapitre VI. Kant : le sublime devoir
Chapitre VII. Droit et bioéthique
Chapitre VIII. Marx et la névrose de marchandisation
Chapitre IX. Un événement éthique dans la vie des Freud
Deuxième partie. Pratiques de la société,
sciences de la société
Chapitre X. Les trois Ivryens
Chapitre XI. Les sciences sociales en question
Chapitre XII. Des dissidences
Chapitre XIII. Le juge Juan Guzmán
Troisième partie. Porteurs de dignité
Chapitre XIV. Créateurs
Chapitre XV. Henri Alleg, ou la dignité
Chapitre XVI. Amérique Latine : la bravoure des femmes
Perspectives
ÉPILOGUE

Global Covenant: The Social Democratic Alternative to the Washington Consensus
By
David Held, London School of Economics and Political Science
Polity Press, 2004

Description:

In this pathbreaking book, one of the world’s leading analysts of globalization and global governance confronts the failures of international politics in the aftermath of 9/11 and the war against Iraq. He argues that there were and are alternatives to the way the western coalitions responded to the profound challenges of mass terrorism and political violence - alternatives which can better address the roots of these challenges and deliver political and social justice.

In order to grasp this alternative, the changing structure of the global order has to be understood. To this end, the book is divided into three sections: economics, politics and law. In each section contemporary trends are analyzed, problems confronted, and a series of detailed policies set out. The aim of the book is to focus on feasible and effective policy choices which could lead to a progressive transformation of global affairs. Against the ideologues who are wholly in favour or hostile to globalization, this book shows how globalization can be better regulated to deliver human development, equitable economic change, democracy and justice.

This is an original book that will appeal to all those - students, policy makers, and the general reader - who confront questions about globalization and global governance. It is an optimistic text that holds that progressive political change is still within our grasp.

Author Information:

David Held is Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dear HumanDHS friend!

David Held sets out a number of principles which he believes can be universally shared, and can form the basis for the protection and nurturing of each person’s equal significance in the moral realm of humanity. Eight principles are paramount for him. They are the principles of:

1. equal worth and dignity;
2. active agency;
3. personal responsibility and accountability;
4. consent;
5. collective decision making about public matters through voting procedures;
6. inclusiveness and subsidiarity;
7. avoidance of serious harm; and
8. sustainability.

Please see apart from his book Global Covenant also the following publications:

Held, D. (2004b) ‘Future Globalizations’, a plenary talk given at the Inaugural Conference of Globalization Studies Network, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, 20 August 2004.

Held, D. (2005) ‘Principles of Cosmopolitan Order’, in G. Brock and H. Brighouse (eds): The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
24 September - 01 October 2006

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim–Western relations. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French and Indonesian.
For an archive of past CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.
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).

Inside this edition

1) by Abbas Barzegar

Director of Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Abdel-Moneim Said, warns Middle Eastern leaders of the damaging implications of a lack of resources and volition to forecast crises and make forward-looking decisions in the region. “Reacting to developments without having a policy of our own is what we've been doing all along and you might say we're getting better at it. But to lack policy is costly, and the cost increases when more countries are involved and when those involved are bigger. So the next crisis is likely to involve stakes that are higher than anything we've seen so far.”
(Source: Al Ahram, 14 - 20 September 2006)

1) Muslims are paramount allies in fighting “jihadism”
Abbas Barzegar

Atlanta, Georgia - Last summer, following the London underground and bus attacks, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in an op-ed piece: "If it's a Muslim problem, it needs a Muslim solution." Almost immediately, his call spread across the global media network. Muslim leaders were summoned to offer answers. Many leaders simply offered that "true Islam" does not stand for such acts of violence and cowardice. Many recognise that Friedman's call was not truly directed at a Muslim audience, but rather at a Western audience frustrated with what it saw as Muslim complacency with so-called jihadism. Such thinking neglected the fact that it was Muslim, not Western, societies that have been most adversely affected by Islamic radicalism, and failed to recognise the great efforts Muslims have taken to challenge these dangers.

While Western societies have only recently fallen victim to Islamic militancy, it has been Muslim families, schools, cities and cultures that have been dealing with the much more insidious day-to-day challenges of curbing the enticing persuasions of Islamic militant ideology. In the wake of Cold War policies where Muslim societies like those in Somalia, Afghanistan and Palestine were treated like pawns in a game of chess, trying to argue against an ideology that deceitfully promises empowerment, dignity and eternal reward has for decades been the courageous and consistent work of Muslim religious leaders and the overwhelming majority of their constituents. By recognising these efforts, the Western world might find allies in the fight against this perverted jihadism.

The first step in this direction is to recognise that Muslim societies have fought extremism in general within their tradition for centuries and have made such efforts central to the overall vision of creating a just and "God-conscious" social order. Enshrined in the ethical obligation to "enforce the good and eradicate the evil," Muslims in the founding days of Islam succeeded early on in overcoming extremist sects, such as the Kharijites, whose unbridled zealotry threatened the Prophet Muhammad's overall mission. In such cases, sincere Muslims combated these evils with both their hands and their pens. Many sections of the Muslim world today now stand poised to do the same: it is through this aspect of Muslim faith, accompanied by proper Western engagement, that Islamic radicalism will find its greatest threat.

In places as insular as Saudi Arabia, whose religious authorities produce some of the most myopic interpretations of Islam, the duty to stop extremist violence has been taken up with a noticeable degree of success. In 2004, the Saudi royal family, backed by the leading Islamic scholars in the kingdom, offered a month-long amnesty to terrorists to turn themselves in or thereafter suffer extermination. The effort led to the surrender of some of Osama bin Laden's top officials within days. What made the amnesty possible was the mediating role of Sheikh al-Hawali, a former senior-ranking theologian at one of the country's leading seminaries, Umm al-Qurra University, who was, ironically, also imprisoned for five years on account of his views against the U.S. military presence in the region. Militant extremists respected al-Hawali as a credible scholar whose words carried the weight of the hereafter.

Those regarded as the most authoritative curators of Islamic law - imams, mullahs, sheikhs and scholars - should be employed in the ideological struggle against terrorism, precisely because it is their voices that may be the only ones heard by renegades.

Al-Hawali's role might be compared to that of Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s in Iraq and his successful effort at defusing the Muqtada al-Sadr standoff in Najaf in 2004. The creation of a national Muslim council in France designed to codify Islamic law and hold French Muslim citizens accountable to it might serve as yet another example. These cases highlight the fact that the Muslim world has at its disposal institutional resources, the foremost being clerical and legal authority, to curb extremism. These should be considered by all parties concerned about preventing further violence. By recognising that Muslims the world over have strong and sincere ethical commitments toward the eradication of all forms of corruption, vice and extremism, Western leaders and thinkers might find successful partners in places they never imagined.

###

* Abbas Barzegar is a graduate student at Emory University. His research focuses on the complexity and cultural, religious, and political diversity of the American Muslim community. This is the third of six articles in a series on religious revivalism and Muslim-Western relations commissioned by the Common Ground News Service (www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 26 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.


2) ~YOUTH VIEWS~ Ahmadinejad and Bush: more similar than different?
Steven Coulthart

Syracuse, New York - The speeches and interviews occurring this week at the United Nations general assembly have drawn global attention to the halls of the UN. But truly at the centre of the controversy are two men, Iranian President Ahmadinejad and U.S. President Bush. Both are highly controversial in their home countries and abroad, and would at first glance seem to be polar opposites. Yet, some common threads seem to link the two men – both in terms of their rise to power and their views on religion and the state.

Both men are leaders with shadowy pasts and a strong spiritual bent. To understand both Ahmadinejad’s and Bush's similarities, it is vital to analyse their rise to power. Both were outsiders on their respective national stages, and used this status to gain entrance into politics. As the former governor of Texas, Bush was a presidential underdog at first in the 2000 US election. Critics argued that his lack of foreign policy experience and relative obscurity to the American public were major handicaps to his campaign. However, the election’s result showed that Bush's reputation as an outsider enabled him to persuade socially conservative voters that he would restore morality to the scandal-ridden Presidency and would be able, because he was an outsider, to end Washington’s political gridlock.

Similarly, Ahmadinejad emerged in Iranian politics as an outsider coming from a lesser post as mayor of Tehran. In a strikingly similar tactic as Bush, Ahmadinejad used his outsider’s position to provide an alternative to frustrated voters. Election results from the US in 2004 revealed a country divided to the core and put the political divisions between rural and urban areas into focus. The Bush campaign was effective in appealing to red (rural) state voters who emphasised “moral values” deemed higher than their blue state counterparts’ when picking a candidate. Interestingly, Ahmadinejad appealed to a similar rural population of Iran just as Bush had to rural America through a mix of social conservatism and promises to improve the lot of Iran’s underclass.

In both the US’s 2004 and Iran’s 2005 elections, religion’s role in politics was greatly increased. Both Bush and Ahmadinejad were able to tap into feelings of marginalisation among conservative religious groups that were frustrated by liberal political forces in their countries. Even more interestingly, the percentages of both countries’ populations who would classify themselves as religiously conservative are roughly the same. According to estimates by Hadi Semati of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, approximately 35% of Iranians support religious conservative candidates. According to a 1993 Gallop poll of Americans, 33% of Americans agreed with the statement, "The Bible is the actual word of God and it is to be taken literally, word for word."

Once in office, these two leaders have also taken similar roads, particularly with regard to foreign policy. Ahmadinejad, only a year into his Presidency, has aggressively pursued a policy of developing nuclear technology, and has not shied away from confrontations with the United Nations and the world’s great powers. Ahmadinejad's strong anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric has persuaded many that moderation in Iran is truly dead and that Iran is a threat to the West. Similarly, Bush, who had campaigned as something of an isolationist, was able to use the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to launch an aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East, a policy whose self-stated aims are the democratisation of the Middle East and thus the elimination of threats to Israel and American interests.

Bush has also abandoned the US’s usual position of maintaining the moral high ground, and has used similar threatening, confrontational and aggressive rhetoric, stating that "You are either with us or against us" on fighting terrorism, and labelling North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an “axis of evil.” In both countries, this rhetoric serves to shore up their respective power bases, which are inclined to nationalism and viewing foreign policy issues in black and white.

Perhaps the greatest similarity between these two leaders is that their success or failure lies in the deserts of Arabia and the steppes of Asia. Both men know we are entering a new historical epoch, and both seem determined, however misguided their methodology, to put their country’s national interests above all else, whatever the risk to the rest of the world. Bush has continually rejected the notion of speaking with Iran's president and generally rejected the idea of negotiating with Iran over its nuclear aspirations. It is time for citizens of both countries to recognise how extremist their leaders have become, and what a danger to the world and to their own security such nationalism and extremism can be. The citizens of Iran and the US should recognise that they are not all that different, that they in many ways share the same aspirations and goals, and that while their cultures are quite different, they have leaders who share remarkably similar traits. It is this common ground that will open up dialogue and prevent the unthinkable.

###

* Stephen Coulthart is a recent graduate of the State University of New York, where he studied political science and public justice. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 26 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.


3) Benedict XVI and Islam
John L. Esposito

Washington, D.C. - The primary purpose and message of Benedict XVI's address in Regensburg, Germany was not about Islam, referred to in only four paragraphs of his eight-page lecture. And yet, this papal address to a university audience turned into an occasion for an international protest across the Muslim world. Morocco withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican, heads of state from Turkey to Indonesia voiced criticism, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar commented on the Pope’s ignorance of Islam, and leaders of Muslim organisations called for a public apology. The incident has also triggered public demonstrations, the burning of the Pope in effigy in Pakistan and acts of violence against both Christians and churches.

The Pope clearly stated that his primary purpose was to discuss the issue of “faith and reason”. He did so reacting and responding to a major concern of his, the excesses of secularisation: the triumph of secularism and increased weakness of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church in his homeland, Germany, and in Europe in general, and attempts to exclude religion from the realm of reason.

Although the Vatican stated that the Pope did not intend to offend, his remarks did in fact upset many Muslims. Particularly offensive to Muslims was his citation of a fourteenth century Byzantine emperor’s remarks about the Prophet Muhammad: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Now, Muhammad is revered in Islam as the final Prophet of God and the model of Muslim life. Moreover, the remark that he commanded the spread of Islam by the sword is simply inaccurate, for what the Qur’an and Muhammad did was recognise the right to defend Islam and the Muslim community by fighting those Meccans who threatened and attacked Muslims.

Equally problematic is the Pope’s statement that the Qur’anic passage, “There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2:256) was revealed in the early years of Muhammad’s prophethood in Mecca, a period “when Mohammed was still powerless and under [threat]” but was overtaken later when he ruled Medina by “instructions, developed later and recorded in the Koran [Qur’an], concerning holy war.”Both these statements are incorrect. Qur’an 2:256 is not an early Meccan verse but is itself from the later Medinan period and the Qur’an does not equate jihad with holy war. This interpretation of jihad developed years later after Muhammad’s death when it came to be used by rulers (caliphs) to justify their wars of imperial expansion and rule in the name of Islam.

Benedict XVI is a distinguished Catholic theologian but he is not an expert on Islam. The Vatican in the recent past has had some first class scholars of Islam serving the papacy as advisers. The inappropriate references to Islam in the Regensburg address could easily have been averted. If the Pope’s primary purpose was to address the issue of the relationship between faith and compulsion on the one hand and faith and reason on the other, Christian history offers ample examples (the Inquisition, Galileo and other issues he mentions, violence and extremism, holy wars) without having recourse to passages drawn from mutual polemics.

Have Muslims over-reacted to the Pope’s statement? Their responses need to be understood in the context of our post 9/11 world with its greater polarisation and alarming increases in Islamophobia. Many Muslims feel under siege. A Gallup World Poll of some 800 million Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia indicates widespread resentment over what respondents see as the denigration of Islam, Arabs and Muslims in the West. The cartoon controversy in Europe demonstrated both the dangers of xenophobia and Islamophobia, and the depths of anger and outrage. Therefore, it is easy to understand why Muslims would express their disappointment and anger and call for an apology and dialogue much the same as Jewish leaders strongly urged meetings with the Pope or other Church leaders for offensive comments or actions. This was the case for American Jewish leaders before the papal visit of 1987, after Pope John Paul II had met with Kurt Waldheim. As prominent Muslim leaders noted during the European cartoon controversy and in the current situation, expressions of concern or outrage do not preclude discussion and dialogue and certainly never justify acts of violence.

Pope Benedict has now apologised, but more can be done. The Pope could invite Muslim religious leaders and scholars to meet and discuss the issues that his statement raised and hear their concerns and responses to his specific comments about Islam, the Prophet and jihad. He could invite them to join with him in mutually acceptable language to express concern about violence in the name of religion and the abuse of human rights. The Pope’s upcoming visit to Turkey could be an occasion to demonstrate in his public pronouncements his respect for Islam and Muslims and his desire to continue the major accomplishments that the Catholic Church has made since Vatican II in Catholic-Muslim dialogue.

It is now time to move on. The Pope has apologised and Muslims and Catholics (as indeed all Christians) must now get back on track, building on the significant accomplishments in inter-religious dialogue in recent decades. In the twenty-first century, critical to Catholic-Muslims relations will be how Benedict XVI’s papacy and Catholics work with their Muslim counterparts to overcome ignorance and hostility as well as the threat from violence and intolerance globally.

###

* John L. Esposito is University professor of religion & international affairs, director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University and author of What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam and Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 26 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.


4) An hour with a confident Ahmadinejad
David Ignatius

Washington, D.C. - The most telling moment in a conversation I had in New York last week with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came when he was asked if America would attack Iran. He quickly answered "no", with a slight cock of his head as if he regarded the very idea of war between the two countries as preposterous.

Ahmadinejad's confidence was the overriding theme of his visit. He was like a picador, deftly sticking darts into a wounded bull. As he moved from event to event - TV and print interviews, a chat with the august Council on Foreign Relations, his lecture to the United Nations General Assembly - he displayed the same flinty composure. It sometimes seemed as if he owned New York, dispensing his radical bromides like a tidy, compact version of Fidel Castro. Underlying his performance, I sensed the same certainty that was expressed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini back when this confrontation began in the late 1970s: "America cannot do a damn thing."

Over the course of a week's time, I had an unusual chance to sit with both President George W. Bush and Ahmadinejad and hear their thoughts about Iran. The contrasts were striking: Bush is groping for answers to the Iran problem; you sense him struggling for a viable strategy. When I asked what message he wanted to send the Iranian people, Bush seemed eager for more contact: he spoke of Iran's importance, of its great history and culture, of its legitimate rights. He made similar comments in his speech Tuesday to the UN General Assembly.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, is sitting back and enjoying the attention. He's not groping for anything; he's waiting for the world to come to him. When you boil down his comments, the message is similar to Bush's: Iran wants a diplomatic solution to the nuclear impasse; Iran wants dialogue; Iran wants more cultural exchanges. At one point, Ahmadinejad even said that "under fair conditions," he would favour a resumption of diplomatic relations with the United States.

But if the words of accommodation are there, the music is not. Instead of sending a message to the administration that he is serious about negotiations, Ahmadinejad spent the week playing to the gallery of Third World activists and Muslim revolutionaries with his comments about Israel and the Holocaust. This audience hears the defiant message between the lines: America cannot do a damn thing.

Ahmadinejad is the calmest revolutionary I've ever seen. Sitting in a plush easy chair in his suite at the InterContinental Hotel, he barely moved a muscle as he made the most radical statements. His feet didn't jiggle, his hands didn't make gestures, his facial expression barely changed. His eyes were the most expressive part of his body - sparkling one moment, glowering the next, focusing down to dark points when he was angry.

An interview with Ahmadinejad is an intellectual ping-pong match. He bounces back each question with one of his own: Ask about Hizbullah's attacks and he asks about Israel's attacks. Question his defiance of the UN and he shifts to America's defiance of the world body. In more than an hour of conversation with me and Lally Weymouth of Newsweek, he didn't deviate from his script. Indeed, some of his comments in the interview were repeated almost word for word when he addressed the General Assembly a few hours later. This is a man who is adept at message control.

The common strand I take away from this week of Iranian-American conversation is that the two countries agree on one central fact: Iran is a powerful nation that should play an important role in the international system. Bush put it to me this way: "I would say to the Iranian people: we respect your history. We respect your culture ... I recognise the importance of your sovereignty." Here was Ahmadinejad's formulation when I asked how Iran could help stabilise Iraq: "A powerful Iran will benefit the region because Iran is a country with a deep culture and has always been a peaceful country."

That's the challenge: can America and Iran find a formula that will meet each side's security interests, and thereby allow Iran to return fully to the community of nations after 27 years? Iran can't achieve its ambitions as a rising power without an accommodation with America. America can't achieve its interest in stabilising the Middle East without help from Iran. The potential for war is there, but so is the bedrock of mutual self-interest. The simple fact is that these two countries need each other.

###

* David Ignatius is a syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)

Source: Daily Star, 26 September 2006, www.dailystar.com.lb (http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.


5) Crisis averse
Abdel-Moneim Said

Cairo - This region is stumbling from one crisis to another. Over the past few years, we've seen major wars, a spate of terrorist attacks, as well as an Intifada that has cost thousands of lives. We've seen countries fall apart, and we know that within a few years they will break up yet again into new countries we know nothing about. The ever-present Palestinian problem, that one problem that we've elevated into a cornerstone of our communal grievances, remains unresolved. Fifty-eight years after losing their homeland, the Palestinian people have yet to secure an independent state. Some territories were freed by the Oslo Accords, but these are now lost. As if this wasn't enough, the victory of Hamas in Palestinian general elections has bankrupted the Palestinian Authority and put the nation on the verge of civil war.

It is a sad scene indeed, even when you consider "lesser" problems. Look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, and think of the horrors unfolding there. In the middle of all that turmoil, some Arab countries have managed to keep their stability and a modicum of respectability intact. But even they cannot afford to sit on the fence. Whether you're talking of a central issue or a peripheral one, Arabs who may not want to get involved end up doing just that. With every crisis spiralling into greater horrors, aloofness comes at a price. When Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries recently criticised Hizbullah's behaviour, saying that the Shia group put an entire country at risk, acting irresponsibly, their remarks backfired. Domestic pressures were such that those who asked Hizbullah to put the genie back in the bottle opened their own Pandora's box, replete with regional and international demons. Arab honour, once again, was at stake.

What I am saying is that major Arab countries, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, cannot afford to ignore the perils stalking them every step of the way. Every crisis ignored tends to snowball. Every disaster ignored comes back to haunt them. The balance of power in the region keeps shifting with every crisis, and no country can afford to block off the world and enjoy a moment of peace. Sooner or later, one regional crisis or another will seep into the domestic situation of any given country.

What is remarkable, however, is that we have no mechanism of forecasting crises or nipping them in the bud. You can only manage a crisis if you predict with some accuracy the behaviour of its various players. In this region, this is not always possible. In the recent war in Lebanon, no one knew exactly what Hizbullah wanted, or even what Israel wished to achieve. As a result, the Arab world was engaged in a damage-limitation exercise. It got the Arab League involved somewhat, and promised material and moral assistance. While doing so, it didn't forget to denounce Israel and the United States for triggering the tragic situation.

Damage limitation can be expensive. In this case, things weren't so bad. Oil prices were at record highs, and Saudi Arabia was in a position to offer Lebanon $1 billion or so. And thanks to Egyptian and Saudi pressure, UN Resolution 1701 turned out slightly better than the original French-U.S. draft. Furthermore, Lebanon is a small country. Imagine what would happen should a full-fledged confrontation break out between Iran and the United States, or if Israel were to bomb Iranian nuclear installations. These scenarios cannot be ruled out completely. It is clear that Iran is playing its cards close to its chest, hoping to gain time and confront the world with a fait accompli in which it already has developed nuclear weapons. Iran is offering to negotiate with all major powers at one go, a matter that would elevate it to the position of being a regional superpower. Perhaps that's all Iran really wants. But the West doesn't seem to understand that, or is unwilling to give Iran what it wants. Reading reports from the United States and Israel, one detects the same mood that prevailed six months before the invasion of Iraq. No one in the West wants to let a fundamentalist state acquire nuclear weapons.

Sadly, our decision-making institutions have no independent information on the situation. There is no sign that our intelligence services are active in Iran in any significant manner. Relations between Washington on the one hand and Cairo and Riyadh on the other are rather strained. Washington is not discussing regional policy with Arab countries, not even those countries upholding peace treaties with Israel. As a result, in the next major crisis in this region we will still be looking for a black cat in a dark room. Reacting to developments without having a policy of our own is what we've been doing all along and you might say we're getting better at it. But to lack policy is costly, and the cost increases when more countries are involved and when those involved are bigger. So the next crisis is likely to involve stakes that are higher than anything we've seen so far.

We can always get lucky. Perhaps it's all one big Iranian bluff. Early in the summer, there was an indication that some people in Tehran were hoping for a deal with Washington. And already the United States, the EU, and other major countries have made Iran an offer, but Iran wants a better deal and is continuing to enrich uranium. Still, when the stakes are so high, luck is not enough. Leaders cannot make sound policy without having sufficient information and options. To this moment, we haven't decided whether Iranian nukes would be just as perilous to the region as Israel's nukes, or would ultimately reduce the Israeli threat. To my knowledge, Arab countries have not discussed this matter yet. They are worried, that much is clear. But more so, they are resigned to their fate.

###

* Abdel-Moneim Said is director of Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)

Source: Al Ahram, 14 - 20 September 2006, www.ahram.org.eg/weekly (http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.


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 Chris Binkley (cbinkley@sfcg.org) for more information on contributing.

About CGNews-PiH
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 constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, 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.
The Common Ground News Service also commissions and distributes solution-oriented articles by local and international experts to promote constructive perspectives and encourage dialogue about current Middle East issues. This service, Common Ground News Service - Middle East (CGNews-ME), is available in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. To subscribe, click here. (http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?list=cgnews)
The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.
Common Ground News Service
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite #200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Ph: +1(202) 265-4300
Fax: +1(202) 232-6718

Rue Belliard 205 Bte 13 B-1040
Brussels, Belgium
Ph: +32(02) 736-7262
Fax: +32(02) 732-3033

Email : cgnewspih@sfcg.org
Website : www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/index.php?sid=1&lang=en)

Editors
Emad Khalil (Amman)
Juliette Schmidt (Beirut)
Chris Binkley (Dakar)
Emmanuelle Hazan (Geneva)
Medhy Hidayat (Jakarta)
Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Andrew Kessinger (Washington)

Translators
Olivia Qusaibaty (Washington)
Rio Rinaldo (Jakarta)
Zeina Safa (Beirut)

CGNews is a not-for-profit news service.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

English version below !

Für Sonntag, den 1. Oktober, zwischen 10.00 und 17.00 Uhr laden sabisa – performing change und AfricAvenir International zur Fachtagung „Performance Practices for Social Change - Perspectives from Africa“ in die Werkstatt der Kulturen. Im Zentrum der Tagung steht ein Fachgespräch mit Hope Azeda (Ruanda), Nora Amin (Ägypten/Sudan) und Julia Eksner (BRD) über die Potentiale und Grenzen von Theater als Gestaltungsform gesellschaftlicher Prozesse in Konflikt- und Post-Konfliktregionen. Die Veranstaltung findet in englischer Sprache statt. Übersetzung ins Deutsche wird bei Bedarf zur Verfügung gestellt.

Am Samstag, den 30. September, um 19.30 Uhr werden Ausschnitte aus dem vorangegangenen Workshopprozess gezeigt, sowie die Arbeit von Hope Azeda in Ruanda und von Nora Amin in Ägypten und im Sudan vorgestellt.

Am: Samstag, den 30. September 2006
Beginn: 19:30 Uhr
Ort: Studio von AKT-ZENT e.V. (Skalitzer Str. 97, HH, 4. OG); U-Bhf. Görlitzer Bhf
Eintritt: frei

Am: Sonntag, den 1. Oktober 2006
Zeit: 10:00 – 17:00 Uhr
Ort: Werkstatt der Kulturen (Wissmanstraße 32), U-Bhf Hermannplatz
Teilnahmebeitrag: 15,- €/10,- € erm.
Anmeldung bitte unter: paula.kramer@sabisa.de, Anmeldung auch vor Ort möglich

Die Tagung beinhaltet ein Fachgespräch mit

NORA AMIN (Ägypten/Sudan): Is change possible or not?

HOPE AZEDA (Ruanda): Creative and Performing Arts for Social Transformation in Rwanda

JULIA EKSNER (BRD): Trauma and Recovery

Fachgespräch zur Arbeit mit Theater in Konflikt- und Post-Konfliktregionen und als Gestaltungsform gesellschaftlicher Prozesse. Julia Eksner wird eine Einführung zu den Begriffen „Trauma“ und „Heilung“ geben und Konzepte, Bedeutungen, Klassifizierungen sowie Arbeitsansätze diskutieren. Hope Azeda und Nora Amin werden ihre konkreten Erfahrungen der Arbeit mit Theater in Konflikt und Post-Konfliktregionen vorstellen und zueinander in Bezug setzen.

Gemeinsam möchten wir erörtern: Was sind besondere Potentiale der Theaterarbeit und der Arbeit mit kreativen Methoden als Formen der gesellschaftlichen Mitgestaltung? Welche Formen sind besonders effektiv, welche Rahmenbedingungen sind notwendig? Wo liegen die spezifischen Grenzen von Theater als Teil gesellschaftlicher Transformation? Was sind besondere Aspekte der Arbeit im Globalen Süden?

Die Veranstaltung findet im Rahmen des Projekts „Kommunikation in Konflikten – KiK '06“ und wird durch Mittel der Stiftung Umverteilen! und der Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit - LEZ gefördert.

----
sabisa - performing change e.V. ist ein gemeinnütziger Verein mit Sitz in Berlin. Der Verein nutzt Theater und Performance in der Konfliktbearbeitung und der Auseinandersetzung mit sozialer Ungleichheit und Diskriminierung. Mit der Anwendung, Reflektion und Weiterentwicklung von kreativen Medien mit emanzipatorischer Zielsetzung bewegt sich sabisa – performing change an der Schnittstelle von pädagogischer Praxis, Kunst und Wissenschaft. sabisa initiiert internationale Dialoge durch Austauschprojekte, bietet Fortbildungen in Theater und Performance an und ist in der schulischen und politischen Bildungsarbeit aktiv. Dabei legt der Verein insbesondere Wert darauf, Kompetenzen und Methoden aus dem Globalen Süden für den lokalen Kontext nutzbar zu machen. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter: www.sabisa.de.

Wir danken dem ITI - International Theatre Institute für seine Unterstützung.
----

Invitation: Conference „Performance Practices for Social Change - Perspectives from Africa“.

On Sunday 1st October 2006 between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., sabisa – performing change and AfricAvenir International welcome you to participate in the conference “Performance Practices for Social Change - Perspectives from Africa”.

On Saturday 30th of September at 7.30 p.m. aspects of the workshop process in Berlin will be presented along with information about the local work of Hope Azeda in Rwanda and Nora Amin in Egypt and Sudan.

Saturday, den 30th September 2006, 7.30 p.m.
Studio of AKT-ZENT e.V. (Skalitzer Str. 97, HH, 4. OG); Metro Görlitzer Bhf
Free and open to all

Sunday, 1st October 2006, 10.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.
Werkstatt der Kulturen (Wissmanstraße 32), Metro Hermannplatz (U7, U8)
Registration fee: 15,- €/10,- €
Please register with: paula.kramer@sabisa.de, Walk-in registrations welcome.

The conference program includes reflections with

NORA AMIN (Egypt/Sudan): Is change possible or not?

HOPE AZEDA (Rwanda): Creative and Performing Arts for Social Transformation in Rwanda

JULIA EKSNER (Germany): Trauma and Recovery

This conference will be a space for dialogue and reflection on working with theatre in conflict and post-conflict regions and applying theatre as a creative tool to participate in processes of social change. Julia Eksner will give an introduction to the terminology of „Trauma“ and „Recovery“ and discuss the concepts and different ways to frame and approach them. Hope Azeda and Nora Amin will introduce their work experiences with creative and performing arts in regions of conflict and post-conflict and relate them to each other as well as to the larger concepts previously introduced.

Together we want to discuss: What are the specific potentials of working with theatre and creative processes as forms to participate in social change? What type of work is particularly effective and what kind of circumstances do we need to create satisfying work? Which are the specific limitations of theatre as a part of social transformation? What are specific aspects of working in the context of the Global South?

The conference is part of the project KiK '06 "Communication in Conflicts" and is financed by Stiftung Umverteilen! and the Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit LEZ.

----
sabisa – performing change is a non-profit organisation based in Berlin, Germany. They employ creative media and the performing arts in projects for social transformation and community cultural development. sabisa organises international training programmes like “Communication in Conflicts”, offers workshops in theatre and the performing arts and is actively involved in local educational, community and anti-bias projects. Through the application and development of artistic media as means to constructively deal with conflicts and to combat all forms of oppression and social exclusion, sabisa locates their work on the intersection of education, art and social science. The organisations main emphasis is the facilitation of critical and productive dialogue and exchange between the North and the South. sabisa consciously focuses on making use of methodology and expertise developed in the South in our local context. Please find more information on www.sabisa.de.

We thank the ITI - International Theatre Institute for their support.
----

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.

DIGNITY INTERNATIONAL
MONTHLY NEWSBULLETIN - September 2006

Dignity News

DIGNITY NEWS

*** Development Hinges on Human Rights

Although the human rights reform movement has recorded remarkable successes it has failed to embrace, social and economic rights. Speaking during a human rights forum at Landmark Hotel in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Civil Society John Ulanga, said the human rights movement previously focused on civil and political rights and neglected economic, social and cultural rights, adding that human rights are more than just civil liberties.
While the human rights movement was calling for international protection and promotion of human rights, the development movement was in support of global development and the elimination of poverty in the word. Although the two shared a lot in common, they never reconciled conceptually.
He said that it had become increasingly necessary to bring the two movements closer together to ensure that policy frameworks are consistent and complementary rather than contradictory and competitive.
John Ulanga said that the programme theme “Human Rights in Development” was the defining theme for a future of human dignity for all. He quoted the Father of the Nation of the United Republic of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere who in 1986 said “Whenever there is no equality there is no peace, and whenever there is no peace there is no development”. Equality is the basis of human rights, and that human rights and development are inseparable.
The Human Rights in Development Learning Programme for East Africa (5-13 September 2006), opened by John Ulanga was organised by Dignity International in partnership with Hakijamii Trust of Kenya and Tanzania Council on Social Development with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

*** Global Programme on Human Rights in Development – Call for Applications

Are you:
- a development activist from a grassroots, national and international development NGO?
- holding a key position within your organisation with experience and responsibility in a range of areas, including programming, advocacy and campaigning?
- interested to explore together with other participants the meaning of human rights in development work and how integration of human rights into development work translates into concrete strategies and development programming at the grassroots and international levels?
THEN apply for the Annual Learning Programme on human Rights in Development. The programme will take place in Malaysia from 1-11 December 2006 and further details can be found at http://www.dignityinternational.org/dg/page.php?28

*** Latin America Programme on ESC Rights – well under way!

The Learning Programme on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for the Latin America Region is presently dealing with the ‘painful’ selection process. From the more than 150 all good-quality applications received only 20 to 25 persons will be selected. All applicants will be notified in the coming week. Sorry for taking some time. Thank you for understanding!
This programme is organized by CDES, COHRE–Americas Programme, Dignity International, DECA Equipo Pueblo and Social Watch and counts withthe support of Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada (PWRDF). The programme willtake place in Quito, Ecuador, from 2 to 10 November 2006.

OTHER NEWS

*** The Uganda Social Forum: Building Uganda, Our Responsibility!

World leaders meet annually at the World Economic Forum to conspire on how to exploit the poor, rape the earth in order to enrich a few. To extend the grip of multilateral corporations, the agents of this process of impoverishment, globalisation was invented in the last decade. Since 2001, Civil Society has been engaged in the creation of an alternative World through the World Social Forum whose theme is: Another World is possible - a world of justice, equity and peace.
Since its inauguration in Brazil, World Social Forums have fast become a popular way to organise worldwide as evidenced by the increasing number of people who participate in them. From a paltry 15,000 in Porto Alegre in 2001 to about 120,000 in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2004, the Social Forum has become a popular mechanism which is that is being replicated in different countries of the developing world, because it gives real hope that an alternative and better world, situation, etc is possible. As a matter of fact, the 2007 World Social Forum will be hosted by East Africa.
In that same spirit, we civil society representatives hereby today announce our resolve to launch the Uganda Social Forum on November 10th 2005 at Nambole National Stadium, under the theme, "building Uganda - our responsibility". For we too strongly believe that another Uganda is possible.

*** Third Social Watch General Assembly

Eleven years after its creation, the Social Watch initiative needs to assess its achievements and decide on its strategy for the coming years. For that purpose, the third Social Watch General Assembly is now taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria (September 23 to 26 2006).
The meeting is expected to be an expression of the diverse Social Watch “membership” by bringing together representatives from 60 countries of as many national coalitions as possible, as well as keynote speakers, special invitees from key NGO networks with closely related areas of concern and observers from national Social Watch groups in formation.

*** IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings

The IMF/World Bank Annual meetings took place in Singapore from September 14-20, 2006. Parallel to this, and in the spirit of resistance to neo-liberal policies and in keeping with the history of people’s struggles worldwide against economic domination, Asian movements together with an international group of networks, movements, campaigns and NGOs convened an International Peoples Forum versus the IMF & World Bank, on September 15 to 17 in Batam, Indonesia.
See IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings WEBLOG, on IFIwatchnet website
http://www.ifiwatchnet.org/wb_annual06/
Source - Choike

Transparency Begins at Home, WB-IMF Told : Civil society organisations gathered on this island, ahead of the annual meeting of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in neighbouring Singapore, have launched a ‘global charter' demanding transparency from the finance institutions.
The charter has set out nine principles to compel the financial powerhouses to fall in line with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to ‘'seek, receive and impart information and ideas'. Among them are the public's right to access information held by the IFIs, ‘'regardless of who produced the document and whether the information relates to a public or private actor'.
Source – Inter Press Service (IPS) (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34752)

*** Human Rights Council – 2nd session

The 2nd Session of the new Human Rights Council (HRC) is being held from 18 September to 6 October 2006 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. During this session, the HRC will discuss a joint report on detainees in Guantanamo Bay as well as the issue of Freedom of Religion or Belief and Freedom of Opinion and Expression.
For further details, see http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/

*** General Assembly review: Extreme Poverty has Deepened

According with the United Nations General Assembly midterm review, while slight increases in development aid since 2002 had raised health and education standards among the world’s poorest countries, extreme poverty had actually deepened, senior United Nations officials warned today as they called for a reinvigorated global partnership of donor nations, civil society, and the private sector, working alongside the least developed countries, to improve the prospects of some 370 million people now forced to live on less than $1 a day.
“Together, we have an urgent moral imperative to eradicate abject poverty”, declared General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain, as she opened that organ’s High-Level Meeting on the midterm review of the Brussels Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for the Decade 2001-2010. The bulk of the 50 United Nations-identified LDCs, which include small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, are located in Africa, with the rest scattered throughout Southern Asia, and one - Haiti - in the Northern hemisphere.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/ga10497.doc.htm

*** Global Fund for Lifesaving Drugs

A global fund to purchase massive amounts of medicines for developing countries with money coming from "solidarity" flight taxes and other innovative financing systems was recently launched. The initiative was presented by the Presidents of Brazil, France, together with the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"There will be no peace and prosperity in a world where millions of people are still extremely poor. The war we must wage is a war on hunger, poverty and other forms of exclusion, including lack of access to essential drugs," Brazil's Lula said Tuesday.
In its first stage, the fund, called Unitaid, will focus on combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis - three diseases that occur most frequently in the world's less developed countries.
"Unitaid's regular and predictable sources of financing will ensure its value added and effectiveness. As of now, 18 countries have announced plans to introduce a solidarity levy on airline tickets. Other similar instruments, including additional long-term budgetary resources will also be welcome," the agency said in a statement.
Source: International Press Service (IPS) (http://www.ipsterraviva.net/TV/ldcs/en/viewstory.asp?idnews=755)

PUBLICATIONS

*** 3D new report - Niger: Agricultural Trade Liberalisation and Women's Rights (August 2006)

3D (3D: Trade, Human Rights & Equitable Economy) has just published a report about the impact of trade liberalisation on women’s rights in Niger, describing how women suffer disproportionately from liberalisation of agricultural trade. The report has been submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which will assess the enjoyment of women’s rights in Niger, in 2007.
You can read the report’s briefing at
http://www.3dthree.org/pdf_3D/3DCEDAWNigerAg.pdf

ANNOUNCEMENTS

*** From COHRE: new website, new report & recent updates from Kenya

New website – COHRE’s website has been fully redesigned and updated. The new site retains all of the reference material on housing rights and related issues found on the old one, while adding many features in a new design intended to be easy to use. The site will be further developed in the next months. COHRE appreciates any comments or suggestions for new content – you can write to webmaster@cohre.org.
Defending the Housing Rights of Children - new report on children's housing rights, developed by COHRE in collaboration with Cordaid and 16 children's and human rights agencies around the world. The report examines the many ways in which children suffer violations of their housing rights and highlights the international human rights standards intended to protect the housing rights of children worldwide.
Update on housing rights in Kenya – COHRE and Hakijamii Trust have recently released the last update on housing rights issues in Kenya. This issue is focused on forced evictions in Kenyan forests.
Both the Report and the Kenya Update are available at www.cohre.org (http://www.cohre.org/)

FORTHCOMING EVENTS – HIGHLIGHTS

*** International Civil Society Forum: an Optional Protocol to the ICESCR

The Forum is promoted and organised by CIDESC and the NGO Coalition to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on 12&13 October 2006. This forum aims to guarantee the involvement of civil society in the drafting process of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR. The intention is to have a draft Optional Protocol agreed upon during the Forum. The document is being prepared by the NGO Coalition for an Optional Protocol to the ICESCR. It will be issued before the Forum takes place so that all interested parts can give their contribution.
During the Forum, Ms. Catarina Albuquerque, Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group to consider options regarding the elaboration of an Optional Protocol to the ICESCR will present the Human Rights Standards: Learning from Experience Report - a co-publication of International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the International Service for Human Rights. This reports examines the unpredictable history of past standard-setting and the options available to those who advocate new standards in the future. The ICHRP Research Director, Magdalena Sepulveda, will be present at the meeting.
For more information on the program see http://www.esc-rights.org/

*** 17 October 2006 - World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty – the 4th Global White Band Day

Next 17th of October - World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty – all across the world millions of people will show their support for the fight against poverty by wearing a white band, and will call on world leaders to do more to eradicate poverty.
The theme of the month is Stand Up Against Poverty and there will be actions on trade justice, debt and aid as well as a global world record attempt on 15-16 October. All these actions will be calling on world leaders to keep the promises they made in 2005 to make poverty history and to do much more.
Do get involved wherever you are – wear a white band, contact a politician, go along to an event or take part in the world record attempt.
Over the next few weeks there will be more information on this in various websites. You can download a preview toolkit below to get your plans started right now.
You can take action to make poverty history at any time but do please join the world in doing so this autumn as together
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/docs/toolkit.pdf

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 [info@dignityinternational.org?subject=information]

Don Klein kindly wrote to us (September 24, 2007):

A recent issue of the Journal of Social Issues is devoted to Post-Cold War Peace Psychology (Volume 62, No. 1, 2006). The concluding article by Milton Schwebel deals with the interrelationship between "realistic empathy," active nonviolence, and the task of confronting disparities of wealth and other salient political realities.
With love, Don

CALL FOR ASSISTANCE: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN FAILED STATES

Dear colleagues,

Please allow me to introduce myself: my name is Fabienne Simenel and I am working for equalinrights, an independent international resource centre and support network on human rights and human rights-based strategies based in The Netherlands. I would like to present you the following question:

Human development in failed States ... How can communities and others take action to realise their human rights when there is no operating State?

Equalinrights is seeking persons working with human rights-based strategies (or the "rights-based approach") (HRBA) in the context of a failed or failing State. We are also seeking relevant resources, case studies, resource persons and background documents. We are currently planning for an initial event at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, January 2007, to explore this issue and engage further on-going support to those working in this environment to try to
overcome some of the hurdles that exist.

Failing and failed states have become increasingly common phenomena over the past decades, each one causing enormous human suffering, poverty, trauma and destruction on all levels of society. They leave millions of people with little protection in the face of gross and persistent human rights violations across the spectrum of rights. Conditions make security and human, social and economic development all but an impossibility. Or do they?

The human rights-based approach to development is a powerful, holistic framework to eradicate poverty, injustice and exclusion. It offers creative possibilities to expose and redress underlying power relations, hold different actors accountable; promote self-empowerment processes for those living in poverty to play a key role in their development and advance multilateral strategies to realise human dignity for all. However, failed or failing States raise difficult questions on how the HRBA can be effectively used. Further, work is needed to elaborate its meaning, overcome hurdles and consolidate creative
strategies for this context.

This will provide the basis of the event proposed for the WSF. It will explore what kind of human rights-based strategies communities, civil society, development agencies, donors, and international NGOs and institutions are using and can use where there is no effective government or state systems operating in a country. How can they act most effectively to secure respect for human rights, including the human right to work, the human right to a decent standard of living, the human right to protection from violence; the human right to protection from discrimination, and the human right to life?

We are seeking people and networks engaged on this issue as well as innovative stories; strategies and mechanisms; testimonies and short films that relate to informal or formal use of elements of the "rights-based approach" in relation to increased human security, development and human rights. Some issues include:
* What does the HRBA mean for civil society actors working in a failed state?
* Who can communities hold accountable and how?
* How can people renegotiate their relationship with those exercising power over resources, opportunities and space to realise their
human rights, to effect meaningful changes in their own lives and to influence their future?
* How can civil society use often extremely confined political space and lack of human security to mobilise and act for change? Who else can provide support in this situation and what would this entail?

Please join us in this effort to share your experience, understanding and strategies, and think together to advance practical options with people struggling for change within these environments.

Please contact Emma Sydenham on sydenham@equalinrights.org

Background on equalinrights ...

Equalinrights is an independent, global resource centre and support network, established in response to an identified gap in support, resources and know-how in understanding and implementing human rights-based strategies in the struggle against poverty. Equalinrights connects people struggling against poverty to other people and resources they need to more effectively achieve their mission through human rights-based strategies. It also seeks to explore and develop new materials, tools and practices to better understand and apply human rights-based strategies to make rights real!

Fabienne Simenel
Equalinrights
The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights
Janskerkhof 3, Utrecht The Netherlands, 3512 BK
Tel: +31 30 253 8510
Email: info@equalinrights.org
Website : http://www.equalinrights.org

The Institute for Global Leadership Fall 2006 Courses

Reconciliation Leaders™ are practical idealists who facilitate reconciling environments for any challenge in any setting—family, community, organization, national or global. This leadership arises from the leader’s vocational calling, skill building, a broad world view, a simple and sustainable lifestyle, and a philosophy of life to be at peace in oneself and in service to others for a cooperative and compassionate global society.

The Practice of Reconciliation Leadership. October 13-15, Tuition is $395. Register by October 11. Friday, October 13, 5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.; Saturday, October 14, 9:00 .m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday, October 15, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Course participants will be introduced to the distinct vocation of Reconciliation Leadership. They will experience the first steps of their journey to become part of this new breed of leaders. The following competencies will be introduced: the rediscovery of awe and wonder in their daily life; self-awareness of their gifts and strengths; clarity of their own needs and agenda, as well as understanding the role and untapped potential of the unconscious; creating balance and wellness in their daily life; and eliminating the dichotomy of a work self and a true self. In addition, participants will write the beginning paragraph of their personal mission statement to be continued in the next course.

Writing a Personal Mission Statement —10 hours of Individual mentoring, under the guidance of Virginia Swain. Tuition is $995. Scheduled by mutual agreement. Leaders will present their Mission Statement in the United Nations on December 8 and learn how they make a difference in the world by working and living their mission (see course below at the UN December 6-8)

New Perspectives on Anger, Conflict and Culture. Nov-ember 3-5. Tuition is $395. Register by October 3. Friday, Nov. 3, 5:00-9:00 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 4, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. New perspectives on age-old challenges reveal valuing ways to address one's own and another's anger, conflict and differences instead of devaluing ways. This course introduces gender, race, and ethnicity to include our common humanity as well as celebrate our differences; resolve inner conflicts, anger, stress, and self-defeating behavior; address fears both of failure and success, reflect feelings and emotions in a way that is not alienating to others; understand the role of untapped potential of the unconscious in relationships; develop tools for resolving gender and relationship issues; cultural sensitivity and being aware of brotherhood and sisterhood beyond perceived differences.

Reconciliation Leadership and Global Frameworks. December 6-8. Held at the United Nations. Tuition is $495. Register by Nov. 6. Wednesday, December 6, 1-6 p.m.; Thursday, Dec. 7, 9 a.m-6:00 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 8, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Participants will be introduced to global frameworks that have local application in their workplace and community through the practice of Reconciliation Leadership—The Millennium Development Goals, The International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN speakers will present these frameworks.

Practicum—Individual mentoring under the guidance of Virginia Swain. Tuition is $1995. Scheduled by mutual agreement. Participant leaders choose a personal or interpersonal challenge and are mentored through the challenge as they apply their mission statement and special calling in a 20-hour practicum applying the personal and interpersonal competencies that are introduced earlier in the program.

Applicants must have a prior discussion with Virginia Swain to ensure resonance with the program’s values and ideals. Visa/Mastercard or check payable to the Institute for Global Leadership and mailed to 32 Hill Top Circle, Worcester, MA 01609. Room and board is the responsibility of the participant leaders.

© The Institute for Global Leadership.
Reconciliation Leadership is a trademarked approach and practice belonging to the Institute for Global Leadership.

Our Mission

The Institute for Global Leadership provides confidential, compassionate and skilled guidance, consultation and training to help leaders and teams through change, challenges and crises.

We recognize all human beings, institutions, nations and multilateral entities for their uniqueness, need and capacity for transformation.

We accomplish our mission by:
- Mentoring leaders who act from their unique calling and special gifts.
- Mentoring leaders and teams.
- Consultation and training for Reconciliation Leaders™ committed to providing conditions for a sustainable peace.
- Providing dispute resolution services for family, community, institutional, national and global challenges.

Virginia Swain, Director, Institute for Global Leadership at 508-753-4172,vswain@global-leader.org, www.global-leader.org.

The Institute for Global Leadership provides vocational leadership and development models, courses, and services in New York, NY and Worcester, MA USA to implement the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) and support the Millennium Development Goals of the 150 Heads of State at the Millennium Forum at the United Nations in 2000.

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

Hyperlinks:

Finding peace through inner strength: Worcester writer helps others chart course in turbulent times, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, September 1, 2006

The Need for Reconciliation Leadership™

Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Program 2006-07

Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Program Press Release 08/06

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 October 6, 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 ** September 29**  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.

4th International Conference on Peace, Jaipur Peace Foundation

Dear Friend,

You will be happy to note that Jaipur Peace Foundation is organizing its 4th international conference on "Peace". This year the theme is Peace and Conflict Resolution in a Globalised World: Issue of Culturalism. The conference will take place in Jaipur during January 4-6,2007.

In the last about 15 years the world is witnessing unprecedented globalization that has affected every walk of life. It has also affected
the concept of peace and conflict resolution by adding new actors and processes and creating new issues. One of the issue that worries all is the issue of culturalism .The growing awareness about one's ethnic roots and cultural mooring has believed to threaten the democratic and liberal environment in the world. The differences or otherwise amongst cultures and issues of multiculturalism vs. liberalism vs. world culture and the role of nonviolent techniques to solve these issues is agitating our minds.

The conference seeks to provide a platform for peace lovers to examine these issues from various angles and to exchange their findings with each other so that a meaningful discussion can be started cutting across ideological, ethnical and national boundaries.

The sub themes of the conference include:

1.Theoretical approaches to peace and conflict resolution
2.Trouble spots of the world and the analysis of peace efforts.
3.Issue of culturalism as a factor for conflict
4.Role of nonviolent techniques in solving conflicts
5.Impact of globalization on peace related issues.
6.Role of Peace Education

The conference is being organized in the centenary year of launching of Satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi launched it on September 11,1906 in
South Africa) and so a special session will be devoted to Satyagraha.

As you are interested in such issues, it is with great pleasure that we invite you to participate in this conference. Due to scarce resources we
will not be able to finance your travel but we will provide you guesthouse double sharing accommodation.

Yours truly,

Professor (Dr.) Naresh Dadhich
Note:

1.Registration fee per participant is $ 150
2.Boarding and Lodging will be provided for some participants free of cost
3.Three Lunches, Dinners and breakfasts are included in the registration fees.
4.No travel allowance will be given
5.Last date for submission of abstract October 30.

For detail contact:
Naresh Dadhich at ndadhich@datainfosys.net or nareshdadhich @ gmail.com

Common Ground News Service
Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
17 - 24 September 2006

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim–Western relations. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French and Indonesian.
For an archive of past CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.
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).

Inside this edition

1) by Nader Hashemi

Gede MN Natih, a member of the advisory board of the Indonesian Conference of Religions for Peace (ICRP), describes the fundamental beliefs of members of the World Conference of Religions for Peace that has met regularly since 1970, representing all major religious traditions. “Sharing a conviction of the fundamental unity of the human family, and the equality and dignity of all human beings, delegates called to mind the declaration of that first assembly. It stated, ‘... It is not religion that has failed the cause of peace, but religious people. This betrayal of religion can and must be corrected.’ Never has it been more crucial to reflect and act upon this declaration.”
(Source: The Jakarta Post, 8 September 2006)

1) Searching for the roots of Islamic fundamentalism
Nader Hashemi

Evanston, Illinois - How can one rationally explain the rise of Islamic fundamentalism today? Why in the age of reason, rationality and secularism have large numbers of people in the Muslim world gravitated and embraced a religious fundamentalist conception of the world? From radical fundamentalist groups such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban to more mainstream organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood (in Egypt) and the Jamaat-e Islami (in Pakistan), the Muslim world seems to be dominated by fundamentalist Muslims. Where can we search for answers? History and sociology, rather than ideology, provide a lens to grapple with this growing social phenomenon.

Throughout human history during times of great social transformation and political turmoil, a natural concomitant has been the revival of religion. This is an observable sociological and historical phenomenon that transcends borders, ethnicities and civilisations. During the Mongol occupation of Russia (1237-1480), for example, the Orthodox Church experienced one of its greatest periods of growth. A similar phenomenon occurred in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Stated simply, social upheaval engenders a reaction where one seeks stability and security by a return to the basic and the familiar. This often means religion. Muslim societies are no different in this regard.

James Piscatori has perceptively noted that “religion, precisely because in the past it answered questions about life and death and provided its followers with moral links to each other, becomes the means by which individuals hope to answer the new question of what it is to be modern, and, in so doing, to gain perhaps a reassuring, common world-view. In this respect, born-again Christians and veiled-again Muslims are responding to the same broad phenomenon.” The upheavals associated with modernity, as Piscatori suggests, are central to understanding the rise of religious fundamentalism.

Modernisation, it should be emphasised, is a traumatic process. In the Western experience it took several hundred years to develop its secular and democratic institutions, much of it through a process of trial and error. The historic intra-Christian wars of religion, political persecution, genocide, the Industrial Revolution, the exploitation of workers, the rise of nationalism, and two world wars, resulted in a profound change in all spheres of life – political, economic, intellectual and religious. Today we are witnessing a similar process of transformation in developing countries with concomitant destabilising affects. One comparative difference is that these changes are taking place more rapidly in the Muslim World (in the last half of the 20th century) than they did in the Western experience which unfolded over the course of hundreds of years.

It is important to appreciate that the modernisation process in the Muslim world has been very different in many respects. Unlike in Europe where it was largely an indigenous process, in the case of Muslim societies, modernisation began as a direct result of the colonial encounter with Europe. Instead of innovation, the Muslim experience was one of imitation in an attempt to play catch up with the West. Muslim countries in the post-colonial era have been split unhealthily into two camps: the elites, who have received a Western-style education and internalised secular values and a large majority that has not. Many regimes are ruled by a gerontocracy of aging men while the majority of their populations are under the age of 30. Most political change since the era of formal independence has been forced top-down on society in an accelerated manner, not bottom-up via an indigenous process of social evolution and democratic negotiation.

In 1935, for example, Reza Pahlavi (the father of the last Shah) ordered his troops to go into the streets of Tehran to forcibly remove – at bayonet point – the veil from women’s heads. These policies were matched in neighbouring Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s harsh secularisation and Westernisation of Turkish society. Two generations later, in the same authoritarian way that the Pahlavi monarchy forcibly removed the veil, Ayatullah Khomeini and his Islamic revolutionaries imposed it on Iranian women with equal determination and rigor. Similarly, the rise of political Islam in Turkey can partially be explained as a counter reaction to Kemalist secularist policies that were imposed on a religious society – 99.8 % of which are Muslims – in a top-down manner to the exclusion of Turkey’s Islamic character. It is against this backdrop that we should situate and explore the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism as a historical phenomenon.

It is tempting to seek easy answers to complex social phenomenon. In the context of the debate on Islamic fundamentalism, an explanation has often been sought by focusing on the doctrinal character of Islam and its alleged anti-modern ethos. While it is tempting to do so, especially in our post-September 11th world, focusing exclusively on ideology at the expense of sociology and history limits our understanding and clouds our judgment of this important and emotionally charged topic.

###

* Nader Hashemi is a post-doctoral fellow in political science at Northwestern University. This is the second of six articles in a series on religious revivalism and Muslim-Western relations commissioned by the Common Ground News Service (www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 19 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) Time to talk
Lee Marsden

Norwich, England – Today, the United States’ campaign to reshape the Middle East is an unmitigated disaster. The ambitious project to create a democratic region has resulted in the deaths of over seventy thousand people, mainly civilians, in the Middle East and beyond. Recent democratic elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Israel have resulted in more rather than less violence. For Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this may be the acceptable “birth pangs of democracy” but for millions in the Middle East the very notion of US-sponsored democracy is a misnomer.

Rather than assisting democracy and the perpetual peace that is supposed to ensue from it, the United States is perceived as a destabilising force that has wrought havoc in many societies and economies, be it intentional or not. In identifying the promotion of democracy as a U.S. national security objective, the Bush administration has sought to influence the outcomes of elections, refused to deal with democratically elected governments not of its choosing, and arguably used democracy promotion as a Trojan horse to undermine governments in Iran and Syria. In doing so, America has seriously undermined both its own democratic credentials and its ability to influence change in the region.

It is the Bush administration's dichotomous presentation of its war on terror that is the greatest obstacle to peace and democracy in the region. In attempting to portray conflicts in the region as between good and evil, freedom and terrorism, democrats and “Islamo-fascists”, debate is closed down and opportunities for engagement rejected. Just as in the Cold War when nationalist movements were equated with communism, so now Islamic movements are regarded as tyrannical and belligerent - to be defeated rather than negotiated with. By stigmatising organisations such as Hizbullah and Hamas as terrorist, which have legitimately built their reputations on extensive social welfare provision and a lack of corruption, there is no longer a necessity to respect their constituencies and democratic mandates. And yet it is only by engagement and searching for common ground that a way forward can be found in the region.

Engagement does not necessarily connote agreement; indeed healthy opposition and rivalry are essential components of democratic practice between nations, just as it is within nations. What is necessary is being able to respect an opponent's right to hold different views. Democrats should seek to convert enemies into adversaries through the contestation of ideas rather than bullets. Demonising organisations and individuals reduces the possibility of negotiating peaceful outcomes to a zero sum game. The demonised want similar things for their own families and neighbours that are taken for granted in America: the right to a peaceful life, to work, be educated, have a decent standard of living and not live under foreign occupation. By branding others as fanatical, irrational and threatening, violent solutions are bound to appear more appropriate than attempts at resolving differences. Conflict resolution requires some recognition that opponents may have legitimate grievances and concerns, and that these need to be addressed.

If the United States is genuinely interested in Middle Eastern democratisation, then it needs to start a dialogue not just with its friends in the region but also with its enemies, including Syria and Iran. It needs to respect the electoral wishes of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and enter into direct talks with Hamas about resuming financial assistance. At the same time it needs to take note that what is good for the Middle East must necessarily be what works for both Israel and its Arab neighbours. As part of a more considered strategy of engagement, leading to the establishment of democratic norms, the United States should encourage the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the immediate release of all democratically elected members of the Palestinian Assembly held in Israeli gaols, insist on respecting the sovereignty of Lebanon and engage with Hizbullah as a component of the Lebanese polity.

Over the past five years, we have heard much from the Bush administration about freedom and liberty but little about justice, fairness and respect in the Middle East. Without these there can be no freedom or liberty, and certainly no democracy. Winston Churchill famously said that “jaw jaw is better than war war”, and this could still be America's contribution to peace in the Middle East. The time has come to start talking directly to leaders of antagonistic governments and organisations, as representatives of their peoples, and seek to achieve settlement to problems on the basis of equity and sustainability.

###

* Lee Marsden is a lecturer in International Relations at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 19 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

3) ~YOUTH VIEWS~ College students search for innovative methods of peace
Daniel Armanios

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania –In the aftermath of the recent Hizbullah-Israeli conflict and with continued violence in the Gaza strip, the days of Yitzhak Rabin, Anwar el-Sadat, King Hussein, and even the Oslo-days of Yassir Arafat, days of hope for peace, seem a distant nostalgic memory.

From 31 March to 2 April 2006, twenty-two U.S. college students from across the country came to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to genuinely change the prevailing sense of despair about Middle Eastern conflicts. They came together because they felt it was time to sincerely recognise the profound 1977 words of Anwar el-Sadat at the Knesset: “No one can build his happiness at the expense of the misery of others.” Together they decided to defy the hopelessness that seems the norm in the Middle East by finding new innovative methods to rejuvenate the quest for permanent regional peace. Together, American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) interns, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) members, Palestine refugee activists, college Democrats and Republicans, Central Asians, Christians, Jews and Muslims decided the time to change complacency with the status quo was now.

Through a forum called Session: Middle East, founded at the University of Pittsburgh, the successes of the 1978-1979 Camp David Summit and the 1991 Madrid Conference and, yes, even the failures of Camp David II in 2000, were considered in light of current events to help promote new grassroots methods for peace. Student participants role-played not just leaders intimately involved in the conflict but also journalists, scientists, and others devoted to regional awareness and peace. Unlike other conventional simulation methods, for participants to understand the “other”, role reversals were conducted so that those holding pro-Israeli views were often asked to adopt Arab positions and vice versa.

The results of this simulation were as diverse and creative as the participants involved. Israel employed a series of good-faith measures towards the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) such as increased water from Israeli reserves and joint management of permanent check points in return for a PNA-issued immediate cease fire. Lebanon recognised Israel as a state so long as Israel joined in talks regarding its status in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (PNA), respect of Lebanese sovereignty, and the Palestinian right of return. Through all these events, student journalists chronicled events, as mock reporters for the Jerusalem Post and Al-Hayat. Student scientific experts, simulating the roles of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), provided technical assistance for scientific aspects of the agreed-upon resolutions.

For the observer, this was truly an investment in hope for the future. Just as Sadat boldly appeared before the Knesset, these student participants met with their many diverse peers in Pittsburgh with only the mutual and sincere desire for peaceful regional progress and cooperation. Participants left with an understanding not just of the causes for regional tension and conflict in the present day but of the “other”, those whose shoes they rarely get to walk in, let alone take the journey with. They left knowing that they have the tools to generate much-needed creativity and hope in a region and society mired in seemingly unchanging despair.

This student-initiated and student-run movement for genuine and innovative methods for peace is spreading across the United States and Canada. The student bodies of the University of Georgia, the University of California at Irvine, and the University of Toronto in Scarborough have all expressed interest in constructing similar forums amongst students in their respective regions. Hopefully, more will find their own personalised versions of the regions leaders and hold dear to the knowledge that they can create change today that will last well into tomorrow.

###

* Daniel Armanios is the president and founder of Session: Middle East at the University of Pittsburgh. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 19 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

4) White House sends peace vibrations at Tehran
David Ignatius

Washington, D.C. - What would President George W. Bush say to the Iranian people if he had a chance to communicate directly with them? I was able to put that question to Bush in a one-on-one interview in the Oval Office on Wednesday. His answer made clear that the administration wants a diplomatic solution to the confrontation over Iran's nuclear program - one that is premised on an American recognition of Iran's role as an important nation in the Middle East.

"I would say to the Iranian people: We respect your history. We respect your culture. We admire the entrepreneurial skills of your people. I would say to the Iranian people that I recognise the importance of your sovereignty - that you're a proud nation, and you want to have a positive future for your citizens," Bush said, answering quickly and without notes.

"In terms of the nuclear issue," he continued, "I understand that you believe it is in your interest - your sovereign interest, and your sovereign right - to have nuclear power. I understand that. But I would also say to the Iranian people, there are deep concerns about the intentions of some in your government who would use knowledge gained from a civilian nuclear power industry to develop a weapon that can then fulfil the stated objectives of some of the leadership (to attack Israel and threaten the United States). And I would say to the Iranian people that I would want to work for a solution to meeting your rightful desires to have civilian nuclear power."

"I would tell the Iranian people that we have no desire for conflict," Bush added.

He expressed hope that Iran would help stabilise Iraq, but he said the best channel for this dialogue would be through Iraq's new prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, who was in Tehran this week. And he called for a new program of cultural and educational exchanges between the United States and Iran, as a way of encouraging greater contact and trust.

Bush's comments were a clear public signal of the administration's strategy in the confrontation over Iran's nuclear program. In recent days, the Washington rumour mill has been bubbling with talk that the administration is planning military options for dealing with the crisis, perhaps in the near term. But Bush's remarks went in a different direction. His stress was on reassuring Iran that the United States recognises its ambitions to be an advanced nation, with a robust civilian nuclear power program and a role in shaping the Middle East commensurate with its size and power. The red lines for America involve nuclear weapons, military threats to Israel or the United States, and Iran's links to terrorist groups.

Bush's comments tracked the offer the United States and its allies have made to Iran if it agrees to suspend its enrichment of uranium. He proposed that the West supply enriched uranium to Iran and other countries and collect the nuclear waste. He argued that this global program "would be a solution that would answer a deep desire from the Iranian people to have a nuclear power industry."

On Iraq, Bush said Maliki's visit to Tehran was "aimed at convincing the Iranians that a stable Iraq is in their interest. They have said so many times, and I think Prime Minister Maliki is now attempting to find out what that means, and how the Iraqi government can work with the Iranians to create a sense of stability."

Bush said he had read commentary criticising Maliki's trip. "I disagree. Prime Minister Maliki should go to Iran. It is in Iraq's national interest that relations with Iran be such that there are secure borders and no cross-border issues, including the exportation of equipment that can harm Iraqi citizens as well as coalition troops, and the exportation of extremism that can prevent this young [Iraqi] democracy from flourishing."

Our discussion followed the 12-day visit to America by Iran's former president, Mohammad Khatami. I asked Bush why he had approved this visit by a high-level Iranian, and what he thought it had accomplished. "One of the dilemmas facing [American] policymakers is to understand the nature, the complex nature of the Iranian regime. And I thought it would be beneficial for our country to receive the former leader, Khatami, to hear what he had to say. And as importantly for him, to hear what Americans had to say." He wanted Khatami to understand that on the nuclear issue and Hizbullah's attacks on Israel, "it's not just George W. Bush speaking."

The Khatami visit "said that the United States is willing to listen to voices," Bush explained. "And I hope that sends a message to the Iranian people that we're an open society, and that we respect the people of Iran." Clearly, the White House wants to reach out to segments of Iranian opinion beyond the hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I asked Bush what next steps he would favour in opening dialogue with Iran. "I would like to see more cultural exchanges," he said. "I would like to see university exchanges. I would like to see more people-to-people exchanges."

"I know that the more we can show the Iranian people the true intention of the American government," Bush concluded, "the more likely it is that we will be able to reach a diplomatic solution to a difficult problem." I came away with a sense that Bush is serious about finding a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis, and that he is looking hard for ways to make the connections between America and Iran.

###

* David Ignatius is a syndicated columnist. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Daily Star, 16 September 2006, www.dailystar.com.lb (http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) Interfaith forum opens pathways to understanding
Gede MN Natih

Jakarta - Representing all major religious traditions, more than 800 religious leaders from more than 100 countries convened last month in Kyoto, Japan, at the Eighth World Assembly of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), to address the theme, "Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security".

The first Religions for Peace World Assembly, convened in Kyoto in 1970, and every assembly since, has affirmed deeply held and widely shared religious principles that still inspire our search for peace with justice today. Sharing a conviction of the fundamental unity of the human family, and the equality and dignity of all human beings, delegates called to mind the declaration of that first assembly. It stated, "... It is not religion that has failed the cause of peace, but religious people. This betrayal of religion can and must be corrected." Never has it been more crucial to reflect and act upon this declaration.

Today we live in the grip of many forms of violence, both direct and structural, and violent conflicts take lives and destroy communities. The diverse and interconnected threats currently experienced by innumerable members of the human family call for a much broader understanding of violence in the world, and the world's religious communities must play a central role partnering with one another and all sectors of society to prevent and stop war, expose injustice, combat poverty and protect the earth. The time to do this is now and our key to confronting violence is cooperation based on mutual respect and acceptance.

Direct physical threats are the most commonly offered definition of violence, but in reality violence takes many diverse and complex forms. Economic injustices leading to extreme poverty and hunger kill 50,000 people each day, while preventable and treatable diseases kill millions. Meanwhile, 25 million people have already died from AIDS while some 40 million more are living with AIDS and HIV. The impact on our communities is devastating.

Many corporations, especially at the multinational level, pursue their business interests without concern for values that foster sustainable development, while environmental degradation and dwindling resources threaten our planet's ability to sustain life. Victims are the poor and the powerless who are vulnerable to violence in all forms.

As people of religious conviction, all delegates agreed that we hold the responsibility to effectively confront violence within our own communities whenever religion is misused as a justification or excuse for violence. Religious communities need to express their opposition whenever religion and its sacred principles are distorted in the service of violence.

Our religious teachings call us to care for one another and to treat the problems faced by others as our own. Furthermore, there are practical grounds for cooperation. No group is immune to violence or its consequences. War, poverty, disease and the destruction of the environment have a direct or indirect impact on all of us.

Individuals and communities deceive themselves if they believe they are secure while others are suffering. Walls can never be high enough to insulate us from the impact of the genuine needs and vulnerabilities of others. No nation can be secure while other nations are threatened. We are no safer than the most vulnerable among us.

Security is a shared commitment and the moral and ethical convictions of diverse religious traditions around the world provide a moral foundation for confronting violence in its many forms. All people have a collective responsibility to meet our common need for security.

Looking back to the Seventh World Assembly of Religions for Peace, in Amman, Jordan, in 1999, it is encouraging to learn about the peace initiatives that have been implemented by dedicated people around the world since that time. There is still so much to do but Religions for Peace has become a major global multireligious voice and agent for peace. Guided by respect for religious differences, in Indonesia and around the world, we will keep striving to foster multireligious collaboration harnessing the power of religious communities to transform conflict, build peace and advance sustainable development.

In Kyoto, the delegates committed themselves to prevent and confront violence in all its forms. They believe in the power of multireligious cooperation to advance a common vision of shared security. We are determined to mobilise our religious communities to work together and with all sectors of society to stop war, struggle to build more just communities, foster education for justice and peace, eliminate poverty and advance sustainable development for future generations.

###

* Gede MN Natih is a member of the advisory board of the Indonesian Conference of Religions for Peace (ICRP). This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: The Jakarta Post, 8 September 2006, www.thejakartapost.com (http://www.thejakartapost.com)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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 Chris Binkley (cbinkley@sfcg.org) for more information on contributing.

About CGNews-PiH
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 constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, 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.

The Common Ground News Service also commissions and distributes solution-oriented articles by local and international experts to promote constructive perspectives and encourage dialogue about current Middle East issues. This service, Common Ground News Service - Middle East (CGNews-ME), is available in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. To subscribe, click here. (http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?list=cgnews)

The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.

Common Ground News Service
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite #200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Ph: +1(202) 265-4300
Fax: +1(202) 232-6718

Rue Belliard 205 Bte 13 B-1040
Brussels, Belgium
Ph: +32(02) 736-7262
Fax: +32(02) 732-3033

E-mail : cgnewspih@sfcg.org
Website : www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/index.php?sid=1&lang=en)

Editors
Emad Khalil (Amman)
Juliette Schmidt (Beirut)
Chris Binkley (Dakar)
Emmanuelle Hazan (Geneva)
Medhy Hidayat (Jakarta)
Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Andrew Kessinger (Washington)

Translators
Olivia Qusaibaty (Washington)
Rio Rinaldo (Jakarta)
Zeina Safa (Beirut)

CGNews is a not-for-profit news service.

America's Promise Restored
by Harlan Ullman

From the architect of the U.S. military's "shock and awe" doctrine and mentor to former Secretary of State Colin Powell comes an explosive explanation of why our country's current political culture and capacity for crusade is far more destructive than all of Al Qaeda's deadly intentions. Buy Here

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org
Special Issue - September 19

*****************************************************************
Dear Colleagues,

On October 18, the World Youth Movement for Democracy will celebrate World Youth Day for Democracy, as part of the Global Youth Campaign for Democracy.

Launched last year, the Global Youth Democracy Campaign promotes activities around the world that:
- Mobilize youth to organize and participate in debates, rallies, educational campaigns, vigils, and other non-violent actions to promote democratic values and concepts;
- Educate youth and the larger community about the importance of human rights, press freedom, active citizenship, and other democratic principles;
- Raise awareness of the positive contributions youth are making to democracy in the world; and
- Strengthen the international network of young democracy activists by getting more people involved and participating.

The World Youth Movement for Democracy emerged from the third WMD Assembly in South Africa to support young people and those working with youth to build real democracy around the world. Based on the vision and ideals of the World Movement for Democracy, the WYMD aims to strengthen pro-democracy movements by incorporating the active and equal participation of youth, as well as providing a platform for young democracy activists to address the importance of democratic values, a forum for them to share information and ideas, and an action-oriented, solidarity movement.

We invite all participants in the World Movement for Democracy who are interested in youth participation to join the WYMD, and to organize an event during October as part of the Global Youth Campaign for Democracy! The day is coming up fast, so we encourage participants to think realistically about what they could organize in a short time, something they would like to share with other WYMD participants, something they want to contribute to this collective effort of youth around the world working for true democracy, responsive governments, active citizenship, and human rights.

For more information about the World Youth Movement for Democracy, or to register with us, please visit our website, www.ymd.youthlink.org.
You can learn more about the World Youth Day for Democracy and register your event at www.ymd.youthlink.org/ymd/launchday.html.

Those interested in ongoing partnership with the WYMD are invited to please contact the secretariat directly.

Thank you for your participation!
Best wishes,
Andrea Des Marais
Secretariat Coordinator, World Youth Movement for Democracy Global Youth Action Network Regional Headquarters - Sao Paulo, Brasil www.ymd.youthlink.org
andrea@youthlink.org
Tel: (+55) 11 3815 9926 Fax: (+55) 11 3819 8593

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

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

World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
Association Mondiale des Radios Communautaires
Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the International Board of Directors of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters’ (AMARC) and AmmanNet, we are writing to update you on preparations for the Ninth World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters to be held in Amman, Jordan, 11 to 17 November 2006 and to invite you to join us and to contribute to this event.

Jordanian Internet pioneer and FM community broadcaster, Ammannet, (http://ammannet.net) will host the conference, in partnership with media and journalists groups from Jordan and Palestine. AMARC 9 will bring together 300 to 400 community broadcasters and stakeholders from over 110 countries and all regions of the world. Under the theme “Voices of the World - Freedom of the Airwaves” the conference will consist of expert debate, practical workshops, sharing of experience and strategy building to remove barriers and increase impact.

We commence with a one day event on “Media Freedom in the Middle East and North Africa”. On 12th November, the AMARC Women’s International Network will host the event “Women’s Voices for Gender Equality”. From 13th – 15th November will be the main event focussing on “Media, freedom and social justice”, looking at how we can remove the barriers, increase our impact and build a strong community media movement. On the 16th November AMARC General Assembly will take place, open to observers, and at the closing ceremony, on 17th November, will be presented the AMARC International Solidarity Prize.

AMARC’s International Board and International Secretariat, colleagues of Ammannet Radio and other local organizations participating in the organization of AMARC 9 are working enthusiastically to ensure the event will be highly productive, participatory and enjoyable, as well as a valuable working and learning experience for all participants. AMARC and AmmanNet cordially invite you to join us in Amman. For further information, regular updates and registration, please visit the AMARC9 Conference website at: www.amarc9.amarc.org

Warm regards,
Steve Buckley, President, AMARC
Daoud Kuttab, Director, AmmanNet

The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope
by Zainab Salbi
photographs by Susan Meiselas, Sylvia Plachy and Lekha Singh
edited by Laurie Becklund
preface by Alice Walker

WASHINGTON (September 19, 2006) - Women for Women International announces the release of The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope, authored by President and CEO Zainab Salbi and published by National Geographic. In this bold and heart-rending commentary, Salbi takes readers into the heart of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Sudan to hear the stories of women who daily reclaim the lives of their families and communities from the ashes of conflict.

Some 120 intimate pictures by award-winning photographers Susan Meiselas, Sylvia Plachy and Lekha Singh introduce readers to these remarkable women. Even though the women's stories are marked by unthinkable brutality - rape, mutilation and murder - they are also marked by courage, hope, healing and renewal.

Against all odds, these women have repaired communities, raised children, returned to school, started businesses and shed their shame and silence about what they have endured. Their courage will enrich, inspire and challenge those who read this timely volume.

Read the full press release - including photos from the book - and learn more about the Other Side of War on our website www.womenforwomen.org!

PRESS RELEASE
September 19, 2006
CONTACT: Rebecca Milner
202.737.7705 x 9608
rmilner@womenforwomen.org

Torture: How to Stop It

Panel discussion

Jennifer Harbury, human rights lawyer, author of "Truth, Torture And The American Way," widow of assassinated Guatemalan resistance leader
Rev. George Hunsinger, Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and founding organizer of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Matthew Kennis, Field Organizer, Amnesty International

Member of Witness Against Torture, a group of twenty four friends, who walked to Guantánamo, in December 2005, to visit the prisoners

Moderated by
Ibrahim Ramey, Director of Civil and Human Rights, Muslim American Society

For more information, call (212) 864-4013

Sponsored by: New York Religious Campaign Against Torture

Co-sponsored by: Peace Education Center and Peace Action NYS

Dear Friends and colleagues

We are pleased to announce that the Call for Applications for our Annual Global Linking & Learning Programme on Human Rights in Development is now open. Please help circulate this announcement.

What?
Annual Global Learning Programme on Human Rights in Development

When?
1-11 December 2006

Where?
Malaysia (Port Dickson and Kuala Lumpur)

Who?

Organisers:
Dignity International in partnership with Pusat Komas - a popular communication centre of Malaysia
Support from: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Oxfam Novib

Applicant profile:
Development actors from grassroots, national and international development NGOs that are beginning to integrate human rights in development work. Development NGOs beginning work on Human Rights Based Approaches are encouraged to apply. Applicants should be in key positions within their organisations and with solid experience and responsibility in a range of areas, including programming, advocacy and campaigning.

Summary of the programme:
Human rights and development worlds have run parallel to each other, each with its own history, its own constituency, with its own strengths, weaknesses, successes and failures. The more recent advances, such as the greater recognition of not only legal justice but also economic and social justice combined with increased work around economic, social and cultural rights by the human rights community on the one hand, and the recognition of poverty as a human rights issue by the development community on the other, have brought the two seemingly parallel worlds closer together.

A step in this direction are the Human Rights Based Approaches (HRBAs) which can be viewed as an attempt at a conversation between the two worlds of human rights and development.

The Learning programme will be based on the rich development experience of the participants themselves. Participants will be placed in a non-formal, participatory, people centred and process oriented learning framework. Participants will explore together the meaning of human rights in development work and how integration of human rights into development work translates into concrete strategies and development programming at the grassroots and international levels.

Language:
English

Financial information:
200 Euro participation fee (programme materials, lunches and coffee breaks), 510 Euros (single accommodation, breakfast and dinners) for 10 days. All selected paricipants are requested to cover their own travel, board, lodging and other incidental expenses. Please note that no one will be excluded for financial reasons and that limited scholarships will be available for those with no alternative financial means to participate especially those from the developing countries or from grassroots development organisations. Further details are provided in the information document.
For the Information Document, please see: http://www.dignityinternational.org/dg/RC/Dignitydocs/2006/2006_HRD_global.pdf

For the Application form, please see: http://www.dignityinternational.org/dg/RC/Dignitydocs/2006/2006_HRD_globalapplicationform.doc

If you have difficulties accessing the documents from the website and would like the documents to be sent via e-mail, please send a mail to: applications@dignityinternational.org

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 17 October 2006 (International Day for the Eradication of Poverty)

Thank you.
Dignity International - http://www.dignityinternational.org
Pusat Komas - http://www.komas.org/

Scholarshipf for Americans to Study / Do Research in Azerbaijan and Former Soviet Countries

IREX is pleased to announce the 2007 competition of the Individual
Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) Program. The IARO Program
provides fellowships to US scholars and professionals for overseas
research on contemporary political, economic, historical, or cultural
developments relevant to US foreign policy. Limited funding is also
available for non-policy-relevant topics.

IARO applications and supporting materials are available on the IREX
website at http://www.irex. org/programs/ iaro/index.asp

The application deadline is November 15, 2006.

Fellowships will be awarded to Masters students,
Predocs, Postdocs and
Professionals with advanced degrees.

The countries eligible for research are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia and
Montenegro, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

IARO Fellowships cover travel expenses and a living/housing stipend.

IARO is funded by the United States Department of State Title VIII
Program and the IREX Scholar Support Fund.

Questions may be addressed to the IARO Program Staff at IARO@... or
by calling 202/628-8188.

IREX, 2121 K Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC
20037 USA
Phone: 202-628-8188

Alexander M. Cheryomukhin
www.iiconnect.org

Dear colleagues

Welcome to the 8th Conference on Social and Community Psychology in Trondheim,
9-10 November, 2006. See attachment for further information.

Please feel free to forward this message to interested colleagues. Students from your institutions are also most welcome.

Best regards,

Section for Social and Community Psychology
Ute Gabriel
______________________________________

Dr. Ute GABRIEL
Associate Professor for Social Psychology
Department of Psychology
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
NTNU
Dragvoll, Office 12.413
N-7491 Trondheim
Phone: +47 735 91 778
Fax: +47 735 91 920
http://www.svt.ntnu.no/psy/ute.gabriel/

Falstadsenteret har gleden av å invitere til det årvisse Falstadseminaret. Seminaret arrangeres på Falstadsenteret torsdag 12.oktober, under tittelen "Fangens moralske dilemma".

Innledere vil være

Bernt H. Lund - ambassadør, politisk fange i konsentrasjonsleirer i Norge og Tyskland under den annen verdenskrig. Tidsvitne for Hvite Busser til Auschwitz og Aktive Fredsreiser.

Ingrid Lomfors - historiker og FD museichef, Göteborgs Stadsmuseum. Forfatter av boken ”Blind fläck - Minne och glömska kring Svenska Röda Korsets hjälpinsats i Nazi-tyskland 1945".

Thomas Brudholm - Filosof og forsker ved DIIS - Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier, avdeling for holocaust og folkedrab. Arbeider med filosofiske og etiske problemstillinger knyttet til forbrytelser mot menneskeheten.

Program (med forbehold om endringer) finner dere her (http://www.falstadsenteret.no/2_moetested/program-invit06.pdf ) og her som utskriftsvennlig versjon (http://www.falstadsenteret.no/2_moetested/program-invit-print.htm)

Påmelding gjøres til seminar06@falstadsenteret.no innen 2. oktober

Mer informasjon finnes på www.falstadsenteret.no

Med vennlig hilsen
Falstadsenteret

Appel à candidatures pour un financement en 2007
Etudiants de 2ème cycle / Doctorants / Post-doctorants /
Chercheurs
Institutions

L’Ifas-Recherche rappelle aux unités de recherche, chercheurs et étudiants de sciences humaines et sociales travaillant sur l’Afrique australe que toutes les demandes de financement pour des travaux de recherche, terrains, événements ou soutien à la publication sur l’année 2007 doivent impérativement nous parvenir par courrier électronique uniquement (secretariatrecherche@ifas.org.za) avant le 15 octobre 2006. De nouveaux formulaires de demandes et la liste des pièces à fournir doivent être téléchargés sur le site de l’IFAS: http://www.ifas.org.za/research/pdf/demande_financement_2007.doc

Toutes les demandes seront prises en considération. Cependant, les projets en rapport avec la programmation de l’Institut auront la priorité. Aucune condition de nationalité n’est appliquée. Cet appel est donc clairement destiné à susciter des projets de la part de chercheurs à la fois européens et d’Afrique australe. Au-delà des thèmes cités ci-après, les chercheurs désireux de soumettre des projets de nature comparative (Afrique australe – Europe) nécessitant un terrain en France sont bienvenus. Pour rappel, voir ci-dessous la liste des quatre domaines de recherche principaux de la programmation actuelle.

Les critères d’éligibilité des dossiers sont :

· l’existence ou la perspective d’un partenariat entre la France ou des pays francophones et l’Afrique australe ;
· un budget global du projet ne dépassant pas 40 000 rands sud-africains ou 4500 euros ;
· la participation financière d’une autre institution.

Les demandes seront traitées et des réponses adressés à tous les porteurs de projet par courrier électronique avant le 20 décembre 2006.

1. Villes d’Afrique australe: Dynamiques urbaines et gouvernance
Questions de sécurité, privatisation des services publics, gouvernement local, VIH-Sida et gouvernement local, migration et xénophobie, développement historique des villes d’Afrique australe.

2. Mutations démocratiques en Afrique australe
a. Cartographie des dynamiques électorales, dynamiques partisanes, républicanisme;
b. Transformations juridiques : avancées constitutionnelles, protection des minorités, mesures d’Affirmative action; régimes du droit international des Droits de l’Homme et des réfugiés et demandeurs d’asile, transformation de la citoyenneté, défis de l’accès aux services publics de base;
c. Démocratie et media y compris défis du gouvernement électronique et de la démocratie numérique;
d. Education et transformation: l’école et les processus de construction nationale, politique linguistique, transformation de l’enseignement supérieur, formation des élites.

3. Perspective de la longue durée sur l’histoire du peuplement en Afrique australe
Connaissance pluridisciplinaire des middle et late stone age; flux migratoires anciens et contemporains dans les domaines de l’histoire, de la socio-anthropologie, de la linguistique et de la science politique.

4. La France, l’Afrique du Sud et le continent africain
Sécurité, prévention et résolution des conflits, maintien de la paix; intégration régionale et développement économique, relations UE-SADC et NEPAD.

MAISON DES SCIENCES DE L'HOMME, 54, Boulevard Raspail, 75270 Paris Cedex 06, France

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ***
Special Issue of Political Psychology: Political Reconciliation

The editors of Political Psychology are planning a special issue of the journal focusing on Political Reconciliation. The deadline for submission is May 31, 2007. Please see further down the call for submissions for more information.
Thank you.

--ISPP Central Office

*** CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ***

Special Issue of Political Psychology
Political Reconciliation

The latter half of the twentieth century has been characterized as a period of bloody and protracted ethnic, religious, and political conflicts. As some of these conflicts end (while others rage on), social scientists have begun to study the fascinating process of individual and societal reconciliation. Some researchers have focused their attention on various individual processes central to reconciliation including perceived social justice, retribution, guilt, shame, forgiveness, altered intergroup perceptions, and collective memory. Others have examined broader societal and institutional influences on the reconciliation process, including the role of truth and reconciliation commissions, public trials, and reparations. Still others have concentrated more specifically on individual conflicts and their resolution. The goal of this special issue is to further explore the psychological factors and processes that promote or inhibit reconciliation in the aftermath of intractable conflict, expand theoretical frameworks that can account for reconciliation across differing contexts, and provide a selective integration of work on the topic. Political Psychology is therefore inviting and soliciting manuscripts for a special issue on Political Reconciliation. Submissions are encouraged from all subfields of political psychology, including social psychology, international relations, conflict resolution, and political behavior. Manuscripts, irrespective of subfield, should adopt a political psychological approach. All manuscripts will be peer reviewed by a minimum of three experts in the field. Acceptance of all papers is conditional on satisfactory reviews.

All manuscripts should be submitted to the editors following the submission instructions for regular manuscripts.

(See:http://www.sunysb.edu/polsci/polpsych/Guidelines.html)
Authors should note that the submission is intended for consideration in the special issue. The deadline for submission is May 31, 2007.

Occupation and Remembrance in Northern and Central Europe

Falstadsenteret i Levanger inviterer med dette til senterets internasjonale åpningskonferanse "Occupation and Remembrance in Northern and Central Europe" 29.september - 1.oktober. Konferansen arrangeres i samarbeid med ICOM/ IC MEMO.

Tema for konferansen er okkupasjonshistorie og erindringskultur i et utvalg land og regioner i Nord- og Sentral-Europa. Konferansen vil samle forskere på feltet fra Norge, Danmark, Estland, Nederland, Tsjekkia og Tyskland. Program ligger på http://www.falstadsenteret.no/Konferanse/falstadprog.htm

Konferansepris er kr. 1600,- inklusive overnatting og mat. For deltakere som ikke skal overnatte er prisen kr. 600,-. Avgiften betales innen 25. september til bankkonto 8670.09.79905. Innbetalingen merkes med deltakernavn og "konferanse". Påmelding skjer enten per e-post til post@falstadsenteret.no eller fax 74028041.

Spørsmål kan rettes til konservator Jon Reitan, tlf. 74028054/ jr@falstadsenteret.no eller til tlf. 74028040/post@falstadsenteret.no

Velkommen!

The Human Behaviour Experiments on The Big Picture with Avi Lewis Sept 13 on CBC Newsworld

The new doc & debate show kicks off September 13 with The Human Behaviour Experiments, a film that looks at the famous psychological studies from our past to understand some of the most troubling events of today. Riveting and thought-provoking, the film challenges the notion of "a few bad apples" and whether anyone can emerge from a rotten barrel untainted.

Says Avi: "When the infamous Abu Ghraib photos first came out, I had a wicked case of déjà vu. We had seen gruesome trophy photos of soldiers posing with tortured corpses before: Canadian soldiers in the Somalia Affair of 1993. Watching Alex Gibney's latest film, I realized that this pattern keeps repeating. We put ordinary people in what are called "atrocity-producing situations" and they are capable of things they would never have thought possible. But there is also a fierce debate about just how much the situation - or the system - determines our actions, and how much individual personalities are to blame."

Watch a short video clip of the film at: www.cbc.ca/bigpicture

Meet The Guests
Alex Gibney is an Emmy and Grammy award-winning writer, director and producer whose work includes the critically acclaimed Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Trials of Henry Kissinger .
Barbara Coloroso is the author of four bestsellers and is an internationally recognized speaker in the areas of parenting, teaching, school discipline, non-violent conflict resolution and reconciliatory justice. Her new book is Extraordinary Evil: A brief study of Genocide and Why It Matters.
Chris Hedges is the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He is a former New York Times reporter and veteran war correspondent.
Janis Karpinski is the former Brigadier General in charge of Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq when the torture scandal broke.
Aidan Delgado is a former Abu Ghraib mechanic and conscientious objector.
Chris Corrigan is a retired Colonel who trained senior officers leading the mission in Afghanistan including Brigadier General David Fraser.
Deepak Obhrai is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Sherene Razack is the author of Dark Threats and White Knights: The Somalia Affair, Peacekeeping, and the New Imperialism.

About The Big Picture with Avi Lewis
Each 2-hour show will kick off with a large studio audience gathered to watch a documentary. Then the action will really get going as audience members get up close and personal with the filmmakers, people featured in the documentary, and others knowledgeable and passionate about the issues. Drawing on his experience in film, television and activism, Avi will hone in on the Canadian connections and feature people from across the country and across the political divide.

WEDNESDAYS · SEPT 13-OCT 4 · 10pm ET/PT
Repeating Sundays at 7pm ET. Check local listings.

Join Our Big Picture Campaign
Please visit our cool Big Picture Campaign page and use our Mass Email tool to forward this email and add your own message. Or help spread the word by sending an e-card to 3 friends and downloading an e-flyer for postering.
Check out our new online poll to let us know what issues you would like to see the discussion get into. For all you bloggers out there, let us know if you're talking about The Big Picture and we can get you linked to the CBC's Blog Trakker. Let's get the debate revving now!

Get involved in The Big Picture with Avi Lewis Campaign at www.HelloCoolWorld.com/BigPicture
For more info about the campaign, email: bigpicture@hellocoolworld.com

About The Films

SEPT 13 · The Human Behaviour Experiments

In 1962, Dr. Stanley Milgram conducts an experiment at Yale University. Subjects are ordered by a scientist to deliver increasingly harmful electric shocks to a pleading and protesting victim. The majority go all the way to the top...

In 2004, an anonymous caller claiming to be a police officer convinces the Management of a Kentucky McDonald's to strip-search an employee. The incident culminates in physical and sexual abuse...

In 1971, in the basement of Stanford University, a mock prison is created. After only six days, the experiment is deemed out of control and shut down...

In 2004, photos of torture from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal are released...

The Human Behaviour Experiments revisits famous psychology studies to explore why human beings commit unethical acts under particular conditions. If you find this interesting, check out The Torture Question airing Sunday, Sept 17 at 10pm ET/PT on the Passionate Eye on CBC Newsworld.

SEPT 20 · The Root of All Evil?
"Religious faith discourages independent thought, it's divisive and it's dangerous." Famed evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins puts religion on trial. Let's put his ideas on trial.

SEPT 27 · The Truth About Global Warming: Can We Save Planet Earth?
Legendary UK broadcaster Sir David Attenborough explores the terrifying consequences of global warming. What must we do now to prevent catastrophic climate change? Part 1 of this two-part series - The Truth about Global Warming: Are We Changing This Planet? - airs Sunday, Sept 24 at 10pm ET/PT on the Passionate Eye on CBC Newsworld.

OCT 4 · HotHouse
Go behind the walls of Israel's maximum-security prisons, where Palestinian leaders are being democratically elected from behind bars. If you find this interesting, check out Impact of Terror a doc special airing Thursday, Oct 5 at 10pm ET/PT.

Find out about related docs: visit the Passionate Eye website
Sign up for more doc info: Subscribe to CBC Newsworld's doc newsletter

ABOUT HELLOCOOLWORLD.COM
HelloCoolWorld.com is a grassroots "idea distribution" network and web application supporting films TheTake.org, TheCorporation.com, ScaredSacred.org, and more. These sites are hosted and maintained by us through our online CMS tools. We manage their email lists and our campaign page links issues in the films to ongoing efforts for social change.

Good Company Communications Inc.
308-611 Alexander,
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1E1 Canada

Madame, Monsieur,

J'ai l'honneur de vous inviter au Colloque Mémoire et Droits Humains qui aura lieu les 23 et 24 novembre 2006 au Palais des Nations à Genève.

http://www.aide-federation.org/3/geneve_colloque.html

Cette rencontre permettra de confronter les différents points de vue, de débattre en quoi l’absence de ce travail de Mémoire contribue en quelque sorte à perpétuer les crimes commis et à instituer d’une certaine manière des violations permanentes des droits humains.

Connaissant l’intérêt que vous attachez aux problèmes des droits Humains, nous comptons fermement sur votre présence, ce qui enrichira à coup sûr les débats sur ce sujet d’une brûlante actualité.

Dans l’attente du plaisir de votre confirmation, nous vous prions de croire, Madame, Monsieur, à nos remerciements anticipés.

RESERVATION
http://www.aide-federation.org/3/rev.php

Pour information ci joint le lien du compte rendu de la conférence qu'AIDE Fédération a organisé le 8,9 et 10 mai à Geneve autour du thème: LES OBJECTIFS DU MILLENAIRE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT : LA SOCIETE CIVILE POUR SURMONTER LES OBSTACLES: http://www.aide-federation.org/3/3_1.html

Madam, Sir,

I have the honor to invite you in the Conference MEMORY AND HUMAN RIGHTS, on November 23rd-24th, 2006 - United Nations - Geneva

http://www.aide-federation.org/3/geneve_colloque.html

This meeting will allow to confront the various points of view, to discuss in what the absence of this work of Memory contributes in a sense to immortalize the committed crimes and to establish in a certain way of the permanent violations of human rights.

Knowing the interest which you attach to the problems of human rights, we count firmly on your presence.

Sincerely Yours.

RESERVATION
http://www.aide-federation.org/3/rev_e.php

Abdelkbir EL HAKKAOUI
Président AIDE Fédération
29 rue Traversière 75012 Paris
tél: 00 33 1 40 19 91 51
el-hakkaoui@aide-federation.org
http://www.aide-federation.org

The west must address the roots of Islamic struggle
By Harlan Ullman
Thursday Sep 7 2006.
http://www.ft.com/

His approval ratings are dropping, violence in Iraq is surging and Republican control of Congress after the November elections is in the balance. Consequently, George W. Bush is taking his case for what is now called "winning the struggle between freedom and terror in the Middle East" on the road. In the coming weeks, the president will deliver a series of what he calls "non-political" speeches to persuade the public he is on the right track.

Dissenters and critics are scolded for ignoring Munich in 1938 and accused of abetting a new brand of the old appeasement that brought on the second world war. Mr Bush has adopted the neo-conservative description of the enemy as "Islamist fascists". One wonders if the enemy views us as Judeo and Christo-fascists? Regardless, the Munich analogy is wrong. Appeasement is not our main problem. More relevant is the summer of 1789 in Paris and the French Revolution.

Today, two powerful revolutions are sweeping the Arab and Muslim worlds. The first pits citizens demanding greater slices of political and economic pies against their autocratic governments. The second is the growing struggle between fundamentalism and modernism in determining Islam's future. The west is oblivious to these revolutions, to the forces causing them and to consequences that could be as profound as what happened in Paris more than two centuries ago.

...

The roots of these revolutions are not conceptually different from the seeds for Hitler and his fascism and for the Soviet Union that were sown after the first world war by the refusal of the allies to rehabilitate the defeated powers. Desperation, humiliation, disenfranchisement and deprivation led to violence and revolution then and now.

...

Please find the entire article on https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=&location=http%3A//www.ft.com/cms/s/b0be855a-3ed6-11db-b4de-0000779e2340.html

The Dilemmas of Social Democracies: Overcoming Obstacles to a More Just World
by Howard Richards and Joanna Swanger

“In this fascinating collection of studies of the obstacles to the realization of the deep principles of social democracy, cooperation, and sharing, the endless failures of well-meant programs of betterment are honestly faced. The key insight, which reflects movements in the human sciences generally, is to foreground the role of culture in the reproduction of obstacles to the realization of a just world. There are no mechanisms of failure. Diagnosis is the first step to cure pathologies, be they organic, moral, or social. In this book we have a thrilling beginning.” —Rom Harré, Professor of Philosophy of Science, Linacre College, Oxford University

“Howard Richards and Joanna Swanger have given us what we now most sorely need, informed hope. In a work of stunning scholarship—deeply researched and broad in vision, interpreted in the light of some of the most significant modern philosophic and social science works—they explore highly instructive historic experiences in social democracy. Their work makes it clearly evident that another world is, indeed, possible. Within the framework of their concepts of social action and ethical construction, they vividly articulate the practical and attainable possibilities for the achievement of global social justice that lie in the principles of cooperation and sharing. It is a work that should be read, reflected on, and widely used by educators, scholars, and activists committed to the struggle to obtain the possibilities that these authors identify in learnings derived from actual historic experience.” —Betty A. Reardon, Emeritus Chair, Peace Studies Program, Teachers College, Columbia University

“The Dilemmas of Social Democracies is a spiritually and historically deep analysis of the origins and development of what the authors call humanity’s greatest achievement so far in harnessing human energy and mobilizing natural resources and capital in the service of meeting everybody’s needs. However, Howard Richards and Joanna Swanger are not interested only in the historical achievements of Social Democracy but provide also an original scrutiny of its limits and inherent contradictions. What is perhaps most striking about this book is its ambitious attempt to go beyond eurocentrism and learn from a wide variety of global experiences, from South Africa and Indonesia to Venezuela. In short, this is a highly recommendable book on social democracy written from the cosmopolitical perspective of ethical construction of social reality.”—Heikki Patomäki, Professor of International Relations, University of Helsinki

Contents

1 On Cooperation and Sharing
This chapter expounds upon well-known historical examples of people who have advocated or practiced effective cooperation and sharing: Plato, Jesus, Voltaire, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Mohandas Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and game theorist Robert Axelrod.

2 Making Invisible Causes Visible
Nature gives us brutes; culture gives us institutions. In an important sense, nature is, by definition, what we cannot change. Therefore the path to a better social reality goes by way of the improvement of cuture.
3 The Drama of Spanish Socialism: Tragedy, Farce, or Conceptual Error? (Part 1)
Spanish socialism in the 1930s failed because it followed an oft-tried and inherently flawed strategy: rather than undertaking the more arduous and more important task of constructing cultural structures of solidarity, the socialists chose to work within existing cultural structures to try to extend greater political and economic power to the rural and urban working classes.

4 The Drama of Spanish Socialism: Tragedy, Farce, or Conceptual Error? (Part 2)
The second Spanish attempt at social democracy failed because adherence to the rules that underpin the workings of capitalism means that it is not easy to reshape society and maximize incentives for investors simultaneously.
5 A Modest Hypothesis Concerning Swedish Social Democracy
The illusions of Sweden were illusions about the feasibility of “changing without changing,” i.e., of building an ecologically sustainable social democracy on a foundation of modern liberal ethics.

6 Sweden’s Rehn-Meidner Model: Too Good to be True, or, The Stumbling Blocks of Freedom and Property
Capitalism’s inherent structural flaws are due to principles that organize not just “capitalist” society but also any “modern,” “economic” or “liberal” society. The basic cultural structures of any such society imply instability and poverty.

7 The Revenge of the Iron Law of Wages
This chapter documents the downfall of Swedish social democracy and the embrace of neoliberal economic policy fixes. It articulates and diagnoses some of the principal illusions fostered by the earlier success of Swedish social democracy, for the purpose of helping the world move toward real solutions.

8 Hjalmar Branting’s Uppfostran
This chapter retraces the steps by which Swedish social democracy was constructed in order to discern whether other paths could have been taken.

9 Karl Popper’s Vienna, or, The Straitjacket of Mainstream Social Science
This chapter focuses on the administration of Bruno Kreisky, the socialist chancellor of Austria from 1970 to 1986. We argue that Kreisky’s concept of “system-changing reform” needs to be reconsidered because it tended to consider immutable a key feature of the system to be changed: its dependence on the profit motive.

10 Power and Principle in South Africa
In the course of doing what was necessary to attract foreign investment, the African National Congress found itself having to sacrifice, one after another, the beautiful principles held so dear by so many. This chapter elaborates and calls into question eight of the basic premises of neoliberalism. It then delineates five basic principles for cooperation and sharing.

11 Islam and Economic Rationality in Indonesia
This chapter examines Indonesia’s attempt to construct social democracy with specific reference to which aspects particular to Indonesian culture could aid in bolstering the construction of social democracy by allowing a culture of solidarity to grow and flourish.

12 The Stones that the Builders Rejected
It is phenomena at the level of circulation that block the transformation of the ownership of the means of production into more ethical and sustainable forms. Therefore, circulation has to happen for reasons other than solely making a profit on the sale of the product. We call these reasons “cultural resources,” and this chapter continues our inventory of Indonesian cultural resources that serve this purpose and thus aid in supporting a viable social democracy.

13 Middle-Class Values
This chapter continues our optimistic reading that the dilemmas of social democracies indeed do have their solutions; in fact, many of the solutions are already present in cultural practices shared throughout the world. The major tragedies of the twentieth century happened not primarily because of bad people but rather because of good people with limited understanding.
14 The Venezuela That Might Have Been
We open this chapter with a discussion of the concept of “alienation” by way of introducing a slightly different way to conceive of the problems existing in the world today, and by way of introducing another strategy for effective social change. The organization of Venezuela’s oil sector has offered that nation-state the opportunity to use rents to subsidize the dissolution of the structural obstacles to social change, a process we call “subsidizing de-alienation.” The concept of de-alienation is a people-oriented form of “integrated development.”

15 Social Democracy on a World Scale: The World Bank and the Logic of Love
We interpret the history of the World Bank as offering evidence for the claim that capitalism is already in the process of being reformed—being made to function according to higher ethical principles.

Dear Friends!
Stephanie Heuer shares the message with us that you see further down.
Thanks a lot, dear Stepanie!
Warmly,
Evelin

Dear Stephanie,

I am so excited to announce that Women for Women International is the recipient of the 2006 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world's largest humanitarian prize of $1.5 million.

The Hilton Prize was established in 1996 to call attention to organizations that are effective and innovative leaders in addressing humanitarian needs. This year, we were selected from a group of 250 nominees -- each of whom works tirelessly to build a better world.

We are incredibly proud and grateful to receive the Hilton Humanitarian Prize, and to be the first women's organization recognized with this honor. It reinforces our vision that stronger women build stronger nations and encourages us to work harder to bring the voices and concerns of the women we serve to the forefront.

This recognition would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of our staff in the field, who risk their lives on a daily basis to serve our women. And of course we owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to you, our global community of 125,000 women and men in 105 countries, who support our work. This prize honors the commitment so many have made to support women survivors of war as they rebuild their lives. Thank you so very much for all that you have done.

With this prize, we are launching a new campaign to build permanent 40 Women's Opportunity Centers across the countries and regions where we work. Our goal is to ensure that every woman who participates in our program will have a "safe haven" where she can access economic, political and social opportunities in her community. Ultimately, the Centers will help us provide better, longer-lasting services to more women survivors of war. We will be sure to keep you updated on our progress.

Thank you again for everything you have done to support Women for Women International and women survivors of war. Together, we are giving women the chance to rebuild their lives, their communities, and their nations -- and creating a more just and peaceful future.

With deepest gratitude and appreciation,

Zainab Salbi

To read the full press release or learn more about Women for
Women International's programs, please visit our website at
www.womenforwomen.org.

Help spread the word about Women for Women International -
forward this message to family and friends!

The University for Peace announces the launching of its Summer Sessions at its Costa Rica campus.

Bring your students to a wonderful intercultural experience in this unique country

The United Nations mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) is located in Costa Rica, on a beautiful campus of 300 hectares near the town of Ciudad Colón, some 25 km southwest of the capital city of San José. The UPEACE campus has all the necessary facilities to provide students with a gratifying intellectual and intercultural experience.

Who could benefit from the Summer Sessions in Costa Rica?

UPEACE welcomes groups of undergraduate or graduate from Universities that are seeking to offer their students courses abroad.

When are the facilities available?

22 May through 22 August each year

What does UPEACE provide?

UPEACE offers classrooms for up to 25 students; computer facilities; wireless Internet connection throughout the campus; a specialized library; audiovisual equipment and cafeteria services.

Our experienced housing service will find living quarters with Costa Rican families or in apartments in Ciudad Colón. The UPEACE buses provide transport several times a day between the campus and the town.

All groups are offered a two-hour lecture, "Introduction to Costa Rica", which includes history, culture and the environment, as well as practical information and advice.

What else can UPEACE offer?

Resident faculty offer courses based on UPEACE’s areas of expertise for academic credit. For a course list, click here >>

UPEACE can also offer guided fieldtrips and provide advice on tourist visits in Costa Rica.

Worldwide Activities Brief, Issue #36, August / September 2006

Greetings and welcome back to school for many people! Thank you to those who have sent feedback and comments on this Newsletter. Comments and or submissions are welcome at any time. Keep sending us your news!

The annual conference of the non governmental organizations (NGO's) and the Department for Public Information (DPI) has begun at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York. This year, the conference will feature Hans Blix, former head of the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction. Peace Boat will join him in a workshop on disarmament, as well as in a workshop addressing peace constitutions and their role in promoting disarmament, demilitarization, peaceful conflict prevention, human security, and a culture of peace. (Click here to read more)

In Peace, Maiko Morishita

(Peace Education Newsletter Editor / Peace Boat US – a Project of the Hague Appeal for Peace)

HIGHLIGHTS & PEACE NEWS
l 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference to Begin, September 6-8, UN Headquarters, NEW YORK
l Ms Khachungla Chalhang as New Coordinator of Hague Appeal for Peace, Delhi University
l UN Resolution on Human Rights and Small Arms (by IANSA)
l Global Kids Launches Teen Dialogue Marking Five Year Anniversary of the 9.11 Attacks
l SOUTHERN AFRICA YOUTH FESTIVAL Ends with the Adoption of a Historic Declaration
l First Women Aman Jirga (Peace Committee) to be Established in the Northern Areas of Pakistan

GET INVOLVED / COURSES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
l European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU) Trimester Program in Peace & Conflict Studies
l Call for Proposals for Presentation and Workshops, Participate in the Global Symposium:
“Towards a New World Civilization” December 8-11, Lucknow INDIA
l Advanced International Training Program by TRANSCEND, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA
“Peace-building, Conflict Transformation & Post-War Rebuilding, Reconciliation and Resolution”
l 2007 Annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University, NEW YORK

EVENTS
l Peace in Action presents: 1000 Peace Heroines in Vienna, September 5-30, Vienna AUSTRIA
l September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, September 8-14, NEW YORK, International Conference, “Civilian Casualties, Civilian Solutions”
l Global Day of Action for an Arms Trade Treaty, IANSA, September 13
l Join the International Celebration of Peace! International Day of Peace, September 21
l Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual Conference, October 5-8, NEW YORK “Who Speaks for the Common Good?”

RESOURCES, MATERIALS, PUBLICATIONS
l September 11, 1906 - 2006: Two Landmarks, Two Futures, By Michael Nagler
l 100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World, By John Tirman

HIGHLIGHTS & PEACE NEWS
l 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference to Begin, September 6-8, UN Headquarters, NEW YORK
The 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference is scheduled to begin on September 6 at UN headquarters in New York. This year’s theme is “Unfinished Business: Effective Partnerships for Human Security and Sustainable Development.”

The Hague Appeal for Peace, Peace Boat US, and Peace Boat will be sponsoring and participating in the following workshops. The next edition of the GCPE newsletter will report on the discussions and outcomes of the workshops.

Ø How Does Reducing Weapons of Mass Destruction Contribute to Peacebuilding and Human Security, and What Can Grassroots Efforts Offer?, September 7

Reducing the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, and working towards their elimination, will improve security for all, enable the realization of MDGs, permit development and reduce tensions between groups and countries. Respect for dignity of life, partnerships and innovative approaches to peacebuilding are essential components for achieving these goals. The workshop will aim to explore such concepts and actions.

Presenters will include Hans Blix (Chair of the International Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction that presented its report to the UN Secretary-General in June, 2006), Reverend Masamichi Kamiya (Director for External Affairs for Rissho Kosei-kai), Akira Kawasaki (Peace Boat Executive Committee), and Carah Ong (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Board of Directors)
Sponsors: NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security
Co-Sponsors: Rissho Kosei-kai, Peace Action, Peace Boat, The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations

Ø To Save Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War, The UN Charter, Peace Constitutions and Civil Society, September 8

As by principles outlined in the UN Charter, the world’s governments and civil society have made efforts to achieve the ambitious goal of abolishing war. In promoting this goal, the workshop will explore how global civil society can utilize the UN Charter and the peace constitutions in promoting disarmament, demilitarization, peaceful conflict prevention, human security and a culture of peace. Among them are the Costa Rican and Japanese Peace Constitutions abolishing the country’s army. However, under the shadow of growing nationalism, Japan’s Article 9 is now at stake of revision that could lead to a resurgence of militarism and an arms race in Asia. At this critical juncture, citizens of Asia and the world’s citizens are uniting to develop the “Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War.”

Presenters will include Roberto Zamora (Student of Law, University of Costa Rica), Peter Weiss (Founder and Vice President, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms), and Akira Kawasaki (Peace Boat Exective Committee)
Sponsors: Peace Boat
Co-Sponsors: International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), International Peace Bureau (IPB), The Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP), and the NGO Working Group on Disarmament, Peace and Security

l Ms Khachungla Chalhang as New Coordinator of Hague Appeal for Peace, Delhi University

Ms Chalhang has been an active member of Hague Appeal for Peace, Delhi University (HAP’DU) since its formation way back in 1998. Ms. Chalhang has played very important roles in taking up the different activities of HAP’DU, by mobilizing and writing for Peace and Human Rights. HAP’DU will continue its support for peace and justice especially in India and also for the extension of the Global Campaign for Peace Education.

l UN Resolution on Human Rights and Small Arms (by IANSA)

A landmark resolution on human rights and small arms was adopted by the UN human rights sub-commission in Geneva (Switzerland) on 24 August. This is especially good news after the disappointing outcome of the UN Small Arms Review Conference in July.

The resolution urges governments to adopt measures on the manufacture, possession, transfer and use of small arms that comply with principles of international human rights law. It also endorses a set of draft Principles on the prevention of human rights abuses committed by small arms.

The principles were presented by Professor Barbara Frey, the UN Special Rapporteur on small arms and human rights violations. The 15 principles fall into two main categories: obligations on state agents (eg police) and the obligations on governments to prevent human rights abuses committed by civilians.

This was one of the final decisions of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The resolution recommends that the Principles be adopted by the new UN Human Rights Council.

The resolution and related documents can be found on the IANSA website: http://www.iansa.org/

l Global Kids Launches Teen Dialogue Marking Five Year Anniversary of the 9.11 Attacks

Global Kids and PBS' Online Newshour will launch Five Years After: A September 11th Youth Circle. These online dialogues will begin on Monday August 28, 2006, and will continue throughout the month of September until the 25th.
Available at http://www.newzcrew.org/and The Online Newshour (http://pbs.org/newshour), Five Years After will allow high school students to constructively discuss how the attacks of September 11 have affected their lives, their communities, and their perspectives on world affairs. Throughout the discussion, students will be able to view background information about September 11th issues from the Online NewsHour and broadcast coverage from the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

If you are a teacher or educator who would like to bring students into these dialogues, please visit www.NewzCrew.org to sign up your class for this great opportunity to connect with youth from around the world. There will be curriculum associated with the dialogues provided by the Online Newshour, and Newz Crew will allow you to track your teens' participation.
(Report by: Global Kids)
For more information visit: http://www.newzcrew.org/.

l SOUTHERN AFRICA YOUTH FESTIVAL Ends with the Adoption of a Historic Declaration

The Southern Africa Youth Festival ended with the adoption of a historic communique that charts the way forward for Southern Africa's youth.

More than 450 young people from 11 of the 14 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) nations participated in the Festival. A number of senior government officials, leaders of national youth coordinating bodies and representatives of international organizations were also in attendance.

The Festival, which was officially opened on August 11 by Zimbabwe's deputy minister of youth development and employment creation, Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere, involved thematic presentations and deliberations on integration and cooperation, HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction and youth economic empowerment.

Participants held a procession from Victoria Falls town centre to the Festival venue to mark International Youth Day on August 12, and this culminated in a musical gala, Youth Tourism Night, hosted by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. The Victoria Falls Communique was also adopted on the same day.

Among the 56 resolutions of the Victoria Falls Communique is a call for the Southern Africa Youth Festival to be held on an annual basis, hosted on a rotational basis by each of the 14 Southern African nations.
(Report by: World Assembly of Youth)
To read the Victoria Falls Communique (Declaration) visit:
http://www.sayf.co.zw/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=9
For more information on the Southern African Youth Festival visit:
http://www.sayf.co.zw/site/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=28
For any questions contact: info@way.org.my

l First Women Aman Jirga (Peace Committee) to be Established in the Northern Areas of Pakistan

The first Women Aman Jirga (peace committee) has been established in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. This historical decision was taken after a long and terrible struggle of women rights' activists and on going efforts of NGOs working for women rights. It is really a positive indicator of progressive thinking and change that Women’s role has been recognized and Pakistani women will be able to play their significant role more independently and effectively for the development and especially for the peace building and peace keeping efforts in the Northern Areas of Pakistan which has been suffered due worst sectarian armed conflict.
(Report By: Women and Children Affairs section Association of Global Humanists and Ethics Northern Areas Pakistan)
To read more visit: http://www.aghepakistan.org/aghenews.htm#achievements
To learn more about the Association of Global Humanists & Ethics (AGHE) visit: www.aghepakistan.org

GET INVOLVED / COURSES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

l European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU) Trimester Program in Peace & Conflict Studies

The Trimester Program in Peace & Conflict Studies is accepting applications for the 2007 Spring Programs. Application deadline is the September 15.

The EPU program is designed to provide students with the intellectual skills to analyze conflicts and their underlying causes, and with practical skills in conflict transformation and peace-building. It seeks to enable and motivate students to help build a more peaceful, equitable and just global society, in harmony with nature. Those who successfully complete one trimester obtain an Advanced Certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies. Those who complete three trimesters and write a thesis obtain a Master of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies, approved by the Austrian Ministry of Education. MA students can begin with any trimester (fall, spring or summer).
To learn more about programs at EPU visit: http://www.epu.ac.at

l Call for Proposals for Presentation and Workshops, Participate in the Global Symposium:

“Towards a New World Civilization” December 8-11, Lucknow INDIA

The 3rd Global Symposium for civil society organizations will be held from December 8-11, 2006 (Lucknow, INDIA) at the 7th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World (December 7-12, 2006) being organized by the World Unity and Peace Education Department of City Montessori School (CMS) at the World Unity Convention Centre in Lucknow city. Proposals for presentation and workshops are currently being accepted. Deadline is September 30.

There is no registration or participation fee required. All delegates from abroad will be provided with complimentary boarding and lodging facilities along with transport within Lucknow city (local transport). The delegates will be required to manage their own travel expenses to and from Lucknow city.

The objective of the Global Symposium is to foster personal interaction, mutual understanding and collective action for a strong foundation of a nuclear-free, democratic, sustainable, just and peaceful New World Civilization by bringing together civil society organizations and leaders in the fields of art, education, science, religion, culture and media. At the last Global Symposium in year 2005, the World Unity and Peace Education Department along with the members of 134 civil society organizations worldwide launched the Global Partnership for World Democracy (GPWD)

**Themes for Presentation and Workshops at Global Symposium**

1. Structure of World Democracy & World Parliament
2. Education, Grassroot Movements and Role of Civil Society in building a 'New World Civilization'
3. Sustainable Development and World Peace
4. Inter-faith and Inter-religion dialogue and Conflict Resolution
5. Human Rights (includes Women and Children's Rights)
6. Role of Media in shaping a 'New World Civilization'

Participants can also make presentation on any relevant themes provided they are approved by the Organizing Committee. These topics should be related to the theme of the Global Symposium that is Towards a New World Civilization. Application for active participation will be considered as complete when all necessary documents are submitted. There is no registration or participation fee. Approved participants will be provided with complimentary stay and meals during all days of the conference.
For the registration timeline, and to register visit: http://www.gpwd.org/register.htm
For more information on the Global Symposium visit: http://www.gpwd.org
For more information on the organizers visit http://www.gpwd.org/organisers.htm

l Advanced International Training Program by TRANSCEND, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA

“Peace-building, Conflict Transformation & Post-War Rebuilding, Reconciliation and Resolution”

TRANSCEND offers a five-days international training program for practitioners, policy makers, international and national agency staff and NGOs working in peace-building, conflict transformation and post-war recovery.
Organizers: TRANSCEND http://www.transcend.org /, PATRIR http://www.patrir.ro/
Full Costs: EUR 800 (North America, EU/Western Europe and South-East Asia/Oceania),
EUR 450 (Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe)
Deadline for Applications: September 18 for Applicants who need the Romanian Visa and September 29 for Applicants who do not need the Romanian Visa
For more information and to apply please contact Andra Tanase:
Email: training@transcend.org, Tel: +40-264-420298 Website; http://www.transcend.org/training

l 2007 Annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University, NEW YORK

Application for the 2007 session of the annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University is now available. Human rights activists based in the Global South as well as grassroots activists in the United States are encouraged to apply. Application due by October 3.

HRAP is designed to prepare proven human rights leaders from the Global South and marginalized communities in the U.S. to participate in national and international policy debates on globalization by building their skills, knowledge, and contacts. The Program features a four-month residency at Columbia University in New York City with a structured curriculum of advocacy, networking, skills-building, and academic coursework.

Since 2004, HRAP has concentrated its support on individuals and organizations that address issues broadly related to the global economy. The Program is now expanding its thematic focus to incorporate activists working on issues of exclusion and the marginalization of communities from political and economic processes. Activists working on issues related to intolerance, marginalization, and xenophobia as relates to globalization are invited to apply to the 2007 HRAP. The Program remains open to activists working exclusively on human rights issues related to the global economy.

The four-month Program focuses on key issue areas such as, environmental injustice, labor rights violations, abuses by multinational corporations, ramifications of resource extraction, public health crises, and unsustainable development. Special attention is given to these issues and their intersection with gender, race, ethnicity, and/or other sources of marginalization.

Participants are selected on the basis of their previous work experience on human rights and globalization, commitment to the human rights field, and demonstrated ability to complete graduate level studies. Full-time students or government officials will not be considered. Advocates must secure institutional endorsement from their organizations for their participation in the Program and must commit to returning to that organization upon completion of the Program. Activists must also be originating from and residing in either the Global South or the United States. Fluency in English is required.
For further information or to download copies of the application, refer to the website at
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/humanrights/training/adv/hradv_pgm.htm
For more information visit: www.columbia.edu/cu/humanrights
For additional information email: hradvocates@columbia.edu
Phone: 1-212-854-3014, Fax: 1-212-854-6785

EVENTS

l Peace in Action presents: 1000 Peace Heroines in Vienna, September 5-30, Vienna AUSTRIA

The exhibition "1000 Peace Heroines" presented by Peace in Action will be taking place at the Weltcafe in Vienna. To make active peace work seen is one of the goals of Peace in Action. The exhibition presents 1000 extraordinary life stories of women who are engaged in peace work, each one in her own specific way. These women from over 150 countries have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, being part of the project "1000 Women for Peace". Peace in Action (PIA) and the Afro-Asian Institute (AAI) are pleased to bring this exhibition to Vienna for the first time.
Opening: September 5 at 7 pm. The exhibition will be open until September 30 at the Weltcafe, Schwarzspanierstrasse 19, 1090 Vienna, AUSTRIA.
For more information on Peace in Action visit: http://www.peaceinaction.net/

l "Civilian Casualties, Civilian Solutions," September 8-14, 2006 / New York City
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows International Conference

During the 5th anniversary week of 9/11, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is bringing to New York 30 peacemakers from around the world who have all been victims of terrorism and war. These extraordinary individuals have broken the cycles of violence by forming organizations to promote justice, reconciliation and peace. Please find below information about related events.

Friday, September 8
- Grassroots Solutions to Intractable Problems with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams
8:30am - 12:00pm, 15 Barclay Street, NYU’s Center for Global Affairs
- Building Resiliency in the Aftermath of Tragedy
11:00am - 1:00pm, 520 8th Ave, September Space
- War or Peace: Drawing Hope from Tragedy
11:30am - 1:00pm, 441 E. Fordham Rd., Fordham University
- International Press Conference
3:00pm - 5:00pm, 209 Broadway, St. Paul’s Chapel
- Transcending Tragedy: Does Healing Require Forgiveness?
7:00pm - 8:30pm, 1157 Lexington Ave., Unitarian Church of All Souls

Saturday, September 9
- Yoga for Peace by CitiWorks, Inc
12:00pm, Battery Park
- Civilian Casualties Civilian Solutions Šwith Moderator Phil Donahue
7:30pm ­ 9:00pm, Admission: $8, 2 West 64th St., New York Society for Ethical Culture

Sunday, September 10
- Transforming Tragedy: An International Perspective
9:45am - 10:30am, Marriott Financial Hotel at 85 West St., Voices of September 11th Forum
- Healing Words: 9.11, Rwanda, Apartheid
11:00am ­ 11:30am, 85 S. Oxford St., Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church

Monday, September 11
- Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Creative Responses to Violence
12:00pm ­ 2:00pm, 420 W 118th St, Columbia University - SIPA
- Teaching Peace, Building Hope
1:30pm ­ 3:00pm, 211 S. 4th St., Williamsburg, El Puente
- Sudan to Chile: Women Waging Peace with Moderator Phoebe Griswald
5:00pm ­ 6:30pm, 316 E. 88th St., The Church of the Holy Trinity
- Global “9/11’s”: Civil Society’s Role in Prevention Opening Remarks by Cora Weiss
5:00pm ­ 6:30pm, 777 United Nations Plaza at 41st St., UN Church Center
- Remember 9/11’s of the World
7:00pm ­ 8:30pm, 525 W 120th St, Columbia University - Teachers College
- “Encounter Point” film and panel discussion
7:30pm ­ 9:30pm, 334 Amsterdam Ave, Jewish Community Center

Thursday, September 14
- Genocide and Reconciliation: Response to the play Lemkin’s House
8:00pm ­ 10:30pm, 2162 Broadway, McGinn Cazale Theatre (Upper West Side)

All events, unless noted, are free and open to the public.
Complete details available at http://www.peacefultomorrows.org or call 212-598-0970

l Global Day of Action for an Arms Trade Treaty, September 13

Wednesday 13 September is the Global Day of Action for an international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Coordinated by the Control Arms Campaign, this event coincides with the start of the UN General Assembly in New York. In October, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly (focusing on disarmament) will debate a resolution to create a group of governmental experts to consider an ATT. The Global Day of Action is an opportunity to generate support for this vital resolution.

Activities are planned for 16 countries so far: Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, Chile, Congo (Democratic Republic), France, Haiti, India, Mozambique, Nigeria, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Turkey and the UK.

To learn more about, and or to get involved contact Laura Cheeseman at IANSA (International Action Network on Small Arms) laura.cheeseman@iansa.org, controlarms@iansa.org
For more information on IANSA visit www.iansa.org/

l Join the International Celebration of Peace, International Day of Peace, September 21

Join the worldwide movement to create a Global Ceasefire and day of peace and nonviolence. The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of Peace on a shared date. Use the International Day of Peace annually to highlight the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001 to 2010.

Established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, the International Day of Peace was first celebrated September 1982.

As an example of the many hundred international initiatives and celebrations, find below details of an event organized by Peace Boat and GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict) Japan in Tokyo, JAPAN.

EVENT: Tokyo Candle Action: Peace for Lebanon, Palestine and Israel! Peace for Iraq!

Venue: Meiji Park, Sendagaya, Tokyo Time: 6pm, September 21
In Tokyo, Peace Boat and GPPAC Japan (a coalition of Japan-based organizations from the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict process - http://www.gppac.net) will hold a candle action for Peace One Day to appeal for peace in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Iraq. Using candles, we will spell out “HEIWA,” the Japanese word for peace. The event will also feature testimonies by Palestinian and Lebanese NGO activists, as well as a speech by a Japanese Middle East specialist; and a performance by Japanese band Kotobuki. Following September 21, the Lebanese and Palestinian speakers will embark on a national tour of Japan, speaking at Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Sapporo.

This event is organized by GPPAC Japan, and supported by Peace Boat, Japan Lawyers' International Solidarity Association (JALISA), WORLD PEACE NOW, Art Network Japan, Palestinian Children's Campaign, Femin Women's Democracy Club, Amnesty International Japan, Nonviolent Peace Force Japan, and more.
For more information contact gppac@peaceboat.gr.jp / www.peaceboat.org/english/index.html
For more background, ideas and to share projects, visit http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org

l Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual Conference, October 5-8, 2006, New York

The Peace and Justice Studies Association 4th Annual Conference will take place at Manhattan College in New York City from October 5-8 this year. Titled “Who Speaks for the Common Good,” the Conference will aim to explore questions such as the following.

In an era in which pursuing one's self-interest is commended, who speaks for the common good? Those who honestly attempt to do so are disempowered to act on it, and those who speak for the nations rarely even pretend to do so. How do we decide what really serves the common good, and how do we work for the common good? The rhetoric of a common good is sometimes misused to ride sacrifice the interests of some people, allegedly for the good of a greater number. How can we, as people committed to creating a peaceful, just world, promote a focus on the common good, properly understood?
To learn more about Peace Justice Studies Association visit: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/
To learn more about the conference visit: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/
Conference Organizer, Dr. Margaret Groarke Phone: 718.862.7943, Email: pjsa2006@manhattan.edu.

RESOURCES, MATERIALS, PUBLICATIONS

l “September 11, 1906 - 2006: Two Landmarks, Two Future” By Michael N. Nagler

Nine-eleven 2001 came as a deep shock to those who have dedicated their lives to peace. Violence challenges our faith and adds an extra dimension of grief for those who feel most poignantly the futility of violence….

By a strange coincidence it was exactly a century ago, on September 11th, 1906, that Mahatma Gandhi launched a new way of waging conflict that many believe can lead humanity from the mire of hatred in which we seem to be bogged down out into the clear land of peace. These two 9/11s, the one freshly smarting and the other much less appreciated or understood (or in most cases, even remembered), seem like signposts for two paths that can be taken by the human race. Our added grief, therefore, does not open into the pit of despair. This booklet tells the story of the older and more helpful 9/11: the story of Satyagraha. (From METTA Center website)
To learn more about the booklet visit:
http://mettacenter.org/gl/article.php?story=9-11&query=booklet

l “100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World” By John Tirman

As a liberal response to the wealth of pop conservative writing - such as last year's 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America by Bernard Goldberg and Peter Schweitzer's Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy - this collection of 100 pithy salvos against current U.S. culture, and domestic and foreign policy hits its mark.

Tirman, an unabashed liberal and the executive director of MIT's Center for International Studies, has a sly style and makes his often predictable points with unexpected panache. Whether he's skewering the American obsession with consumerism, the rise of the pro-war progressive ("when I see a liberal hawk, I smell a rat") or the recent globalization of Christian evangelism, Tirman stays just this side of cranky and avoids preaching only to the converted… (Review by Publishers Weekly)
For more on Tirman and the book visit: http://www.JohnTirman.com

Founded in 1999, the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE), is an international organized network which promotes peace education among schools, families and communities to transform the culture of violence into a culture of peace. The Hague Appeal for Peace Board of Directors voted to transfer the responsibilities for the coordination of the GCPE to Peace Boat US which has moved into the Hague Appeal for Peace’s office in New York City.

Peace education is a holistic, participatory process that includes teaching for and about human rights, nonviolent responses to conflict, social and economic justice, gender equity, environmental sustainability, disarmament, traditional peace practices and human security. The methodology of peace education encourages reflection, critical thinking, cooperation, and responsible action. It promotes multiculturalism, and is based on values of dignity, equality and respect. Peace education is intended to prepare students for democratic participation in schools and society.

The Global Campaign for Peace Education has two goals:
- To see peace education integrated into all curricula, community and family education worldwide to become a part of life
- To promote the education of all teachers to teach for peace.

The Worldwide Activities Brief e-newsletter highlights how and where the GCPE network is active and growing. Submissions are encouraged! Please contribute how you are working for peace education including dates, locations, a brief description, and a website and or contact information and send it to maiko@peaceboat-us.org.

The papers of the Hague Appeal for Peace have been archived at Swarthmore College Peace Collection and can be found at http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library

For more information on Peace Boat US visit http://peaceboat-us.org/. The website for Peace Boat US is under construction. Please e-mail info@peaceboat-us.org for more information.

Maiko Morishita
International Coordinator
Peace Boat US, A project of the Hague Appeal for Peace
777 United Nations Plaza, 3E
New York, NY 10017, USA
Phone: 1-212-687-7214
Fax: 1-212-661-2704
maiko@peaceboat-us.org

Dear colleagues and friends,

Conciliation Resources (CR) has re-launched its website http://www.c-r.org and we would like to invite you to take a look.

Our redesigned website aims to be more user-friendly, informative and accessible. We wanted to bring to life the peacebuilding work we do with our partners in areas affected by armed conflict around the world and to illustrate this as clearly as possible.

See http://www.c-r.org/our-work/index.php

Our Accord publication series is also now easier to navigate and remains a great source of free online information about peace processes and agreements.

See http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/index.php

With regular visitors to the site from over 120 countries, we felt it vital to provide a text-only version for those with slower internet
connections and older computers. New language sections and an improved search engine also make it easier to find our available
resources in Russian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Other new features allow people to listen to some of our partners’ radio projects, buy Accord publications online or make regular and
one-off online donations to Conciliation Resources. See:

http://www.c-r.org/support/index.php
http://www.c-r.org/resources/audio-video/index.php

We will be working over the coming months to further develop and improve the site so any feedback or suggestions will be most
appreciated. Email us at webfeedback@c-r.org

The website will be regularly updated but you can also sign up online if you’d like to receive occasional e-updates about our latest
publications, projects and news.

http://www.c-r.org/about/sign-up.php

Finally, we wish to take this opportunity to thank our donors and web designer for helping make this new site a reality. We do hope you
find it useful.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Communications Team
Conciliation Resources
173 Upper Street
London N1 1RG
United Kingdom
Email: webfeedback@c-r.org
Website: http://www.c-r.org

Global Civilization and World Community

We would like to invite you learn about a rapidly growing evolutionary movement for change.

As a person who understands the critical transitional times in which we live and who wishes to be part of the solution, we would like to introduce you to Kosmos: An Integral Approach to Global Awakening. This unique Journal is supported by cutting edge integral thinkers such as Ken Wilber, Jean Houston, Hazel Henderson, Ervin Laszlo and more. Together we are creating the foundation for a new world civilization for the common good. At the heart of this historical call to reflection and action is a reverence for all peoples and for all life.

Our partners in this endeavor are:

The Gorbachev Foundation
The Goi Peace Foundation
The Club of Budapest
The World Wisdom Council
World Wisdom Alliance
The Club of Rome and more…

We are affiliated with the Integral Institute, Center for Human Emergence, the United Nations, Great Transitions Initiative, Ethical Markets, leading Universities, Global Education Associates, ManyOne Foundation and more…We want to know about you and how we might work together for common cause in this great historical opportunity.

Nothing short of a comprehensive integral approach will usher in the new civilization - body, mind and spirit in self, culture, systems and nature in the context of an evolving universe.

Nominated for its excellence by the Utne Independent Press and designated as the first Media Ambassador to the World Wisdom Council we take our responsibilities very seriously. We are dedicated to helping this vital world movement grow through people like you.

Won't you join us in this effort? You can learn more at http://www.kosmosjournal.org and through our e-mail list at:
http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo/contact/emailsubscribe.shtml

My best wishes,

Nancy Roof, Ph.D.
Founder, Kosmos Journal
PS. Please add us to your address book to avoid Spam filters. Thank you.
Copyright 2006 Kosmos Associates Inc.

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

Dear Friend of Search for Common Ground,
The Middle East seems on the brink of overwhelming disaster. Iraq is wracked by insurgency and sectarian warfare. Israel and Hezbollah have fought to a bloody standstill. The Israeli-Palestinian struggle festers like a raw sore. There is great controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions. In times like these, it is easy to despair. But somehow, the cycle of violence must be broken. As Martin Luther King said:

Force begets force; hate begets hate; toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe.

Transformative Voice. With those words, Dr. King was reflecting the overwhelming desire that almost everyone shares - in the Middle East and elsewhere - to live in peace. And what does this mean for an organization like Search for Common Ground? We see our job as laying groundwork for a less violent, less adversarial world. We give concrete form to alternative models, and we are committed for the long haul. As Ted Koppel, then of ABC-TV, said about us, we provide a "voice of hope."

Middle East. While news from the Middle East is grim, we still believe there is opportunity to create positive outcomes. As we have for 15 years, we keep trying to build bridges among Israelis, Arabs, and Iranians. While we fervently wish our work had taken deeper hold and accomplished more, we know we have made a difference.

Iran and the United States. Since 1996, we have sponsored high-level, unofficial meetings between Iranians and Americans. These continue. The most recent one was held in July 2006 in a European capital. We provide an active channel for dialogue and communication, and we use our connections to seek peaceful solutions and implement projects on the ground.

I believe you saved our negotiations. Your ideas kept the negotiations going…. If there is any outcome of the negotiations that is to the satisfaction of both sides, it will be a derivative of the discussions of this group - with conditions that will make it possible for both sides to accept. - current Iranian ambassador

What this group has been doing has had a profound effect on the psyche of both the public and the elite … No other activities have had such an effect. - Iranian professor

MECIDS. In partnership with the Nuclear Threat Initiative, we sponsor the Middle East Consortium for Infectious Disease Surveillance, a regional body to promote cooperation in detecting deadly diseases, such as anthrax and avian flu. MECIDS' unofficial motto is, "Viruses do not stop at checkpoints." At a time when Arab and Israeli officials have little contact, this is one of the very few places where they meet and solve problems together.

CGNews. This activity brings together the expertise of organizations working in peace-building, traumatic medicine, community organizing, and human rights advocacy. It promotes psychological healing, furnishes legal assistance, and aids in reintegration of victims.

The articles of the Common Ground News Service give hope that there are people out there who work on solutions inspired by the need to co-exist in tolerance and by the hope for a better future. - Christopher Patten, former External Affairs Commissioner, the European Union

Palestinian Independent TV. Since 2002, we have co-produced with the Ma'an Television Network two round-table discussion series; a twice-weekly news magazine; televised meetings of the Palestinian Legislative Council; and two dramatic series. All of these promote non-violence and conflict resolution.

[Programming] shatters Palestinians' stereotypes about themselves. - USA Today

Documentary Series. We produced The Shape of the Future, a series of documentary films on how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might actually be resolved. In 2005, the programs were simultaneously aired - the first time this had ever happened - on Palestinian, Israeli, and Arab satellite TV.

This documentary series examines the fears and aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians in an even-handed way. It shows how a negotiated agreement could address those fears and aspirations without threatening the national existence of either side. Israel and Egypt were able to accomplish this task at Camp David more than 25 years ago and this series supports the belief that Israelis and Palestinians can do the same. -former US President Jimmy Carter

Nigeria. Altogether, we currently produce TV and radio programs in a dozen countries. Our biggest project is in Nigeria where we are making two TV series, The Station and The Academy. The Station is a 52-part dramatic series that centers on a fictional Lagos television news channel. The reporters reflect Nigeria's ethnic, religious, regional, and gender diversity. Indeed, the boss is Aisha, a strong Moslem woman from the North. Our series producer, Allen Scheid, has done a masterful job in assembling and directing an all-Nigerian crew of writers, producers, actors, and technicians. Our local NGO partner is Academic Associates/PeaceWorks.

Première. In August on NTA, Nigeria's largest TV network, The Academy began to air. This is a 15-part, reality series about selecting and training the cast for the dramatic series. The Academy portrays how we advertised for Nigerians who wanted to be actors and actresses; how 56,000 people replied; how we winnowed the number down to 20 finalists and took them to an undisclosed location where they were trained for a month; and how, in the end, five people survived and won parts in the dramatic series, which will start to air in November.

Clinton. The commercial sponsor for our Nigerian TV shows is Nestlé, which announced its commitment at the 2005 Clinton Global Initiative in New York. In a recent speech, former President Clinton had this to say about the series:

This, by the way, is really exciting. I might like to see one of these [programs] in America. Think about what it could be: If people actually could turn on television and see real people with whom they could identify having serious conversations about both their religious convictions and how they do or don't translate into their daily lives.

Music. We find music to be a powerful tool for conflict resolution. In Macedonia, we produced a music video that rose to number one on the charts, and in Angola our peace song became the unofficial theme of the negotiation process. Our latest song has just appeared in Nepal. It is the theme for our new radio soap opera, which aims to empower young people to play a constructive role in the peace process.

Treading upon A New Path

Flirtatious we are, we love to joke and have fun, enjoying ourselves, We don't tolerate discrimination and do not practice it either, Energy, zeal, youthfulness and faith are what we have, Mountains may crumble if we want, After all nothing is impossible … treading upon a new path.

Radio. In many parts of the world, radio is the most effective way to reach a mass audience. Francis Rolt heads Common Ground Radio and directs our Radio for Peacebuilding in Africa (RFPA) project, which includes workshops, an online course, manuals, guidebooks, a database, and a website. 1500 African and international radio professionals have registered on the website (www.radiopeaceafrica.org). In an e-survey, we found that 72% of respondents believe that the project totally changed the way they see their job and the influence they can have on conflict in their country. Here is an email we received from a producer from South Africa's Bush Radio who had just attended an RFPA workshop:

I went in to work today because we have a weekly staff meeting and I had to give a report on my trip. Well, that wasn't hard - I couldn't stop gushing!!!! … I have informed our [Managing Director] that I'm revamping the Children's Radio Education Workshop - I'm basically re-designing it with all that I learnt in Accra. This really was an amazing experience.

Monitoring & Evaluation. We are proud to announce the on-line publication of a 230-page manual, called Designing for Results: Integrating Monitoring and Evaluation in Conflict Transformation Programs. Written by ex-Searchers Cheyanne Church and Mark Rogers and produced in partnership with the US Institute of Peace and the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the manual provides insights, practical tips, and examples of how practitioners can measure and increase the effectiveness of their work. It can be found at www.sfcg.org/programmes/ilr/ilt_manualpage.html, and it has already been downloaded almost a thousand times. For more information about how we are increasingly integrating monitoring and evaluation into all of our programs, please click on www.sfcg.org/programmes/ilr/programmes_ilr.html.

Awards. On November 1 at the United Nations in New York, we will hold a dinner to honor the 2006 Common Ground Award winners. Actress Kathleen Turner will be the host, and awards will be given to Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation founding chair John Whitehead, Sesame Workshop, Israeli singer David Broza, and Palestinian musicians, Wisam and Said Murad. This will be a fundraiser to support our work around the world, and tickets are $500. We hope you will be able to come and/or contribute. For information please contact Susie Dillon at sdillon@sfcg.org.

Thank You. Once again, I would like to express my thanks to people like you for your support. Such assistance makes our work possible, and I am extremely grateful.

With best wishes,

John Marks
President

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To make a donation to support our projects please go to http://www.sfcg.org/help/help_home.html.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a not-for-profit list service.

If someone would like to be added to this mailing list, please visit: http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?mode=sub&list=sfcg_newsletter

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org (http://www.wmd.org/)
September 2006

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

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

CONTENTS

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

DEMOCRACY ALERTS/APPEALS

1. Arab Democracy Network Condemns Syrian Regime’s Actions against Democracy Activists
The Arab Democracy Network (ADN) has issued a statement condemning the actions of the Syrian government and its security forces against Syrian democracy and civil society activists on August 11. On that day, Mr. Aktham Niassi, an active member of the ADN and board member and spokesman of the Committee for the Defense of Democratic Freedom and Human Rights in Syria, was holding a meeting with Syrian civil society and democracy activists at his home in Damascus to promote and establish a Syrian chapter of the ADN. Syrian armed security forces broke into his house and surrounded the area, searching all arriving activists, seizing their documents, taking their names, and forcing them away while Mr. Niassi was kept under house arrest. He was not allowed to leave his home or contact anyone for two days.  Mr. Niassi has explained that during that time he was ordered to meet with three different Syrian security forces as they investigated his activities on behalf of democracy and his role in starting a democracy network in Syria within the framework of the ADN. The ADN is calling for a broad solidarity effort to condemn the actions of the Syrian government and requests that letters be sent to Syrian embassies around the world expressing support of freedom and democratic rights in Syria.  The Arab Democracy Network emerged from the World Movement’s Fourth Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey in April of this year.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/sept06-2.doc

2. Human Rights Watch Appeals to Chinese Government to End Crackdown on Lawyers
On August 23, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued an appeal to the Chinese government to end its crackdown on human rights lawyers. HRW urged the central government to respond to the recent wave of harassment, detentions, and physical attacks on human rights lawyers. The organization also urged the central government to state publicly that attacks against lawyers will not be tolerated, and to take immediate steps to ensure their protection. HRW suggests that the arrests of two of China’s most prominent lawyers, both facing prosecutions, appear to be politically motivated. Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng, an advocate of the rights of victims of government abuse of power, was detained on August 15 on charges of alleged involvement in criminal activities. On August 18, legal activist Chen Guangcheng’s lawyers were physically assaulted and then forcibly detained by Public Security to prevent them from attending their client’s trial. Human Rights Watch said the pattern of abuses against lawyers contravenes China’s obligations under international law, as well as its stated commitment to the rule of law. Human Rights Watch called on the Chinese authorities to release Gao, declare a mistrial in Chen’s case, and ensure that lawyers are free of intimidation and interference as they carry out their professional duties.
Go to: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/23/china14064.htm

3. CIVICUS Calls for Charges Against Zimbabwean Activists to be Dropped
The World Alliance for Citizen Participation, CIVICUS, issued an appeal for participants to write to the Attorney General of Zimbabwe, Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, to express concern about the charges facing 153 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) for their participation in a peaceful march on August 21, 2006. CIVICUS believes the charges against these activists are an example of the systematic violation of fundamental human rights in Zimbabwe. WOZA is a Zimbabwean nongovernmental organization that encourages women to speak out against unjust laws and hold their government accountable. Although its demonstrations have consistently been peaceful, over 800 WOZA members have been arrested and detained in its four-year existence. CIVICUS has appealed to the Government of Zimbabwe to drop the charges against the 153 WOZA members immediately, refrain from detaining and charging peaceful civil society activists, and repeal or revise laws that unjustly restrain citizens from fully enjoying their freedoms of assembly, association, and expression.
Go to: http://www.civicus.org/csw/Alert2_Zim_WOZA_23.08.06.htm

4. East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders’ Network Condemns Murder of Newspaper Editor in Sudan
On September 7, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders’ Network (EHAHRD-Net) issued a public statement on the gruesome murder of an editor of a privately-owned newspaper in Sudan. Information received by the Network Secretariat in Kampala indicates that Mohamed Taha, editor of Sudanese daily, Al-Wifaq, was taken from his home on the night of September 5 by masked men, and his decapitated body was recovered the next day by police in Kalakala District, 25 kilometers south of Khartoum. Taha’s murder is the second blow to the human rights movement in the sub-region barely three months after the murder of Swedish freelance journalist, Martin Adler, who was killed during a demonstration in Somalia. The Network calls upon the Sudanese Government not only to exercise its obligation of protecting the lives of its citizens, but to make all possible efforts to bring the murderers to justice.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/sept06-5.doc
For information on the EHAHRD, go to: http://www.yorku.ca/crs/AHRDP

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

5. New World Movement Web Site Installment: “What’s Being Done On…Memory Projects?”
The World Movement is pleased to announce the Web site posting of “What's Being Done On... Memory Projects?," which focuses on Memory Projects and their relationship to democracy.  This installment includes case studies and interviews with five organizations: the Omid Memorial in Iran (interview with Ladan Boroumand, Co-founder); the Documentation Center of Cambodia (interview with Youk Chhang, Director); the District Six Museum in South Africa (interview with Valmont Layne, Director); Memoria Abierta in Argentina (interview with Patricia T. de Valdez, Director); and the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience (interview with Liz Sevcenko, Director, Secretariat). Each case study features a summary of the organization, the interview, and other information. The installment also includes a list of other memory projects around the world. Previous themes for this section of the World Movement Web site have included: Breakthrough Elections; Cross-Border Assistance; Internet and Other Media; Women's Participation in Politics; Strengthening Local Governance; Peace Building and Democracy; Civic Education for Democracy; Transparency, Accountability and Access to Information; Political and Civic Participation of Youth; Using Advocacy to Achieve Democratic Reform; Promotion of Labor Rights; and Human Rights and Democracy in Turkey (related to the Fourth Assembly held in Istanbul in April 2006). They are available in the "What's Being Done On...?" archives.
For “What’s Being Done On… Memory Projects?” go to: http://www.wmd.org/wbdo/aug-sep06.html
For “What’s Being Done On…” Archives, go to: http://www.wmd.org/wbdo/whatsbeingdone.html

6. IFES Launches Monthly E-newsletter on Democracy Development
IFES has launched a monthly e-newsletter, “Express”, to offer the latest news on global elections, trends in democracy development, and a closer look at what drives the people who work in the development field. The newsletter also highlights IFES’ products, including new publications, Web sites, upcoming events, and IFES job openings. The August issue contains articles on IFES projects, such as the vote count in the Congo, student local government in Tajikistan, and Afghanistan’s electoral reform.
Go to: http://www.ifes.org/newsletters/August.htm
To receive Express, enter your e-mail address at the IFES homepage: www.ifes.org (http://www.ifes.org/)

7. September ­ November DEMOCRATIYA Available Now
The September ­ November issue of Democratiya, a free bi-monthly online review of books, is now available. This issue includes articles on Islam and Liberty, Transatlantic Relations After 9/11, Democratic Geopolitics, and contains a transcript of Democratiya’s symposium, “Progressive Foreign Policy after Blair”. Democratiya’s interests include war, peace, just war, and humanitarian interventionism; human rights, genocide, crimes against humanity and the responsibility to protect and rescue; the United Nations, international law and the doctrine of the international community; as well as democratization, social and labor movements, global civil society, and global social democracy.
Go to: http://www.democratiya.com/default.asp

8. John Smith Fellowship Program Seeks Applications
The John Smith Memorial Trust is currently seeking applications from potential candidates for its Fellowship Program to take place in June/July of 2007. The Program aims to strengthen democratic awareness and good governance through a study program in the UK and placements to show the workings of democracy organizations and their role within a democratic society. The program invites applicants for Fellowships from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. The Fellowship Program is open to political leaders, government or local government officials, journalists/media experts, lawyers, and influential young leaders from civil society or the NGO sector in those countries. The “ideal” candidate will be 25-35 years old with a track record of concern for good governance and promoting democratic values. Good written and spoken English is essential. Deadline for applications is November 7, 2006.
Go to:
http://www.johnsmithmemorialtrust.org/Web/Site/Programme/how_to_apply.asp

9. U.S. Department of State Introduces New Feature on Freedom of Religion
The U.S. Department of State has just introduced a new feature on freedom of religion, as part of its "Democracy Dialogues" initiative. The Web site materials include background essays, key documents (both U.S. and international), teaching resources, discussion questions, bibliographies, and photo galleries that expand and further illustrate freedom of religion, as well as links to other organizations working in this area.  In addition to English, core Web site materials, are or will soon be, available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Persian, Russian, and Spanish. In conjunction with this new feature, over the next several weeks the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) will sponsor a series of public Web chats addressing issues related to freedom of religion, including chats on "Church and State in Pluralist Democracies," "Freedom of Religion in Politically Closed Societies," and "The Role of International NGOs in Promoting Religious Freedom." The Department of State invites active participation in the Web chats and other inter-active discussions.
Go to: http://www.democracy.gov/dd/eng_democracy_dialogues/religion.html

10. African Democracy Forum (ADF) Seeks Applicants for Coordinator Position
The African Democracy Forum (ADF) is seeking a coordinator to facilitate networking efforts among African democracy activists. The position will be based at the ADF secretariat at the Kenya Human Rights Commission in Nairobi, Kenya. The ADF is an African regional network of democracy, human rights, and governance organizations, as well as individual activists. Over 120 organizations and individuals working on democracy issues in Africa currently participate in ADF activities. The position requires experience in setting up organizations and international advocacy, as well as a willingness to travel across the continent. Qualifications for the position include a university degree in the social sciences, preferably in political science, sociology, developmental studies, journalism, communications, law, or policy analysis; experience in organization management and fundraising in the field of human rights, democracy, or governance; and at least two years of work-related experience in organizational development. Applicants must be fluent in English and French (Portuguese language skills are a strong advantage). Interested and qualified candidates should submit applications including expected salary, a detailed CV, names of three referees, and a daytime telephone contact, by September 25.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/sept06-3.doc
For information on the African Democracy Forum, go to: http://www.africandemocracyforum.org (http://www.africandemocracyforum.org/)
For information on the Kenya Human Rights Commission, go to: http://www.khrc.or.ke (http://www.khrc.or.ke/)

11. Call for Applications: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowships
The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) welcomes applications from candidates throughout the world for fellowships in 2007-2008. Established in 2001, the program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change. The program is intended primarily to support activists, practitioners, and scholars from new and aspiring democracies; distinguished scholars from the United States and other established democracies are also eligible to apply. Projects may focus on the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural aspects of democratic development and may include a range of methodologies and approaches. A working knowledge of English is an important prerequisite for participation in the program. The application deadline for fellowships in 2007-2008 is Wednesday, November 1, 2006.
For further information about the program, available in English, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish, go to: www.ned.org/forum/fellows.html (http://www.ned.org/forum/fellows.html)

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

12. TRANSCEND Peace University Fall 2006 Semester
TRANSCEND Peace University calls for applications for the Fall 2006 semester (October 2 - December 23, 2006).  Since 1996, TRANSCEND has offered more than 800+ on-site training programs for over 12,000 participants around the world, using the TRANSCEND manual "Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means", published by the United Nations. The October 2006 semester will offer 21 courses in 6 languages. Course listings include Peaceful Conflict Transformation; Conflict Care and Reconciliation; Democratization and Development; Dialogue; Negotiation and Mediation; Gender and Militarism; The Human Right to Food; Nonviolent Tools and Philosophy; Peace, Gender and Violence; Peace Journalism; and Peace Museums. Registration may be completed online. The deadline for registration for the fall semester is September 25. Courses cost OECD participants 300 Euros and non-OECD participants 150 Euros.
Go to: http://www.transcend.org/tpu

13. Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information Holds Meeting on Right of Entry
On September 6, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) and the Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territory organized a meeting at the Ambassador Hotel, Jerusalem on the policies and practices regarding entry and re-entry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories for non-resident Palestinians who have been living in the area for years, and for non-Palestinian foreign nationals who are spouses of resident Palestinians. Palestinian, Israeli, and International participants representing different sectors, along with journalists and representatives of different embassies, actively engaged in the proceedings.
Go to:  http://www.ipcri.org (http://www.ipcri.org/)

ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR

14. Singapore Government Restricts Civil Society Participation in IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings
On August 27, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) expressed its grave concern about the decision of the Singaporean authorities to ban outdoor peaceful demonstrations, and impose a permit process for indoor events in which foreign participants are involved, in connection with the upcoming September annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank  in Singapore.  The decision was made despite appeals by civil society organizations around the world to allow such activities. In a news release on July 28, 2006, the Public Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force stated that outdoor demonstrations and processions would not be allowed. Additionally, foreign civil society organizations that are not formally accredited by the IMF and World Bank must apply for police permits, even for indoor events. FORUM-ASIA urges the government of Singapore to rethink its restrictive orders and calls on the IMF and World Bank, as organizers of the annual meetings, to intervene with the Singaporean authorities to promote and facilitate civil society participation.
Go to: http://www.forum-asia.org/news/press_releases/fa/2aug06_nepal_icc.shtml

15. World Bank Releases Annual Doing Business Report
The World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) released their annual Doing Business report, Doing Business 2007: How to Reform. This year's report identifies top reforming countries and describes best practices on how to reform. It is the fourth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. The report measures regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business: starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business. The indicators are useful for analyzing economic outcomes and identifying what reforms have worked, where, and why. Analysis of this year's data shows that three Latin American countries ­ Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala ­ made the list of top-10 reformers on the ease of doing business; two-thirds of African countries made at least one reform, and Tanzania and Ghana rank among the top-10 reformers; China and Eastern European countries were active and fast in reforming; and South Asia ranks behind all other regions on the pace of reform.
Go to: http://www.doingbusiness.org (http://www.doingbusiness.org/)

16. Center for International Private Enterprise Feature Article on Corporate Governance in Russia
On August 30, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) released its feature article, "Corporate Governance in Russia: Past, Present, and Future", by Igor Belikov, Director of the Russian Institute of Directors. While corporate governance in Russia is a recent phenomenon, the article argues that following the collapse of the Soviet Union politically motivated privatization produced a system in which corporate governance was not valued and shareholders were unable to come together to restructure and develop their companies. At the end of the 1990s, businesses were still poorly governed and investors and minority shareholders had few rights under the law. Since then, corporate governance practices regarding shareholders’ rights, board and management operations, and transparency and disclosure have been adopted. However, much work remains, as companies still face obstacles to business success and good governance. Although the legacy of communism is slowly weakening and the business environment is becoming more predictable, corporate governance practices must be implemented in all companies before the investment environment in Russia can be considered trustworthy. That being said, good governance does not become institutionalized overnight, and according to the article, progress made by many Russian companies demonstrates that businesses are determined to join the global economy.
Go to: http://www.cipe.org/publications/fs/pdf/083006.pdf
For CIPE feature articles, go to: http://www.cipe.org/publications/fs/index.php

HUMAN RIGHTS

17. Sixth Human Rights Folks School of the Asian Human Rights Commission Held
On August 21-26, the Sixth Human Rights Folks School of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) was held in Hong Kong. Over 30 participants attended from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The Commission expressed the common opinion that Asia still has a long way to go to uphold rule of law and basic human rights. The participants pointed to the prevalence of custodial torture and related abuses, along with a lack of opportunities to redress these infractions, as the key issues of concern for human rights defenders in Asia today. Participants expressed special concern about the lack of laws and unwillingness of judicial agencies in Asia to combat torture. Participants were encouraged by the commonality of their efforts and by joint recognition that change and progress is possible. They also reaffirmed their commitment to work together to rectify these problems; to utilize technology to advocate these issues at the domestic, regional, and global levels; and to build a common understanding of the problems that they face and the possibilities for change.
Go to: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/709

18. Human Rights Tools Web Site Launched
Human Rights Tools, a Web site dedicated to Human Rights, was recently launched offering four services: first, a library of selected resources with monitoring and fact-finding tools, advocacy tools, and other essential resources for human rights work, as well as thematic resources on the protection of detainees, human rights defenders, and refugees; second, key resources for country analysis to rapidly establish the human rights profile of a particular country and to facilitate analysis and follow-up of developments; third, daily updated human rights headlines from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, FIDH, Human Rights Listings, Reliefweb, and JURIST's World Legal News. Human Rights Tools also offers a newsletter that includes updates on new tools and resources.
Go to: http://www.humanrightstools.org (http://www.humanrightstools.org/)

19. Syrian Human Rights Groups and Amman Center for Human Rights Studies Sign Bilateral Cooperation Protocols
On September 5, the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) signed protocols for bilateral cooperation with human rights and other civil organizations in Syria. These protocols aim to establish a common vision of human rights and related issues among the signers, and are intended to strengthen cooperation in organizing training courses, symposia, conferences, lectures, workshops, and dialogue seminars, along with cultural activities aimed at spreading the culture of human rights. They will also strengthen the exchange of publications and educational materials, studies, and research relating to human rights.  The human rights organizations and other civil signatories that signed the protocols with the ACHRS were Committees for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (C.D.F.), Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria, National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, Human Rights Association in Syria (M.A.F), Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria, Damascus Center for Human Rights, Syrian Human Rights Organization (SWASIAH), Civil Society Revival, Kurdish Organization for Environment Protection, Center for Environmental and Social Development in Syria, Syrian Center for Media and Expression Freedom.
Go to: http://www.achrs.org/english/CenterNewsView.asp?CNID=211

20. Vietnam Committee Calls for Release of all Dissidents and Abolition of Anti-Human Rights Laws
On September 8, Mr. Vo Van Ai, president of the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights and Vice-President of the International Federation on Human Rights (FIDH), sent an open letter to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urging him to take the opportunity of the ASEM 6 Summit to announce radical measures to gain international legitimacy and to begin a process of national reconciliation in Vietnam. The letter called for the effective release of all dissidents in prison or under house arrest and the abolition of anti-human rights laws in Vietnam. Prime Minister Dung was in Europe with a delegation of the Vietnamese government, and was scheduled to address the ASEM Summit. The ASEM 6 Summit was held on September 10-12, in Helsinki, Finland (Finland holds the current EU presidency), and gathers 38 heads of state and governments from 25 EU member states, 10 ASEAN states (including China, South Korea, and Japan), as well as the European Commission.
Go to: http://www.queme.net/eng/e-news_detail.php?numb=658

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY

21. New Clingendael Book 'Promoting Democracy in Post Conflict Societies'
The Clingendael Institute of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations has published a new book, PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN POSTCONFLICT SOCIETIES, edited by Jeroen de Zeeuw and Krishna Kumar. This book is the result of a three-year, comparative research project by the Conflict Research Unit of the Institute in collaboration with national research institutes in eight post-conflict countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America. Focusing mainly on international assistance for elections, human rights, and media, the project comprised a qualitative assessment of the nature and impact of international democracy assistance on post-conflict societies.
To purchase the book, go to:
http://www.rienner.com/viewbook.cfm?BOOKID=1563

22. Solidarity and Democracy Mission to Timor-Leste
On August 27 ­ September 1, members of three Asian regional networks dedicated to democracy and peace in Asia—the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA), the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), and the Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC)—visited Timor-Leste on a solidarity and democracy mission. They came to extend their solidarity to the people of Timor-Leste on the 7th anniversary of the referendum by which the people of Timor-Leste exercised their right to self-determination, as well as the 5th anniversary of the Constituent Assembly elections. The visiting members issued a statement that the self-determination and democratic development of Timor-Leste is important for the whole region, while difficulties in the country can have a negative impact on other countries in the region, such as the violence witnessed in recent months. The twelve members comprising the mission met the President, the current and former prime ministers, and other national leaders from various political persuasions; the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN; leading civil society organizations; and a number of groups of ordinary citizens, including internally displaced persons, to listen to their views and concerns.
Go to: http://www.wfda.net/news_detail.htm?id=242

23. Committees for the Defense of Democracy Freedoms and Human Rights Holds Second General Assembly
On August 24-26, the Committees for the Defense of Democracy Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria held their second General Assembly in Amman, Jordan. Forty-three participants representing members of the committees attended. The Assembly was convened after holding representative elections and was observed by representatives from the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Human Rights, the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies, the Arab Network for the Monitoring of Elections, and the Federation of the Human Rights Center in the Arab World. The General Assembly asserted its belief that the only way to overcome Syria’s current political situation is to formulate a new Social Contract based on governance by law and to introduce constitutional and legal reforms that are compatible with relevant international criteria and charters. The meeting reaffirmed the Committees’ commitment to democracy.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/sept06-4.doc

24. UN Democracy Fund Gives First Grants to Benefit Civil Society
The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) has unveiled its first beneficiaries, awarding $36 million in grants to 125 projects around the world that range from promoting voter registration to encouraging judicial reform, from supporting female parliamentarians to teaching human rights awareness in schools. Secretary-General Kofi Annan approved projects that had been chosen by the UN Programme Consultative Group and the UNDEF’s Advisory Board from a pool of more than 1,300 applications. The Fund defined six areas as funding priorities for the initial group of projects: strengthening democratic dialogue and support for constitutional processes; civil society empowerment; civic education, voter registration, and strengthening of political parties; citizens’ access to information; human rights and fundamental freedoms; and accountability, transparency and integrity.
Go to: www.un.org/democracyfund (http://www.un.org/democracyfund)

25. International Coalition Urges UN Democracy Caucus to Lead Action on Human Rights and Democracy 
On September 11, a coalition of over 40 human rights and democracy leaders from around the world issued a statement calling on the United Nations Democracy Caucus to take urgent action to strengthen the world body’s record on democracy and human rights. The group urged UN member states participating in the Democracy Caucus to ensure that the new Human Rights Council, at its session on September 18, will address the most serious human rights crises, calling particular attention to abuses underway in the Darfur region of Sudan, which they argue demands a special session of the Council, as well as in North Korea, Uzbekistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The statement also calls on the Community of Democracies to use their meeting on September 20 in New York to speak out against the alarming trend of assaults against democracy and human rights defenders and calls on the Democracy Caucus to reassert those rights and support greater international monitoring of abuses. The coalition asks Democracy Caucus states to work together at the Human Rights Council to support a credible universal periodic review mechanism through which every UN member state would be scrutinized for its adherence to basic international human rights standards. According to the statement, the details of the country review system, currently being negotiated in Geneva, must incorporate a significant role for independent experts and nongovernmental organizations for it to be effective and credible. The statement applauds the creation of the new UN Democracy Fund and encourages Community of Democracies governments to replenish the fund “to ensure continuity of this innovative program.”
Go to: http://www.democracycaucus.net/html/appea.html

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

26. Tenth Highway Africa Partnership in Grahamstown, South Africa
On September 11-15, 2006, Highway Africa will hold its 10th Partnership in Grahamstown, South Africa. The event will be a time for critical reflection on and celebration of the role that new media has played - and will continue to play - in democracy and development. The conference will assess the state of African media, especially with respect to new technologies. More than 500 journalists from 40 African countries are expected to attend. Highway Africa is a partnership between Rhodes University's School of Journalism and Media Studies and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of many partners, donors and sponsors. The Tenth Partnership will be an important occasion for networking, knowledge-sharing, and skills-development.
Go to: http://www.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za (http://www.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za/)

27. 2006 International Press Freedom Awards to Honor Journalists from Colombia, Egypt, and Pakistan
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) will honor three journalists for bravery at its 2006 International Press Freedom Awards banquet in Toronto on November 1, 2006. Hollman Morris, Abeer Al-Askary, and Hayat Ullah Khan have been named winners of this year's awards, which recognize journalists who have overcome great odds to cover the news. Morris, a Colombian journalist presents a television program, “Contravia”, which addresses some of the most difficult and controversial issues in Colombian society, including atrocities committed by all sides of Colombia's long-running armed conflict. Al-Askary is a young Egyptian journalist who has published investigative reports on controversial issues such as corruption, election fraud, and the torture of prisoners. CJFE traditionally presents only two International Press Freedom Awards, but this year an exception was made to honor slain journalist Hayat Ullah Khan of Pakistan. Khan was a freelance journalist and photographer who reported on the military's operations in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. He was abducted in December 2005, and his body was found in June 2006 in North Waziristan. Khan disappeared after reporting that a senior al-Qaeda commander had been killed by a U.S. missile, contradicting official Pakistani accounts of the death. Al-Askary and Morris will each receive CAD$3,000 (US$2,700) in prize money from CJFE and will be flown to Toronto. Khan's family in the Afghanistan border regions of Pakistan will recieve CAD$3,000 in prize money, which CJFE hopes will help them to continue their fight for justice in his case.
Go to: http://www.cjfe.org/awards06/2006winners.html

28. ARTICLE 19 Report on Defamation Law and Practice in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine
ARTICLE 19 published a new report, "Defamation Law and Practice in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine", which measures each country's laws against international standards and treaties on freedom of expression. The report finds Ukraine has made the most strides in respecting international standards, having abolished criminal defamation in the wake of the October Revolution in 2004, as has Moldova. In contrast, the relationship with the media in Belarus has taken a turn for the worse, where harsh criminal defamation laws against journalists are abundant. ARTICLE 19's report contains recommendations for reforming each country's defamation laws to better protect free expression.
Go to: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/the-right-to-criticise.pdf

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION

29. Bahrain Center for Human Rights Issues Report on Political Naturalization
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) issued a new report entitled “Political Naturalization in Bahrain: Various Violations of Citizens and Foreign Workers’ Rights”. The report expressed concern regarding political naturalization in Bahrain. Members of the Representative Council revealed that the authorities might have granted extraordinary citizenships to almost 10,000 residents, both Asians and Arabs. This number is added to approximately 30,000 who might have been extraordinarily granted citizenship during the last 10 years. The BCHR report believes there are political motives behind the extraordinary naturalization campaigns as they are not carried out openly and may be based on racial and sectarian criteria. BCHR concludes their timing might be related to the elections that will take place in Bahrain in a few months time.
Go to: http://www.bahrainrights.org/node/425

WOMEN’S ISSUES

30. Panel and Campaign for Women’s Rights of Equal Citizenship in the MENA
On September 6, Women’s Learning Partnership, in cooperation with the Dialogue Project of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, convened a panel discussion, entitled, “Women as Equal Citizens: Advocating for Change in Muslim-Majority Societies,” in Washington DC. The event launched an international campaign to support a seven-country regional campaign for Arab women’s right to nationality in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Syria. Women's rights to equal citizenship are guaranteed by the majority of constitutions in Arab countries, as well as by international law, but many countries in the region deny women their right to nationality - a crucial component of citizenship. Women in the region who marry men of other nationalities cannot confer their nationality on their husbands or children.
To learn more about the campaign and participate, go to: http://www.learningpartnership.org/news/enews/2006/iss14/claiming

31. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE
•       Arab Democracy Network (ADN) - groups.yahoo.com/group/ArabDemocracyNetwork/
•       CIVICUS - www.civicus.org (http://www.civicus.org/)
•       National Endowment for Democracy - www.ned.org (http://www.ned.org/)
•       IFES - www.ifes.org (http://www.ifes.org/)
•       Kenya Human Rights Commission - www.khrc.or.ke (http://www.khrc.or.ke/)
•       TRANSCEND Peace University - www.transcend.org/tpu (http://www.transcend.org/tpu) 
•       Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) - www.ipcri.org (http://www.ipcri.org/)
•       Forum-Asia - www.forumasia.org (http://www.forumasia.org/)
•       Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) - www.cipe.org (http://www.cipe.org/)
•       Asian Human Rights Commission - www.ahrchk.net/index.php (http://www.ahrchk.net/index.php)
•       Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) - www.achrs.org (http://www.achrs.org/)
•       Vietnam Committee on Human Rights - www.queme.net (http://www.queme.net/)
•       World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA) - www.wfda.net (http://www.wfda.net/)
•       ARTICLE 19 - www.article19.org (http://www.article19.org/)
•       Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) - http://www.learningpartnership.org (http://www.learningpartnership.org/)

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

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.

DemocracyNews is an electronic mailing list moderated by the National Endowment for Democracy as the Secretariat of the World Movement for Democracy.
The material presented in DemocracyNews is intended for information purposes only. 
The WMD's DemocracyNewsElectronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

International Dissertation Research Fellowships

The International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) program supports
distinguished graduate students in the humanities and social sciences
conducting dissertation research outside the United States.

Fifty fellowships will be awarded in 2007 with funds provided by the Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation.

The IDRF program is committed to scholarship that advances knowledge about
non-U.S. cultures and societies grounded in empirical and site-specific
research (involving fieldwork, research in archival or manuscript
collections, or quantitative data collection). The program promotes research
that is at once located in a specific discipline and geographical region and
engaged with interdisciplinary and cross-regional perspectives.

Fellowships will provide support for nine to twelve months of dissertation
research. Individual awards will be approximately $20,000.

No awards will be made for proposals requiring less than nine months of
on-site research. The 2007 IDRF fellowship must be held for a single
continuous period within the eighteen months between July 2007 and December
2008.

The program is administered by the Social Science Research Council in
partnership with the American Council of Learned Societies.

"Our greatest problems in life come not so much from the situations we
confront, as from our doubts about our ability to handle them." Susan
Taylor

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
10 - 17 September 2006

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim–Western relations. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French and Indonesian.
For an archive of past CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.
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).

Inside this edition

1) by Marc Gopin

Khalil El-Anani, a political analyst for Al-Siyasa Al-Dawliya magazine, critiques the Arab system, specifically the questionable effectiveness of the Arab League in the aftermath of the Israeli-Hizbullah conflict, but recognizes that criticism is not enough. “It is easy to criticise the Arab system and its institutions, including the Arab League. It is easy to criticise individual Arab states. But this is not going to get us anywhere. We have to address the roots of the problem. We have to look at the goals and common interests that connect the units of our system…We cannot keep thinking in terms of external threats alone. If anything good has come out of the war on Lebanon it is the realisation that we need an Arab system that works.”
(Source: Al Ahram, 31 August – 6 September 2006)
   

1) Counter religious extremism with religious compassion
Marc Gopin

Washington, D.C. - Zainab Al-Suwaij, an Iraqi-American Muslim woman and the president of the American Islamic Congress, empowers the poor women of Iraq by helping them express their rights and needs, such as providing for their children’s education. She risks her life on every trip to Iraq.

Pastor Sam Doe, a survivor of the Liberian genocide, made a commitment in 1990 to God to work for healing and peace after watching children die – one right in his arms – of war and starvation. That religious transformation has impelled him to embrace all children, even ex-child soldiers, in Western Africa, when no one else wanted them. He embraced them as a spiritual father to counter the work of their warlord fathers who had drugged them and indoctrinated them into a pseudo-religious militancy and genocidal fervour. Today, Sam works with dozens of people in a network of peace groups in Western Africa that innovate new approaches to develop civil society.

The grand mufti of Syria, Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun, is unrivalled as a passionate orator of Islam, yet he uses his sermons to inspire a Muslim embrace of all fellow human beings, especially Christian neighbours in Syria. He’s a staunch defender of their rights and their spirituality. He also doles out as much help as he can find for the poor every week. He drives extremists in his country crazy, not because he vilifies them, but because he competes with them effectively for the attention and appreciation of the impoverished masses.

This is the tip of the iceberg of a dazzling variety of vibrantly religious people who are quietly changing the course of history, one person at a time. It’s time for Western institutions, traditionally oblivious to religious actors, to recognise these extraordinary people and learn how they draw on the best in their religious traditions to support a peaceful, global society.

This won’t be easy, because those who run our major international and national agencies are not accustomed to making such connections.

Trained at the best intellectual institutions of the world, most policymakers and bureaucrats are children of the Enlightenment, so religious revivalism is a shock to their worldview. They had no idea that religion could be so resilient and adaptable to the contemporary world. That’s why many of them are unprepared to confront religious extremists.

From Iraq to Western Europe to the United States, it is clear that religion is on the rise and tending toward extremism in many places. It is also clear that religious militants are among the most highly adaptable groups on the planet today.

They run circles around traditional religious schools, places of worship, and clerical organisations – be they conservative, moderate or liberal. Militants use the Web and other media meaningful to youth, and they know how to mobilise the anger of hundreds of millions of the powerless and poor.

They are excellent at providing immediate and appealing forms of assistance in ways that most states utterly fail to do. They often have little religious authority but acquire it by the sheer force of popular appeal in a world increasingly dominated – or tyrannised – by mass appeal. Increasingly, religious authority is being acquired by how well extremists service the poor or how well they express their anger at injustice.

If we who believe in tolerance and coexistence want to build a better and more peaceful civilisation then we should learn adaptability from militant religious activists. We need to understand their appeal to the poor and the alienated and beat them at their own game.

We need to know when militants are setting a trap for us, expecting us to behave in predictable ways. We must learn what annoys them and do it, and learn what pleases them and stop it. They are pleased when governments ignore the poor, or when the West engages in any activities that are perceived to be bigoted against Muslims.

This is difficult to combat because militants go out of their way to commit crimes in the name of their faith, making it hard not to respond by holding millions of their coreligionists in suspicion.

But it is also true that militants are furious when Western society is appealing, or when moderate, non-violent religious leaders or organisations take care of the needs of the poor. With hard work, it is possible for states and traditional religious leaders to give people what the militants give them – a sense of honour, self-respect, care in the midst of trouble, and hope.

Not all terrorists are poor, of course. But the poor are definitely their target audience as they seek to build a new world order. Becoming more appealing than militants is going to take an entirely new way of thinking for world leaders, for traditional religious leaders, and for those who guide the major international agencies of development and aid.

If religious revival is part of the illness of today’s extremism, the cure needs to appeal to the same thing – religious passion – but in a way that affirms the common bonds of social contracts in civil society. The best way to do this is by studying and supporting the extraordinary women and men who are doing just that. These peacemakers are relatively unknown to the world and sometimes to each other. The West must spread the good news of their accomplishments, and use its prodigious wealth to support these heroes of the global community.

###

* Marc Gopin is the James Laue professor of world religions, diplomacy and conflict resolution at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. This is the first of six articles in a series on religious revivalism and Muslim-Western relations commissioned by the Common Ground News Service (www.commongroundnews.org).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 12 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission is granted for republication.

2) ~YOUTH VIEWS~ 9/11 five years later: what’s our legacy?
Kareem Elbayar

Washington, D.C. - “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing,” Winston Churchill once said, “—after they’ve tried everything else first.” Five years after the attacks of 9/11, it is painfully clear that we are still trying other options.

9/11 was a singular event in American history, and it is time we Americans ask ourselves what the legacy of that national trauma will be. This is not the first time that a blow to the American psyche has been inflicted—but the nation always recovered and went on to prosper. Five years after Pearl Harbor, the United States had not only defeated the Axis powers in a two-front war but had also embarked upon the largest reconstruction and recovery project in the history of the world; five years after the assassination of President Kennedy, American society was permanently transformed by the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin.

What have we accomplished in the five years since 9/11? The entire world was horrified by those attacks, and although it is hard to remember now, the outpouring of grief and sympathy that Americans received was unprecedented. In Jordan, so many people came to pay their respects that the American embassy in Amman was forced to turn them away. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, representing the world’s 56 Muslim nations, condemned the attacks as “contradict[ing] the teaching of all religions and human and moral values.” France’s Le Monde newspaper ran the banner headline “Nous sommes tous Américains”—“We are all Americans.”

9/11 presented an opportunity for the American people once more to work together with foreign nations and to do something about the great problems of our time. Instead, our government chose to go to war in Afghanistan alone, oddly ignoring the offers of assistance from sympathetic nations the world over—and before that campaign was even complete, the government would again demonstrate its disdain for the world’s sympathy by starting an internationally condemned war in Iraq. Now we fight two very difficult wars in which tens of thousands of lives have been lost. And worst of all, these campaigns have no end in sight.

The Middle East remains terribly instable, seemingly on the verge of explosion at any moment. We have been lucky enough to avoid any new terrorist attacks in our country, but terrorist groups have struck or attempted to strike in Canada, Britain, Jordan, Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, India, Russia, and beyond. Anti-Americanism in nations all over the world has surged, and the suspicion and hostility of average Americans toward Islam and Muslims is likewise higher than ever. Meanwhile, our leaders talk of the “global war on terror” and confronting “Islamo-fascism,” but no one seems to know what these words actually mean, let alone how we will know when we have achieved our goals or what our goals actually are.

Five years after 9/11, it is time to stop and re-evaluate where we have gone. President Bush is right: 9/11 was indeed the first battle in what will be an ongoing war for the future of civilised people. But the term “war on terrorism” is facile and misleading. Terrorism, after all, is a tactic. It is not an ideology or a nation or a people.

The American people are sophisticated enough to understand the difference between Afghanistan and Iraq, or Iran and Palestine. It is time our leaders stop treating us like children; it is time to stop calling different fights in different countries against different enemies by the same name in the hopes that this will be enough to secure our unquestioning support.

Our battle is not against Islam or Muslims. It is not a fight against Islamic fundamentalism, or “Islamo-fascism,” one of the most absurd terms that has ever become a part of our national discourse. The Nazis called themselves Christians and believed that they were acting in conformance with God’s will—but no one ever called them Christian fundamentalists, or “Christiano-nazis”. Our fight—and it is one that we can and must win—is a battle against poverty, against lack of education, and against depravation of civil and political rights. These are the demons that must be slain, for they are the root causes of the despair, suffering and anger that so often lead to violence. As it happens, these demons are nowhere more prevalent than in Muslim countries in the Middle East, but this does not mean that we are fighting a religion with over 1.2 billion followers worldwide.

It is time again for America to embrace the moral high ground. How many billions have been spent on war, death and destruction since 9/11? Imagine if that money had been spent feeding the world’s hungry, educating the unskilled, ending gender inequality and securing the civil rights of refugees and other marginalised people? What if we attempted to actually promote democracy in the world by isolating and punishing all dictators, not just those who aren’t our “friends” and happen to rule over oil-rich countries? What if we focused on fully engaging in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to finally make real the two-state solution that all parties already know must be put into place? It is this last point that would do the most not just to make ourselves and our Israeli friends safer, but also to finally prove to the Muslim world that the US can be a fair and even-handed partner for peace.

Americans can accomplish great things. We have risen to the occasion time and again to remake the world into a safer and more just place. On this fifth anniversary of 9/11, let us recall the spirit of cooperation and unity that we all felt in the weeks and months after 9/11. Let us harness our great national spirit and put it to good ends. Instead of being suspicious of and hostile to Muslims, let us empower the 8 million Muslims living in America so that they can serve as our global ambassadors to the Muslim world, and so that they can show the world that the US is not represented by Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Let us fight once more on the right side of history.

It is our actions as individuals that will decide what the world will look like on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

###

* Kareem Elbayar is a law and international affairs graduate student at the George Washington University Law School. He wrote this article after attending the 9/11+5 Conference on American/Muslim Relations, hosted by Americans for Informed Democracy (www.aidemocracy.org). This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 12 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission is granted for republication.

3) In writer's work, a vanishing Arab world
Dan Murphy

Cairo – The life of Naguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian Nobel laureate who died last week, in many ways charts the rise and fall of a generation of Arab intellectuals who came of age during independence, imbued with socialist and nationalist values they expected would lead their nations to prosperity and prominence.

A believing Muslim, Mr. Mahfouz, like many of his colleagues, was committed to the separation of church and state, represented in the independence-era slogan of "religion is for God, the nation is for all."

"He expressed enlightenment and tolerance that reject extremism,'' Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said after Mahfouz's death on Aug. 30. "He was a cultural light who brought Arab literature to the world."

More than anything, the man considered by some to be the father of the Arab novel loved Cairo. He rarely left his native city, and his most celebrated works were set amid the alleys and lanes of Islamic Cairo, portraits of the city and those who inhabit it.

But in the last half of his long life, the secular dreams of his youth, and the hope that Egyptians would be delivered from poverty by independence, faded under the weight of a rising, politicised Islam and the failure of the secular state to deliver social justice.

There could be no starker evidence of a changing society than the 1994 attack on him by an Islamic militant that nearly claimed his life. He had always held controversial opinions here, most notably his support for Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, but he was a low-profile figure largely ignored by the government and the public.

Then in 1988, his quiet labour was disrupted when he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The following year, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called for the murder of Salman Rushdie for the alleged crime of blasphemy. The blind Egyptian sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, later jailed in America for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, followed Khomeini's lead and appeared to call for Mahfouz's murder in a 1989 interview.

Had Mahfouz been murdered for his allegorical 1959 book "Children of the Alley," in which a poor Cairo father represents God and his sons Jesus, Mohammed, and other prophets, Mr. Rahman said Mr. Rushdie would never have dared to write "The Satanic Verses,'' notwithstanding the fact that Mahfouz's book was banned across the Arab world.

On Oct. 14, 1994, as Mahfouz left his house with a friend to attend his legendary weekly diwan with other writers and thinkers at a Nile-side cafe, a man stabbed him in the neck. At his trial the attacker, later executed, said he was inspired by Rahman's comments.

"He was the number one soft target in Egypt,'' says Raymond Stock, an American translator and writer currently working on a biography of Mahfouz. "To the Islamists, he symbolised unbelief and support for Israel - all the things they hate the government for. They couldn't get to the leaders, so they went after him."

But Mahfouz, who worked as a government censor in his early years, could at times be contradictory. He supported the peace treaty with Israel, but also defended the use of suicide bombers by Palestinians in their struggles with the Jewish state.

A martyr for free expression to some after his stabbing, he voluntarily agreed with Islamic authorities at Al Azhar University to withhold publication of "Children of the Alley," even after the government lifted its ban following the attack. After that decision, "some of his closest friends accused him of betraying fellow writers,'' says Mr. Stock.

But it was a decision much appreciated by Islamists. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement mourning his passing and praising him as a pious man. "A lot of the things he wrote were wrong, but his agreement with Al Azhar not to publish that blasphemous work was a sign he understood his mistake,'' says Abd al-Munim Abu al-Futuh, a member of the Brotherhood's guidance council.

The attack left the then 83-year-old Mahfouz unable to grasp a pen for years, though it didn't end his hunger for contact with his other friends and writers. Until the last months of his life, he still kept up his weekly salons, his wry and self-effacing presence the glue that held together a dwindling number of Egyptian intellectuals.

"He was the most hail fellow, well-met sort of person that you could imagine,'' says Stock.

In his final years, says Stock, Mr. Mahfouz was a supporter of Mubarak, going so far as to publicly endorse him for president in the country's last election, and the government in turn embraced him as a popular figure whose glory they hoped would reflect upon them. That was a sharp turn from his views on Mubarak's immediate predecessor Anwar Sadat, who was murdered by Islamists for his peace deal with Israel.

Mahfouz loathed Mr. Sadat for his infitah, or “open door”, policy that reduced the role of the state in Egypt's economy and in providing social welfare, and allowed for more foreign and private investment. He saw the policy as a betrayal of the socialism that Egypt needed, and as the unintentional fuel for the rise of militant Islam.

In his short novel "The Day the President was Killed,'' focusing on a poor family in the days before Sadat's assassination, he chronicles the hardships and disillusion created by the government's economic failures, how so many Egyptians and Arabs have been left feeling adrift in a modern age that has yielded few fruits.

But while still critical of those economic policies that Mubarak carried forward, he saw Egypt's current leader as offering the best possible course. "I think he was very practical-minded,'' says Stock. "He saw Mubarak as building on the best of Sadat with his more grandiose excesses. During his time in power, Egypt had not fallen apart against great odds and Mubarak didn't participate in any foreign adventures."

Nevertheless, the author never gave up on his socialist ideas, or his ties to the people of Cairo's streets - even as the bars and cafes of his youth were either given over to the tourist trade, or vanished altogether.

###

* Dan Murphy is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, 6 September 2006, www.csmonitor.com (http://www.csmonitor.com)
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. Permission for publication can be obtained by contacting lawrenced@csps.com.

4) Promoting tolerant nationalism, beyond religious versus secular
Muhamad Ali

Manoa, Hawaii - The commemoration of Independence Day every August 17th leaves certain crucial questions unanswered, despite all the underlying spirit, associated symbols and colourful celebrations. One such question is whether Indonesian nationalism was and continues to be secular or religious.

Scholars have attempted to provide answers to this delicate and complex question, but most of them are trapped in a dichotomous opposition between the religious and the secular. In fact, for many Indonesian Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Confucians, nationalism is both secular and religious.

Pancasila is the philosophical basis or code of ethics of the Indonesian state based on five principles: belief in the one and only God, just and civilized humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity of the deliberations of representatives and social justice for the whole of the people of Indonesia. It has become the ambiguous yet accepted ideology of Indonesia's nationalism. But what can we, as a nation, gain from it?

Most Western literature on Indonesian nationalism argues that historically the emergence of nationalism was attributed to the rise of secular leaders such as Sukarno and Hatta (both being graduates of the Dutch educational system) and a secular print media, including Budi Utomo and the Indonesian National Party of Sukarno. Nationalism is believed to be a Western import, and it was secularly educated leaders who introduced the concept to this new country.

Many have challenged this argument. Michael Francis Laffan, in his Islamic Nationalism and Colonial Indonesia (2003), argues that Islam played a crucial role in the rise of Indonesian nationalism. According to him, it was Muslim scholars and leaders, influenced by Islamic reform movements in Mecca-Medina and then Egypt, through their religious organisations (such as Syarikat Islam, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah), publications and activism, who worked in anti-colonial movements during the early 20th century. These two arguments stand upon their own emphasis of certain movements and individuals in selected moments of history.

The essence of nationalism is patriotism, or love of the native land. This love of the native land has very constructive impacts on the life of a nation. By this spirit of love, all members of a nation are willing to work hard to build their country into a prosperous and peaceful one. Also by this spirit, self-determination arises and can become a strong force in self-improvement and nation-building.

In interfaith meetings, every religion attempts to argue that nationalism and patriotism are sanctioned by their religious beliefs, and their gods teach them to love their country and to work hard for it. This may be called religious nationalism, for the absence of a better term, to suggest that nationalism and religion are not incompatible in the heart and minds of many of these religious peoples.

If one says nationalism was and is Islamic, then a question may arise: Were there only Muslims who fought against colonialism? They were a majority certainly in the struggle against colonialism, but were there Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians and non-religious peoples in nationalist movements?

This question leads to the very problem Indonesia has faced again and again: Is Indonesia truly a pluralistic nation? To the latter question, many Islamic political parties and leaders have only one answer: that it was Muslims who played the main role in gaining and keeping independence and therefore it is the Muslims' right to determine the direction of the nation by their particularistic laws.

It is often claimed that Muslims gave up seven words of the Jakarta Charter (with the obligation for Muslims to observe their religious beliefs) and presented it to non-Muslims of the nation as a gift. For them, Pancasila was often seen as a gift to the pluralistic nation, compromising Islamic ambitions to make the nation-state an Islamic state.

Thus it is hardly present in the minds of the Muslim majority that Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians and others, whether or not they identified themselves as such, participated in the struggle against colonialism, and have long contributed to the development of the nation.

Pre-independence nationalism was to get rid of the Japanese and the Dutch, but post-independence nationalism was to contribute to the development of the country in all aspects of life. Some post-independence nationalists argue that nationalism should today mean anti-neoimperialism, economic imperialism in the form of capitalism (and its representative institutions) and so forth.

More recently, some Nahdlatul Ulama leaders issued a manifesto that criticises new modes of imperialism in the form of external forces imperialising Indonesia economically, politically, culturally and intellectually. This neo-nationalism is sometimes linked to particular religious interpretations as well.

How should we resolve this question? There is no one answer to this. Nationalism is perhaps neutral in itself. It is a good thing to love one's country. Every community in the world today, including the Muslim world, has accepted nationalism as the best political ideology.

But we are facing excesses of nationalism: Aggressive nationalism which tries to impose one's nationalism onto other nations near and far. Between nations, tolerant nationalism, either religious or secular, should be promoted.

Indonesian nationalism, either religiously or secularly based, can have excesses and extremes as well. Extreme nationalism, for example, forces minorities to adopt the overarching political agenda that they would otherwise reject because it does not suit their needs and interests.

An extreme nationalism wants to civilise the margins (indigenous believers, religious sects, new religious movements, mountain and jungle tribes, and so forth) by way of imposition without respect for their particular conditions and needs. Within a nation, there needs to be a balance between nationalism and multiculturalism.

Thus, we should now go beyond secular versus religious nationalism. It is time to promote a more substantive and tolerant nationalism: strong, solid, but respecting other concepts of nationalism and nationalities within and without the country. Tolerant nationalism is a love of one's country manifested in various aspects of life, but not at the expense of the destruction of other peoples within and beyond the constructed boundaries.

Indonesian nationalism should be tolerant in the sense that, whether religious or secular or mixed according to different communities, it should respect minorities and the marginalised, and at the same time it should respect other nationalisms outside itself. One of the outcomes of such tolerant nationalism is continued participation within the nation and peaceful coexistence and fruitful cooperation outside it.

###

* Muhamad Ali is a lecturer at State Islamic University, Jakarta. He is working on his doctoral thesis on Islamic knowledge and power relations in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia and Malaysia at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, under the East-West Center, Honolulu. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).
Source: Jakarta Post, 1 September 2006, www.thejakaratpost.com (http://www.thejakaratpost.com)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) Rethinking the Arab system
Khalil El-Anani

Cairo - When Iraq was invaded, analysts deplored the lack of cohesion in the official Arab system and bemoaned the inefficacy of the Arab League, which is the strategic arm of this system. Major Arab countries were fiercely admonished for failing to stop the invasion. The late Edward Said said that the invasion was a catastrophe on a scale approaching that of 1948. But worse was to come.

Israel's invasion of Lebanon in summer 2006 once again shook the Arab system to the core. There is nothing new about Israel's brutality, but the implications for the Arab world were immense. There are three reasons for the public disenchantment. First, the Arab system seemed confused about its priorities and thus failed to come to the help of a member country. Second, Arab inaction encouraged Israel to act with more brutality and impunity. Third, outsiders seemed to decide the course of the conflict according to their agenda, on top of which is the creation of a new Middle East.

Some analysts see the crisis of the Arab system as a temporary one related to the changes in the international order following 9/11. The implication here is that we should let the whole thing blow over rather than introduce radical measures. Other analysts focus on restructuring the Arab League rather than rethinking the strategy that gave birth to that institution six decades ago.

The Arab official system is in deep crisis. The war on Lebanon has made that much clear. On at least two occasions, the Arab League admitted its inability to deal with the war. Arab foreign ministers wanted to refer the war to the UN Security Council simply because they couldn't take a unified stand on the matter. Also, the Arab League failed to hold an emergency summit to discuss the war. A system designed to protect its members from foreign threats has apparently ceased to function.

The current capabilities of the Arab system obviously exceed its expectations. Not only that: current expectations often impede the smooth functioning of the system. Although there is no paucity of arguments for unity, wishful thinking alone cannot produce a working regional system. The desire for unity has supplanted the pragmatism that is necessary for any regional system to operate.

Analysts often jump to conclusions before examining the root causes of the problem. This is why they criticise the Arab League instead of looking at the historic dilemma that has to do with the Arab world's self- perception. With every Arab crisis that comes along, analysts wonder whether the Arab system is capable of meeting its responsibilities. This, however, is the wrong question, and because we ask it so often, we're as far as ever from the answer. Criticism of the Arab League has become the easy way out. It has turned into a smokescreen that hides the real problems of the Arab system.

Since the creation of the Arab League in 1945, the perceptions, goals, and functions of the Arab system have shifted. The Arab system needs to adapt to two sets of changes: domestic politics changed and so did the public's perception of the role of the system; and the international scene shifted in a way that had far-reaching repercussions for the structure and efficacy of the Arab system. In both cases, the Arab system failed to keep pace with new developments.

From the 1948 catastrophe to the 1967 disaster, the Arab system managed to function somehow. It even survived the "moral" dilemma of the 1978 peace treaty. Even the Iraq-Iran war didn't seem to shake the system to the roots. But decay has finally caught on. The façade of homogeneity has finally proved too thin to hide the ideological and cultural dilemmas inherent in the Arab system.

The first serious divisions emerged over Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. These divisions demonstrated the flaws inherent in the way member countries perceived the system's functions and goals. The divisions got worse during the 1990s, for the system lacked a corrective mechanism. Despite its pernicious ailment, the Arab system had its moments of clarity. One of those moments was in 1996, when Egypt called for a summit after Israel's extreme right took office.

Another was in 2000, when a summit was held in support of the second (Al-Aqsa) Intifada. But the Arab system was not willing to address its own tribulations, and sooner or later its malaise became evident to all and sundry. Harmony was gone, but the cracks were papered over rather than appropriately addressed. The system was supposed to learn from its difficult moments, but it never did.

Will the Arab system succumb to pressure from outsiders? Will it implode from within? Will non-Arab scenarios, such as "the new Middle East", surpass it? These questions are all relevant now.

During the war on Lebanon, some major Arab countries took positions that seemed shocking at first glance. But these very positions, odd as they may have seemed, could serve as a harbinger of a new Arab system. Perhaps functionality will finally replace the top-heavy demagoguery that characterised the Arab system for the past 60 years. It is refreshing, for once, to see nationalist-inspired realism replace the bravado of collective action. A lot, of course, would depend on how closely the vision of the regimes reflects the interests of their nations.

The Arab system is a system for collective action. But this collective action should tally with the public's sentiments, not with the desire of leaders to posture and jockey for power. Regional bonds are meaningful only so long as they tally with the interests of each Arab country. This is the point one has to keep in mind whenever reform of the Arab system is brought up.

A methodical rethinking of the dynamics of the Arab system is in order. We have to assess our ability to work in harmony, and we need to recognise our limitations. The trick is to motivate various countries to remain within the system. And just as important, the system has to recognise and adapt to changes on the international scene. In other words, we have to strike a balance between our capabilities and expectations.

It is easy to criticise the Arab system and its institutions, including the Arab League. It is easy to criticise individual Arab states. But this is not going to get us anywhere. We have to address the roots of the problem. We have to look at the goals and common interests that connect the units of our system. We have to look at the old bonds and ask ourselves if they can still keep the system together. My guess is that we have to rebuild the Arab regional system on more durable and meaningful foundations. We have to think of what each country wants.

We cannot keep thinking in terms of external threats alone. If anything good has come out of the war on Lebanon it is the realisation that we need an Arab system that works.

###

* Khalil El-Anani is a political analyst for Al-Siyasa Al-Dawliya magazine published by Al-Ahram. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).
Source: Al Ahram, 31 August – 6 September 2006, www.ahram.org.eg/weekly (http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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 Chris Binkley (cbinkley@sfcg.org) for more information on contributing.

About CGNews-PiH
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 constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, 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.

The Common Ground News Service also commissions and distributes solution-oriented articles by local and international experts to promote constructive perspectives and encourage dialogue about current Middle East issues. This service, Common Ground News Service - Middle East (CGNews-ME), is available in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. To subscribe, click here. (http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?list=cgnews)

The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.

Common Ground News Service
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite #200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Ph: +1(202) 265-4300
Fax: +1(202) 232-6718

Rue Belliard 205 Bte 13 B-1040
Brussels, Belgium
Ph: +32(02) 736-7262
Fax: +32(02) 732-3033

E-mail : cgnewspih@sfcg.org
Website : www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/index.php?sid=1&lang=en)

Editors
Emad Khalil (Amman)
Juliette Schmidt (Beirut)
Chris Binkley (Dakar)
Emmanuelle Hazan (Geneva)
Medhy Hidayat (Jakarta)
Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Andrew Kessinger (Washington)

Translators
Olivia Qusaibaty (Washington)
Rio Rinaldo (Jakarta)
Zeina Safa (Beirut)

CGNews is a not-for-profit news service.

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
03 - 10 September 2006

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim–Western relations. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French and Indonesian. To subscribe, click here. (http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?list=cgnewsdoc)
For an archive of past CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.
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).

Inside this edition

1) by Rev. Canon Andrew P B White

New York Times correspondent, Alan Riding, talks about how Islamic art exhibits have been popping up in Europe and North America since 9/11 to “present a largely Western audience with a different image of the Islamic world, one that dwells on its artistic sophistication rather than the radical stereotypes often reinforced by newspaper headlines.” Wondering whether such exhibits are really “a way of promoting greater understanding and bridging the cultural gap between the Judeo-Christian and Muslim worlds,” Riding provides an account of the history of Islamic art and appreciates that these exhibits throw a “contemporary spotlight…on a long-neglected culture.”
(Source: International Herald Tribune, 3 August, 2006)

1) Let’s stop the call for moderates
Rev. Canon Andrew P B White

Baghdad - There is certainly a crisis between Islam and the West, and all the time we are being told to both strengthen and deal with the moderates. The term “moderate” is being used to describe the tolerant Muslims who shun violence and terrorism. The problem is that this word itself shows a total misunderstanding of the very nature of Islam. What’s more it strengthens further the position of the intolerant as the true disciples of their faith tradition.

I am a Christian and a priest of the Anglican Church. I would take great offence to being called a “moderate” Christian. I am not; I am serious about my faith tradition. When I say the creed on Sundays, I mean it and believe it. I share with my Muslim brothers and sisters their concern about growing Western secularism and disbelief.

I have the privilege of spending most of my time in the Middle East; most of my colleagues are Muslims. Some of my most trusted staff are Muslim, including those who translate for me at church services. I probably have the only Church in the world that meets in a Shi‘a Muslim Prime Minister’s office. My staff and colleagues are not moderates. They are serious about their faith and beliefs. They shun all forms of violence and terrorist activity. They are, like the majority of Muslims, loving, trustworthy and ardently against all forms of violence.

The reality is that I have more in common with many of my Muslim brothers and sisters than I do with many of my so-called Christian colleagues. I do not consider any of these people moderates; they are not, yet they are totally serious about their faith and totally tolerant to the “other”, both Christians and Jews. What they want to see are people who are serious about their faith and their service of the Almighty.

If we are going to be serious about dealing with the very real problems between Islam and the West, we need to begin by using the right language. In the very first place it will mean doing away with the language of the “moderates”. We need to truly respect Islam, which will mean having regard for those who are serious about their faith. Realising that if we really want to make progress in Muslim-Western relations we must begin by respecting Islam and the language and means it uses of self-identification. We must realise that most Muslims are tolerant and serious about their faith. They want to work with others, but they want others to respect them, and even be willing to learn from them.

Maybe, just maybe, the West has a lot to learn from Islam. Maybe even we as Christians can learn from them and become more serious about our faith tradition. If we are going to seriously break down the barriers between Islam and the West, let us begin by looking at ourselves in the West and seeing how we can become more serious about our faith and beliefs, and let us begin by doing away with this language of moderations, for what is being asked for is to disregard the fundamental tenants of Islam. Islam requires both serious commitment and tolerance of the other. Let us also stop thinking that those from the West who engage with Islam should just be liberal Christians in the West. We can be serious about our own faith, and we don’t all have to be Western either.

###

* The Reverend Canon Andrew P B White is President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East and Anglican Priest for Iraq. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 05 September 2006, www.commongrounews.org (http://www.commongrounews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) Headscarves and Muslim identity
Mujtaba Hamdi

Jakarta - Headscarves can elicit many questions. Shazeera Ahmad Zawawi, a 27-year-old female Malaysian Muslim, fields them all the time. “Gee”, as Shazeera is known to her friends, is a human rights activist from Malaysia, a country which is racing with enthusiasm toward upholding Islamic law. When attending a human rights conference in Canada, Gee received many looks and questions, "How does your headscarf fit with your human rights activities?"

Those who were asking such a question were clearly surprised to see headscarves at a human rights event. Gee was asked her opinion on human rights issues, including homosexuality, polygamy and women’s rights. There was the suggestion in these questions that her preference to wear headscarves goes against homosexuality, supports polygamy and ignores women’s rights. However, Gee had an answer to their question: “Yes, I am a Muslim, but I’m a human being first.” Gee sees others first as a human being with all of their rights, before their other identities, such as Muslim or Christian.

Perhaps those who were asking this question did not know that Gee was part of a “living” Islam as opposed to a staticone. This living Islam is a religion which comes from her heart in her daily life, a religion which can easily live with diversity, and a religion that prefers to engage in dialogue with the other existing religions. In her own words, “I live in an Islam that does not judge wrong or right.”

From the beginning, Gee has grown up in an atmosphere that is comfortable with opposition. Haji Mahmud, her grandfather, was involved in Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya or Malayan Melayu National Party, a “leftist movement” in the era of colonialism, which combined the spirit of Islam, nationalism and socialism. Gee likewise, when she was waiting for her university entrance examination, preferred to volunteer as an English teacher for children at a program owned by the Parti Islam se-Malaysia or Malaysian Islam Party, the most persevering opposition party in Malaysia.

That opposition’s lively, open-minded debate about Islam is what actually brought Gee to join the PMI, Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam or Islamic Student Association, when she was a student at the University of Malaya.

However, PMI was not the right place for Gee, who was inspired by an open living Islam, as alive as life itself. In PMI, Gee often received reprimands from senior members about her headscarves. The fabric which covered her head was considered not enough to express her “Islamic dress” based on Islamic law. Gee was pressured to wear larger, longer black headscarves which covered all of her head, shoulders and chest. She refused, while the senior members insisted. They argued. Gee was adamant that she felt comfortable with her own headscarves and did not want to change the style.

Gee wanted to show that what was “Islamic” was not the desire to subjugate the “other” or “what is different” to homogeneity, but the act of opening up and accepting diversity as a rich mosaic of Islam. Furthermore, as a human being she also believed that there are many religions which should co-exist in the world, alongside Islam. That was why Gee also refused to join PMI’s demonstration to oppose a music concert on campus. This concert was not a Western style rock concert but one of Indian music. Gee realised those who protested the concert were predominantly afraid that they would lose the “Islamic nature” of the campus.

Now, Gee prefers to work on human rights advocacy for the indigenous people of Malaysia. She is a human being who wants to do something for humanity, not only as a Muslim who helps in the name of her religion. When Gee listens to the story of how the government stole the land of Malaysia’s indigenous population and then stood by to watch its children go hungry and its traditions get lost, she is thought of as a human being and everyone forgets about her headscarf .

Perhaps gradually they begin to realise that Gee lives an open-minded and living Islam, which appreciates human beings with their diversity of race, culture, skin colour and religion. By understanding and appreciating this diversity, we hope more and more people will realise that despite our unique identities, we are all human beings.

At the end of April 2006, at an office in Kuala Lumpur, Gee was busy with her humanitarian work. But if you listened carefully, from the loudspeaker of her computer, you could hear rock music fill her room. Gee was playing In the Walls, a rock song from Stellarstarr, a music group from Brooklyn, New York. At the left of her desk, you could see a used rock concert ticket, a souvenir from a rock festival in Bangkok, Thailand. These things serve as a reminder that “Yes, I’m a Muslim, but I’m a human being first.”

###

* Mujtaba Hamdi is former editor-in-chief of Syir’ah magazine, Jakarta, and participant of the South East Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) Journalism Fellowship 2006. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 05 September 2006, www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

3) How to bridge two views of success in Iraq
Janessa Gans

Washington, D.C. - In November 2003, as the insurgency in Iraq blossomed, I - as a U.S. official in Iraq - tried to sort out the various actors, groups and causes behind it. But in a meeting with top Sunni political leaders, it became abundantly clear to me that the American view and the Iraqi view about the causes were completely divergent. And that if we were ever going to help develop a sustainable democracy in Iraq, it was imperative that we analyse and understand the Iraqis' perspective and include that in any future solutions for the insurgency or the burgeoning sectarian conflict.

The following shows the divergent Iraqi and American views. Below, ways to reconcile them ...

1.
(Iraq) The United States toppled Saddam Hussein, but its troops humiliate us. Look at Abu Ghraib.
(US) We got rid of their brutal dictator, and they respond by attacking and killing us.

2.
(Iraq) After Saddam left, chaos - looting and terror - claimed the streets of Baghdad.
(U.S.) The people were reacting to newfound freedom after 35 years of dictatorship.

3.
(Iraq) We have been told there are billions of dollars being spent on improving our lives, but we have yet to see it.
(U.S.) We spend billions of our money to improve their country and reconstruct it. They are so ungrateful.

4.
(Iraq) The world's most powerful army can't keep my neighbourhood safe? This must be a conspiracy to keep Iraq embroiled in turmoil so they can stay and steal our oil.
(U.S.) Suicide bombers are nearly impossible to detect and prevent. We're dealing with a savage method of warfare that we are ill-suited to fight.

5.
(Iraq) The world's richest country does not fix the electricity grid or provide generators to alleviate our desperate plight. Yet, the Green Zone is lit up like a Christmas tree.
(U.S.) We try practical projects, like rebuilding parts of the pipelines and electricity grid, and the insurgents continue to bomb them.

6.
(Iraq) Iraq is a sovereign nation, but we believe the US still controls the reins and is holding us back. Look how the U.S. Embassy occupies Saddam's presidential palace.
(U.S.) Iraq has been a sovereign nation for more than two years. Why hasn't it accomplished anything? Why are the politicians so incompetent?

7.
(Iraq) The only U.S. presence we see is its heavily armed convoys careening through our streets, causing traffic jams and smashing or shooting anything that gets in its way.
(U.S.) We are targeted wherever we go. Iraqis who cooperate with Americans are frequently targeted and killed by insurgents.

8.
(Iraq) Sectarian politics and the ensuing strife is partly the Americans' fault for bringing religious parties to power when the Coalition Provisional Authority ran the country.
(U.S.) We are the ones preventing a civil war by pressuring for a unity government and increased Sunni participation.

9.
(Iraq) They speak constantly of democracy but no one has explained what it means and how it can work in our culture.
(U.S.) The Arabs are not ready for democracy, as evidenced by their politics that are mostly based on sect rather than competence.

A better course

What if U.S. policymakers realised that many Iraqis blame us for the current Islamist dominance of Iraqi politics and the worsening sectarian conflict? The Iraqis say that the United States first empowered Islamist clerics and created a strict sectarian model for governance on the initial Governing Council, created by the Coalition Provisional Authority in July 2003. The subsequent Iraqi elections and governments have merely continued that precedent.

If we realised the sectarian model was a recent fabrication, not the way Iraq has always been, this would not seem to be a civil war that was destined to happen. The conflict between Sunnis and Shiites would be seen as something that could have been - and perhaps still could be - prevented.

Understanding the issues and problems from the local point of view has never been the forte of Americans, but it is especially difficult in Iraq, where security and the language barrier offer unique challenges. Travel outside the Green Zone is dangerous and limited. Moreover, practically none of our diplomats stationed in Iraq today speak Arabic and most consort primarily with top-level Iraqi officials who are isolated and unfamiliar with "ground truth".

Putting more U.S. officials who speak Arabic or have Middle East experience in Iraq and reducing movement restrictions for U.S. officials are key to discerning ground truth in Iraq. Deepening the understanding that many in our government have about Iraq would mitigate damaging and ignorant mistakes in our policies and actions. Decisions on military actions and those concerning Iraqi politicians should be cleared with experts in the U.S. Embassy to assess political ramifications. The political coordination should include those operating somewhat independently of the embassy, such as the CIA, USAID and the military. From personal experience, this would have saved much time and energy. Several times my colleagues and I saw a relationship we had painstakingly cultivated over many months destroyed by a military mistake - a wrongful detention or shooting. Moreover, lack of coordinated financial assistance and discrepant viewpoints from government agencies also undermined U.S. policies and decision-making.

It is not that admitting to past mistakes will turn the situation around in Iraq. But understanding what the United States has done wrong, or is perceived to have done wrong, would have an immediate impact in Iraq in two significant ways: 1) We could at once stop committing the error and do right; 2) If our error is a misperception and not true, we can set the record straight. If the United States makes no attempt to understand its mistakes, Iraqis and Americans end up moving along two parallel tracks of self-made and self-perpetuated truths that never coincide. This may be successful in convincing Americans that we are doing what it takes to succeed in Iraq, but we will never actually be successful until the Iraqis perceive us so.

###

* Janessa Gans served as a U.S. official in Iraq from October 2003 to July 2005. She returned to Washington in March 2006 with the non-profit organisation she founded, The Euphrates Institute. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 31 August 2006, www.csmonitor.com (http://www.csmonitor.com)
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. Please contact lawrenced@csps.com for reprint permission.

4) Look who's fair and balanced
Lawrence Pintak

Cairo - The summer of 2006 marked an important milestone for Arab media. Israel and Hizbullah were locked in a bitter conflict that would claim the lives of more than 150 Israelis and an estimated 1,000 Lebanese -- a third of them children. Each day brought brutal new images of civilian casualties.

On American television, leading journalists,such as CNN's star presenters Anderson Cooper and John Roberts, regularly referred to Hizbullah as "terrorists" or a "terrorist militia", without bothering to attribute the label to Israeli or U.S. sources. But on the news broadcasts of the Arab world's dominant all-news channels, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, such polarising language was rarely heard.

The irony, of course, is that Al-Jazeera was condemned by the Bush administration for using terms like "martyr", "aggression" and "terrorism" in describing the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Arab journalists should be "unbiased" like their colleagues in America, was the constant refrain from Washington.

"The words 'terror' and 'terrorist' are not in our dictionary," Ahmed Sheikh, Al-Jazeera's chief editor, told me in late summer, as a shaky ceasefire took hold in southern Lebanon. "We only use them when we are quoting someone."

Nor were dead civilians or fighters referred to as shaheed, Arabic for "martyr". Such terms are still bandied about on Al-Jazeera's talk shows, which tend to resemble the cable shout-fests in the U.S., but they were officially exiled from news reports.

At Al-Arabiya, the story was much the same. "We use Hizbullah 'fighters' and sometimes 'militants', but we don't use 'fighters for freedom', executive editor Nabil Khatib told me. "We agreed we would not take a clear position supporting Hizbullah. We are covering this war as a war."

Al-Arabiya went a step further, imposing an almost complete ban on showing dead bodies, a radical move in an Arab media culture in which the camera often zooms into open wounds.

Khatib recalled a report on the aftermath of an Israeli bombing raid on a building in the town of Baalbek in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The hour of raw footage received at the channel's Dubai headquarters was all "parts of bodies and relatives taking the body parts in their hands and showing them to the camera. It was a crazy situation. Some colleagues were very angry about what happened and felt we should show the pictures."

In the end, on Khatib's orders, the channel used just one "three- second-long shot of a body with no details visible."

Both Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera have been vigorously criticised for this new approach by viewers and colleagues in the Arab media where sensationalism, distortion and misinformation often are rampant. "We have received hundreds of calls from viewers asking, 'Why are we not calling the dead civilians in Lebanon 'martyrs’? " says Sheikh, himself a Palestinian. "It was very difficult for me personally to explain, but that is the policy."

Of course, Arab politics can't be discounted in any explanation of this more "responsible" approach. Al-Jazeera is funded by the Emir of Qatar and Al-Arabiya, which seemed to downplay the conflict in its early stages, is part of a media empire owned by a member of the Saudi royal family. Both countries are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, while Hizbullah is Shiite. Sunni heads of state across the region initially condemned Hizbullah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, the spark that touched off this war, because it was seen as part of Shiite Iran's strategy to strengthen its position in the region at the expense of Sunni countries like Egypt, Jordan and the royal families of the Gulf.

Arab public opinion -- driven by media coverage of the conflict -- eventually forced the Sunni leaders to backtrack, condemn the Israeli invasion and give tacit support to Hizbullah.

But the degree to which the policy changes at Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya also represent a new chapter in the evolution of Arab journalism that cannot be dismissed. Until Al-Jazeera was launched ten years ago, the term "television journalism" was an oxymoron in the Arab world. All stations were government-owned. Now there is a new spirit of -- or at least aspiration for -- independence and professionalism.

When I visited Al-Jazeera's headquarters in June, Sheikh and his counterparts from Al-Jazeera's soon-to-be-launched English-language sister channel, Al-Jazeera International, were busy drafting a new set of standards and practices, which included a glossary of neutral terms journalists on both channels should use to describe the region's constant violence.

When it's ready, the U.S. channels might want to request a copy.

###

* Lawrence Pintak is the director of the Adham Center for Electronic Journalism at the American University in Cairo and co-editor/publisher of TBS Journal/Arab Media & Society. His most recent book is Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens: America, Islam & the War of Ideas. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org).

Source: Jakarta Post, 25 August 2006, www.thejakartapost.com (http://www.thejakartapost.com)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) Art as an ambassador for insights into Islam
Alan Riding

London - It was not a happy coincidence that the Victoria and Albert Museum's splendidly refurbished Islamic art gallery should open here late last month just as the Middle East was once again going up in flames.

After all, one of the gallery's aims is to present a largely Western audience with a different image of the Islamic world, one that dwells on its artistic sophistication rather than the radical stereotypes often reinforced by newspaper headlines.

Certainly, it was with this in mind that Mohammed Jameel, a wealthy Saudi, footed the $9.8 million bill for reinstalling the Victoria and Albert's Islamic collection for the first time in half a century. The display area on the museum's main floor has now been renamed the Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art in memory of the benefactor's parents.

Yet political turmoil in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and beyond only underlines the challenge of using the past to illuminate the present. Put differently, can 400 carefully chosen objects, some dating back to the 11th century, provide us with any fresh insight into what is happening in the Middle East today?

The question is pertinent because, notably since 9/11, many museums in Europe and the United States have begun highlighting collections and exhibitions of Islamic art as a way of promoting greater understanding and bridging the cultural gap between the Judeo-Christian and Muslim worlds.

In Western Europe, this strategy also implies recognition that, because of massive immigration from North Africa, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Islam is now also a European religion - and it is therefore important both for Europeans to show respect for Islamic culture and for Muslim immigrants and their children to take pride in their past.

But are we asking too much of art, giving it too much political weight?

Evidently, culture has always served as a political tool. And the Middle East was no exception. Like European art's dependence on court and church until the Renaissance, Islamic art from the seventh century until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I was inseparable from political and religious systems of power.

Even today, for instance, France is unblushingly courting good will in third world countries by devoting its new $295 million Musée du Quai Branly to non-Western art. And, with its eye on Muslims at home and abroad, the Louvre is also spending $60 million on an ambitious new wing, scheduled to open in 2009, to house its Islamic collection.

The Victoria and Albert's aim is more modest: to tell the story of Islamic art in a concise and digestible fashion - without addressing the present. Yet this approach is also instructive: through the peephole of art, we can see a more complex and subtle world than the rigid, oppressive and inward-looking theocracies promoted by some Muslim extremists today.

During construction of the Jameel Gallery, the Victoria and Albert showed part of its Islamic collection in the United States, Japan and northern England in a travelling exhibition called "Palace and Mosque". And this title provides the conceptual framework of its new display here: serving both palace and mosque, Islamic art took secular as well as religious forms.

"The political character of Islamic art arose because, in the absence of a priesthood, the formative role in its development fell to those who were politically powerful," Tim Stanley, senior curator of Middle East collections at the Victoria and Albert, writes in a catalogue accompanying "Palace and Mosque". In other words, Islamic art always reflected political realities.

These variables included the outside world. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 A.D., Islamic art inherited two distinct artistic traditions: those of Christian Byzantium to the west and of the Sassanian empire to the east. Then, as the new Muslim empire swept west as far as Spain and, later, east into Asia, it absorbed new influences, notably from China.

Most of all, though, Islamic art reflected the whims of successive regimes, from the early Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates to the later Safavid, Qajar and Ottoman dynasties. And here, the perceived Islamic ban on figurative art was interpreted differently.

Religious art invariably respected the rule, relying on calligraphic citations from the Qur’an and abstract, often geometric, ornamentation. But secular art, which included utilitarian objects like carpets, ceramic vases, ivory caskets, glass jugs and metalwork, frequently showed flora and fauna. Some Muslim rulers even commissioned portraits of themselves. And while calligraphy remained important, it used poetry as well as the Qur’an.

This eclecticism is well illustrated in this small selection of the Victoria and Albert's 10,000-piece Islamic collection. The Jameel Gallery itself, though, has been designed around the so-called Ardabil carpet, which the museum describes as "the world's oldest dated carpet." Measuring 36 by 16 feet, or about 11 by 5 meters, and comprising 30 million hand-tied knots, it was made in 1539-1540 for the Ardabil mosque in northwest Iran.

In the past, the carpet was hung vertically and was hard to appreciate. Now, it has been laid out in the centre of the gallery and placed inside a specially constructed case with appropriate lighting. As a carpet destined for religious use, its elaborate design in 10 colours is non-figurative. In contrast, hanging nearby, the so-called Chelsea carpet, also from 16th-century Persia, is alive with flowers, fruits and animals, as if evoking earthly paradise.

More unexpected is a 17th-century Christian vestment portraying the crucifixion, which was made in the style of Islamic art for the use of Armenian priests living in the Iranian city of Isfahan. This also reminds us that the Islamic world included large populations of Christians as well as Jews.

Other objects require no explanation in order to be admired: an 11th-century rock crystal ewer from Egypt; a 16th-century Iznik pottery mosque lamp from Istanbul; a 15th-century bowl depicting a Portuguese sailing ship made in Spain using the lusterware technique invented in Iraq centuries earlier; a 19-foot-high wooden minbar, or pulpit, made in the late 15th century for a Cairo mosque.

Through this display, then, a contemporary spotlight is now thrown on a long-neglected culture.

Yet, for the Victoria and Albert, this is not exactly new: inspired by the beauty of this art, eager to learn from its exquisite designs, the museum acquired most of its collection in the 19th and early 20th centuries, long before the Middle East meant trouble. The Prophet himself is quoted as saying: "God is beautiful and He loves beauty." In these ugly times, this too may be worth remembering.

###

* Alan Riding is a veteran correspondent of The New York Times. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongrounews.org (http://www.commongrounews.org).

Source: International Herald Tribune, 3 August, 2006, www.iht.com (http://www.iht.com)
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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 Chris Binkley (cbinkley@sfcg.org) for more information on contributing.

About CGNews-PiH
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 constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, 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.

The Common Ground News Service also commissions and distributes solution-oriented articles by local and international experts to promote constructive perspectives and encourage dialogue about current Middle East issues. This service, Common Ground News Service - Middle East (CGNews-ME), is available in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. To subscribe, click here. (http://www.sfcg.org/template/lists.cfm?list=cgnews)

The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.

Common Ground News Service
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite #200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Ph: +1(202) 265-4300
Fax: +1(202) 232-6718

Rue Belliard 205 Bte 13 B-1040
Brussels, Belgium
Ph: +32(02) 736-7262
Fax: +32(02) 732-3033

E-mail: cgnewspih@sfcg.org
Website: www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/index.php?sid=1&lang=en)

Editors
Emad Khalil (Amman)
Juliette Schmidt (Beirut)
Chris Binkley (Dakar)
Emmanuelle Hazan (Geneva)
Medhy Hidayat (Jakarta)
Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Andrew Kessinger (Washington)

Translators
Olivia Qusaibaty (Washington)
Rio Rinaldo (Jakarta)
Zeina Safa (Beirut)

CGNews is a not-for-profit news service.

Sri Lanka-Civil Society’s influence in re-thinking strategies for Conflict transformation and peace
October 16th & 17th, 2006
St Ethelburga’s center for Reconciliation and Peace, London, UK
Organised by the

WOMENS NETWORK FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM

We are pleased to invite you to a workshop organised for the 16th and 17th of October on the theme of Sri Lanka-Civil Society’s influence in re-thinking strategies for conflict transformation and peace.

The workshop is aimed at understanding the failures of the ceasefire which has being in place since 2002. As fighting commenced between the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in mid July 06, this workshop will analyse the role played by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and examine the possibilities of ending hostilities to compliment a future conflict transformation process of Sri Lanka. This island nation has experienced a protracted conflict, which to date has claimed more than 65,000 lives, many more subject to gross human right abuses and political repression while displacement continues with the fresh escalation of violence.

It is hoped that the workshop will provide an opportunity for civil society, peace activists, scholars and policy makers from Sri Lanka, UK and elsewhere to engage in analytical discussion to bring out voices to a broader platform. This exercise would identify capacity of existing civil society and seed avenues by which civil society could impact the “peace process” and contribute towards transformation of the ongoing conflict. The protracted civil war is clear evidence that the conflicting parties have no capacity to find a peaceful solution without assistance.

With the involvement o civil society and possible resources of international community, it is envisaged that bridges could be built to formulate a sustainable peace plan. Such a plan thereafter would provide space for committed dialogue to formulate sound strategy for conflict resolution. The symposium will also provide the opportunity to explore issues connected to conflict prevention, resolution and civil society contributions in bringing stake holders together.

Special areas of discussion

 Exploring some of the broad issues around he potential and actual affects of the conflict on civil society this workshop will especially focus on the following issues
 Overview and current issues of contention
 Responses of Local Communities and challenges to resolution
 What can and/or should civil society groups be doing to work towards conflict transformation and build bridges within their communities
 The role of the international community and international agencies in influencing the peace process
 Possible strategies towards resolution

The workshop will be a two day event, leaving substantial time for discussion and intense engagement with speakers and participants. Attendance to the workshop is free but numbers will be strictly limited to facilitate discussion and therefore, pre-registration will be essential. We would recommend that you register by the 25th of September latest by e-mailing the Women’s Network at ndfrdm@yahoo.co.uk, with your name and contact details and institutional affiliation if any. Suggestions for panels/discussions are welcome and should be submitted along with a brief proposal by this date.

Organizers
WOMENS NETWORK FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM
Mailing Address 16, Broadnook Close
Leicester
LE3 9SF
We are grateful to St’ Ethleburga’s center for their support in hosting this programme

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

English version below / Version française plus bas!

Im Rahmen der Filmreihe "African Perspectives" laden AfricAvenir International und die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) am Sonntag, den 17. September, um 17.15 Uhr zur Filmvorführung von Raoul Pecks Meisterwerk "Sometimes in April" über den Genozid in Ruanda (1994) in das Berliner Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit Dr. Jean-Damascène Gasanabo und Murtaza Jaffer (angefragt) auf der Galerie der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung statt.

Sometimes in April
USA/GB, 140 min. EnglOmFrzU
Regie: Raoul Peck

Am: Sonntag, den 17. September 2006
Beginn: 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Eintritt: FREI (Bitte trotzdem ein Ticket an der Kasse holen!)

Kurzinhalt
Sometimes in April erzählt in Rückblenden von dem Genozid in Ruanda 1994 und wählt dazu die Perspektive eines Mannes, der seine Familie während des Genozids verlor. Im zweiten, in der Gegenwart spielenden Handlungsstrang, trifft der Mann beim Internationalen Gerichtshof in Arusha auf seinen Bruder, einen Agitator des Genozids. Nach seinem Spielfilm LUMUMBA, der ihn 2000 weithin bekannt machte, widmet sich Raoul Peck in seinem jüngsten Film erneut der jüngeren Geschichte Afrikas.

Diskussionsgäste
Jean-Damascène Gasanabo ist Erziehungswissenschaftler und hat über „Erinnerung und Geschichtsschulbücher: Fallbeispiel Ruanda von 1962-1994 promoviert. 2005 hat er für die UNESCO am Projekt “Entwicklung friedlicher Koexistenz durch Analyse und Überarbeitung der Geschichtslehrpläne und –lehrbücher in Südosteuropa“ ("Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence through Analysis and Revision of History Curricula and School Textbooks in South-East Europe") gearbeitet.

Murtaza Jaffer ist am ICTR-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda tätig. Vorher war er in seiner Heimat Kenia mehrere Jahrzehnte aktiv in verschiedenen NGOs aktiv und hat zeitweilig auch den National Council of NGOs geleitet.

Regisseur
Geboren 1953 in Port-au-Prince auf Haiti, lebte Raoul Peck einige Jahre im Belgisch-Kongo (heute DRC), danach auch in Frankreich, USA und Deutschland. An der Deutschen Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin (DFFB) absolvierte Peck sein Studium. Er ist zudem Wirtschaftsingenieur, Journalist und Fotograf. 1994/95 nahm er eine Professur an der New York University an. 1995-97 amtierte er als Kulturminister Haitis. 2002 war er Mitglied der Berlinale-Jury.

Raoul Peck: „Für mich ist es wichtig, die Zeit aufzuholen, in der „unsere“, die afrikanische Geschichte, nicht im Film gezeigt wurde und nicht auf die Leinwand kam. Deswegen ist Lumumba von besonderer Bedeutung, weil es einer der wenigen Filme ist, der Afrika aus „unserer“ Perspektive zeigt. Mit Sometimes in April ist es dasselbe.“ (Interview auf critic.de)

Pressestimmen (Auszug)
Ein Film als politischer Appell, der weit über Ruanda hinausgeht. Dabei wirft "Sometimes in April" auch einen Blick hinter die Kulissen der Macht in die Berater-Zirkel der US-Regierung, die damals ein UNO-Engagement verhinderten. Auch deshalb ist es ein Film, der einen bitteren Nachgeschmack hinterlässt - und einen Funken Hoffnung, dass so etwas nie wieder passieren möge. (ZDF)
-----
African Perspectives ist eine monatlich stattfindende Filmreihe, in deren Rahmen Filme afrikanischer FilmemacherInnen präsentiert werden.

Dieser Film wird präsentiert in Kooperation mit dem Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe und der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Mit freundlicher Unterstützung von Oxfam, der South African Airways, der GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft), der Botschaft der Republik Haiti und des DGB Bildungswerk Nord-Süd-Netz.

Medienpartner: Radio Multikulti

Ständig aktuelle Informationen auf:
www.africavenir.org
www.inisa.de
-----

Invitation: Sometimes in April

On Sunday 17 September 2006 at 5.15 p.m., AfricAvenir International and the Initiative Southern Africa (INISA) welcome you to the Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe for the screening of Raoul Peck’s masterpiece "Sometimes in April". The film will be shown as part of the monthly film series “African Perspectives”. It will be shown in English with French subtitles, the entrance is free. After the screening, a discussion with Dr. Jean-Damascène Gasanabo and Murtaza Jaffer (requested) will take place at the Gallery of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation.

Sometimes in April
USA/GB, 140 min. Engl. with French Subtitles
Director: Raoul Peck

Sunday, 17 September 2006, 5.15 p.m.
Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Free Entrance (A ticket still needs to be picked up at the ticket counter!)

Synopsis
The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and more moderate Hutus, Augustin and a fellow Army officer named Xavier, defying their leadership, attempt to get their wives and children to safety. Separated from his wife Jeanne and their two sons (whom he entrusts to the care of his reluctant brother), Augustin gets caught in a desperate struggle to survive. Barely escaping the purge, he's haunted by questions about what happened to his wife, sons and daughter (who was a student at a local boarding school). In 2004, looking for closure and hoping to start a new life with his girlfriend Martine, Augustin visits the United Nations Tribunal in Arusha, where his brother Honoré awaits trial for the incendiary role he and other journalists played in the genocide.

Discussion Guest
Jean-Damascène Gasanabo has been awarded his Ph.D. in Education with Memories and History Textbooks: The Case of Rwanda from 1962 to 1994 on October 26, 2004 (en français: Mémoires et histoire scolaire: le cas du Rwanda de 1962 à 1994). He is born in 1961, has Swiss and Rwandan nationality, and is an experienced multilingual researcher, trainer and academic. He is a specialist in the teaching of history, genocide, primary education, health and other post-conflict issues with wide experience in Europe and Africa. In 2005, he has worked with UNESCO on "Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence through Analysis and Revision of History Curricula and School Textbooks in South-East Europe."

Murtaza Jaffer has been the diector of National Council of NGOs in Kenia and today works at the ICTR-InternationalCriminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Director
Born in Port-au-Prince in Haiti in 1953, his family followed his diplomat father to a posting in Belgian Congo (now Zaire) and spent several years in Kinshasa. After living in Zaire, France and the USA he moved to Germany, where he graduated from the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin (DFFB). A trained economics engineer, journalist and photographer, he was a Professor at New York University in 1994/95. He was Haiti’s Minister for Culture from 1995-97 and was a member of the International Jury at the 2002 Berlinale.

"I think it will help people feel that what is happening on the other end of the world, it's part of them as well. It's their story, whether you live in L.A., in Timbuktu, or in Japan." (Raoul Peck)

-----
African Perspectives ist eine monatlich stattfindende Filmreihe, in deren Rahmen aktuelle afrikanische Filme präsentiert werden.

In cooperation with the Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe and the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation. With the friendly assistance of Oxfam Germany, South African Airways, the Haitian Ambassy, the Labor Union Education and Science (GEW) and the North-South-Net of the Federation of German Trade Unions (DGB Nord-Süd-Netz).

Media Partner: Radio Multikulti

News on:
www.africavenir.org
www.inisa.de
-----

Invitation : Chaque année en avril / Sometimes in April

Dans le cadre de la série cinématographique "African Perspectives", AfricAvenir International et l’Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) sont heureux de présenter, dimanche 17 septembre à 17h15 au Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe le film "Chaque année en avril / Sometimes in April" de Raoul Peck. Le film sera diffusé en anglais avec sous-titrages français. Après le film aura lieu une discussion avec Dr. Jean-Damascène Gasanabo et Murtaza Jaffer (invité) dans les locaux de la fondation Heinrich-Böll.

Chaque année en avril
USA/GB, 140 min. Anglais et sous-titres français
Réalisation: Raoul Peck

Dimanche 17 september 2006, 17h15
Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Entrée libre (il est tout de même nécessaire de prendre un ticket à la caisse!)

Synopsis
Rwanda, 2004. Augustin est instituteur. Aujourd’hui, c’est le 7 avril, jour de la commémoration du début du génocide qui fit près d’un million de victimes, dix ans plus tôt. A cette époque, Augustin, soldat Hutu, était marié à une Tutsi. Au matin du 7 avril 1994, et après que, dans la nuit, l’avion du président Habyarimana ait été abattu à Kigali, les milices de l’Interahamwe se mirent à assassiner des citoyens Tutsis et des Hutus modérés. Augustin quitta son poste pour tenter de rejoindre sa famille. Bien qu’il veuille tirer un trait sur le passé, l’ancien soldat a décidé de se rendre au procès de son frère, qui doit se justifier auprès d’une commission du rôle d’incitateur à la violence raciale et criminelle qu’il a tenu en 1994.

Après LUMUMBA, le long métrage de fiction qui contribua à sa célébrité en 2000, Raoul Peck se consacre à nouveau dans son dernier film à l’histoire contemporaine de l’Afrique.

Invité
Jean-Damascène Gasanabo, Docteur en pédagogie, a soutenu sa thèse sur le thème : Mémoires et histoire scolaire: le cas du Rwanda de 1962 à 1994. En 2005, il a travaillé pour l’UNESCO dans le programme "Développement d’une coexistence pacifique à travers l’analyse et la révision des programmes et manuels scolaires d’histoire en Europe du sud-est (Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence through Analysis and Revision of History Curricula and School Textbooks in South-East Europe).

Murtaza Jaffer a dirigé le Conseil National des ONGs au Kenia et aujourd'hui travaille au Tribunal International pour le Rwanda.

Metteur en Scène
Né en 1953 à Port-au-Prince, en Haïti. Comme son père trouve un emploi dans l’ancien Congo belge, la famille vit pendant quelques années à Kinshasa. Après des séjours prolongés au Zaïre, en France, aux USA et en Allemagne, Peck étudie à l’académie du film et de la télévision de Berlin (DFFB). Il est en outre économe de formation, journaliste et photographe. Professeur à l’université de New York en 1994/95. Ministre de la culture d’Haïti de 1995 à 1997. Membre du jury de la Berlinale 2002.

Critiques de presse
Sometimes in April se démarque nettement des autres fictions réalisées sur le génocide rwandais (100 Days, Hôtel Rwanda, Shooting Dogs) par sa volonté d'entrer dans la complexité. (Oliver Barlet, Africultures)
http://www.africultures.com/index.asp?menu=affiche_article&no=4516

Raoul Peck s’applique à montrer que les paramètres qui entraînent l’organisation planifiée d’un génocide ne sont pas si simplistes, tout en délivrant des images (…) qui rappellent d’autres épisodes tragiques des années 1990, tels le Kosovo ou la Bosnie. Contrairement à beaucoup d’autres films politiques récemment vus, « Sometimes in April » ne découle pas de la simple envie de s’emparer d’un « grand sujet ». (Arte)

-----
African Perspectives est une série de films mensuelle dans le cadre de laquelle sont présentés des films de metteurs en scène africains.

African Perspectives est organisé par AfricAvenir International et l’Initiative südliches Afrika (INISA), en partenariat avec le Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe et radio multikulti.

Sometimes in April vous est présenté grâce au soutien d’Oxfam, de South African Airlines, de l’Ambassade de la République d’Haïti, le réseau nord-sud de la Fédération des Syndicats Allemands et du Syndicats Education et Science (GEW).

Plus d’informations:
www.africavenir.org
www.inisa.de
-----

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 0172-3000521, a.helfrich[at]africavenir.org

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

War is not a solution for terrorism
Boston Globe
Howard Zinn
September 2, 2006

THERE IS SOMETHING important to be learned from the recent experience of the United States and Israel in the Middle East: that massive military attacks, inevitably indiscriminate, are not only morally reprehensible, but useless in achieving the stated aims of those who carry them out.

The United States, in three years of war, which began with shock-and-awe bombardment and goes on with day-to-day violence and chaos, has been an utter failure in its claimed objective of bringing democracy and stability to Iraq. The Israeli invasion and bombing of Lebanon has not brought security to Israel; indeed it has increased the number of its enemies, whether in Hezbollah or Hamas or among Arabs who belong to neither of those groups.

Please read the entire article at
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/02/war_is_not_a_solution_for_terrorism/

© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Quebec Peace Education Conference/Conférence sur l Éducation à la Paix

Hello,

My name is Alex Goodman and I am coordinating an inaugural Quebec Peace Education Conference. The theme of the conference is “Making Peace Concrete” and is focusing on how to make an impact in the fields of peace studies and development.

I invite you to attend this conference and participate in workshops of your choice and interest.

The Quebec Peace Education Conference will bring leaders, educators, individuals and organizations together to work towards a stronger provincial culture of peace. The sessions are designed to stimulate discussion and develop a framework for a Quebec peace action plan. The Conference will allow similarly focused people to network and advance individual and group goals towards peace development within the province of Quebec.

PeaceQuebecPaix, Peace Education Conference, will consist of a series of workshops, discussions, seminars and speakers to professionally develop peace education skills. Media coverage is expected to convey the goals and achievements expected from this inaugural program. The conference represents a vital link towards facilitating productive collaboration among like-minded interests with a common interest to pursue peace advancement.

You can register for the conference as a participant on our website: www.peacequebecpaix.ca
If you would like to facilitate a workshop, please contact me at alex@peacequebecpaix.ca

I am excited about this project and hope to see you at the conference

Thank you,
Alex Goodman
Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace
Quebec Peace Education Conference Coordinator
www.peacequebecpaix.ca
416-322-3313 - H
416-557-0985 - C

------

Salut,

Je m’appelle Alex Goodman et je suis le coordonnateur pour la première conférence inaugurale au Québec concernant l’Éducation à la Paix. Le thème de la conférence est ‘Rendre la Paix Concrète’’, Le but est de créer un impact dans le domaine du développement de la paix.

À cette conférence, je vous invite à choisir des ateliers dans votre domaine de compétence et d’intérêts. Voici les informations concernant la conférence.

Cette Conférence Québécoise de l’Éducation à la Paix rassemblera des leaders, éducateurs, individus et organismes qui s'intéressent à la culture de la paix. Les sessions sont désignées pour stimuler des discussions, et développer un plan d’action de paix pour les Québécois. La conférence donnera la possibilité aux personnes possédant les mêmes valeurs à travailler et faire avancer leurs causes individuelles et collectives vers le développement de la paix à travers le Québec.

PeaceQuebecPaix, conférence à l’Éducation de la Paix, va consister d’ateliers, de discussions et discours, afin que chacun et chacune puisse acquérir avec connaissances les outils nécessaires pour l’éducation de la paix. La couverture médiatique est prévue pour donner les buts et accomplissements du programme inaugural. La conférence représente un lien essentiel pour faciliter la collaboration pro active entre les personnes qui ont cet intérêt commun à vouloir poursuivre l’avancement de la paix ici et ailleurs.

Vous pouvez vous inscrire comme participant à notre site web: www.peacequebecpaix.ca
ou si vous voulez diriger un atelier, contactez moi au alex@peacequebecpaix.ca

J’anticipe la concrétisation de ce projet, et j’espère vous voir nombreux
Merci,
Alex Goodman
Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace
Coordonnateur pour la Conférence au Québec de l’Éducation à la Paix
www.peacequebecpaix.ca
416-322-3313 - Maison
416-557-0985 - Cell

Vicky Rossi and her Interviews:

Her latest piece: http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2006/Rossi_Tamera_1.html

Vicky is planning to continue her interview series on Palestinians and Israelis and do her own fact-finding - during 6 weeks of field work in the region. In December-January she will travel with Arun Gandhi, Gandhi's grandson, to all the important places in Gandhi's life. (The kind of trip Jan Øberg did five years ago:
http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2001/indien-presentation.html).

Please see Betty Reardon’s new book on ">Educating for Human Dignity:

256 pages
Paper 1995 | ISBN 0-8122-1524-9 | $27.50s | £18.00

A volume in the Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights series
Issues of universal human rights are critically important topics in education today. Educators, scholars, and activists urge schools to promote awareness and understanding of human rights in their curricula from the earliest levels.

Written by by Betty A. Reardon, one of the foremost scholars on human rights education for the primary and secondary levels, Educating for Human Dignity is designed for both teachers and teacher educators. It is the first resource offering both guidance and support materials for human rights education programs from kindergarten through high school. It opens possibilities for an holistic approach to human rights education that directly confronts the values issues raised by human rights problems in a context of global interrelationships.

"This book is an essential tool for implementation of the goals set by the United Nations and the People's Decade for Human Rights Education."—Human Rights Education Newsletter

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

The World Movement is pleased to announce the Web site posting of "WHAT'S BEING DONE ON... MEMORY PROJECTS?"
http://www.wmd.org/wbdo/aug-sep06.html

This new installment of "What's Being Done On...?" focuses on Memory Projects and their relationship to democracy. Whether they memorialize a single event or a period in history, memory projects are established specifically to preserve and come to terms with a country’s past and create hope for the future.

Memory projects are important to democratic development because only through reconciliation and acceptance of the past can a previously divided citizenry work together for a common future. Memory projects can take the form of online memorials, museums, or documentary archives. They foster dialogue, non-violent coexistence, and a place to safeguard the memories of the past for current and future generations.

IN THIS INSTALLMENT:

This installment includes case studies and interviews with five organizations with memory projects:

(1) OMID MEMORIAL, IRAN—an online memorial to the victims of the Islamic regime in Iran since 1979; interview with Ladan Boroumand, Co-founder.

(2) DOCUMENTATION CENTER OF CAMBODIA—the leading repository of documents on the Khmer Rouge; interview with Youk Chhang, Director.

(3) DISTRICT SIX MUSEUM, SOUTH AFRICA—a museum dedicated to the memory of the neighborhood of District Six in Cape Town and the destruction of its community during apartheid; interview with Valmont Layne, Director.

(4) MEMORIA ABIERTA, ARGENTINA—a coalition of human rights organizations devoted to preserving the memory of human rights abuses committed during the country's period of State terrorism; interview with Patricia T. de Valdez, Director.

(5) INTERNATIONAL COALITION OF HISTORIC SITE MUSEUMS OF CONSCIENCE—a global network of historic museums on four continents; interview with Liz Sevcenko, Executive Director.

Each case study features a summary of the organization, an interview, and, if applicable, a list of programs.

The installment also includes a list of additional memory projects around the world. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list, but is intended to be illustrative of the kinds of projects others might consider as examples for their own work. We welcome your suggestions of other memory projects that contribute to strengthening democracy, which we will be happy to consider adding to this list. Please send information to world@ned.org.

Previous themes for this section of the World Movement Web site include Breakthrough Elections; Cross-Border Assistance; Internet and Other Media; Women's Participation in Politics; Strengthening Local Governance; Peace Building and Democracy; Civic Education for Democracy; Transparency, Accountability and Access to Information; Political and Civic Participation of Youth; Using Advocacy to Achieve Democratic Reform; Promotion of Labor Rights; and Human Rights and Democracy in Turkey (related to the Fourth Assembly held in Istanbul in April 2006). They are available in the "What's Being Done On...?" archives (www.wmd.org/wbdo/whatsbeingdone.html.)

Go to: http://www.wmd.org/wbdo/aug-sep06.html or visit the World Movement Web site (www.wmd.org) and click on "What's Being Done On...?"

Please share this message with your colleagues.

Thank you very much.
World Movement for Democracy
1025 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004
Fax: 202-378-9889
E-mail: world@ned.org
Web: http://www.wmd.org

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

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 (202-378-9889).
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.

SHORT COURSE
Refugees and Migrants, and a Rights-based Approach to Development
8–17 January 2007
Forced Migration and Refugee Studies (FMRS) at the American University in Cairo (AUC)

This ten day advanced course is designed for practitioners from government, inter-governmental non-governmental agencies, donors and community representatives in the Middle East and Africa with institutional responsibilities in the field of refugees and migration. The participants will explore the practical implications and challenges of applying the much-touted human rights approach to policy making in real situations. The course will be both theoretical and practical, drawing on the wealth of lessons arising from trial and error, to determine the best-possible development outcomes for hosts, refugees, and migrants. Participants will take away new skills and techniques to apply in their own context.

Course outline:
The Message of Human Rights
General and Specific Binding Sources and Standards
International and Comparative Guidance
Localizing and Indigenizing the Norms
Implementing, Monitoring, and Reporting
The Role(s) of Donors
Understanding “Integration”
Practicum: Applying the Human Rights Tools

Instructors include:
Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, Arab Organization for Human Rights
Joseph Schechla, Housing and Land Rights Network
Anthony Rutabanzibwa, ILO (Tanzania)
Dr. Lana Baydas, OHCHR
Michael Kagan, AMERA (Egypt)
Dr. Abrar Chowbury, The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit--RMMRU (Bangladesh)
Dr. Barbara E. Harrell-Bond, FMRS/AUC

Selection criteria: This course is limited to 25 participants.

Apply Now: Send your curriculum vitae and a letter explaining your work and how the course will be relevant or to your studies by email to Sara Sadek, ssadek@aucegypt.edu or fax +20 (0)2 797–6629.

Costs: Tuition $200 (waivers are subject to application by senior persons otherwise unable to attend).

Deadline for applications: 1 November 2006.

Successful applicants will be notified by 10 November and information about visas and accommodation costs will be sent at that time.

Course Sponsors: Migration, Globalisation and Poverty, Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR), University of Sussex, and funded by DFiD. The Development Research Centre (DRC) on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty was established in June 2003, in recognition of the complex relationship between migration, forced migration, and poverty. The DRC examines migration flows in which poor people themselves are most represented and how migration impacts variously on their livelihoods, rights and levels of social protection. Migration DRC is a partnership between institutions in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. We undertake the research, capacity building and dialogue necessary for evidence-based and pro-poor migration policies. http://www.migrationdrc.org/partners/sussex.html

A Human Rights Approach to Migration

Date: Thursday September 14, 2006
Time: 1:00-2:30 PM
Location: Church Center for 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 Speakers

Representative, Delegation of Mexico to the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly

Representative, NGO Sector

Background

The debate over immigration and supporting legislation at the national level has been an ever pressing issue not only in the United States, but in many other countries as well, as conflicts around the world deepen, and immigrants leave their home countries for a chance at a better life. Within the United States, Congress has been deadlocked over how to properly address illegal immigrants in the US - whether to criminalize illegal immigration or provide a path to citizenship, among other issues.

How do these domestic debates fit into the international conversation on immigration? How does the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers play a role, particularly for countries such as Mexico, which has a large migrant community from and within its borders? With the 61st General Assembly poised for a high-level dialogue on migration and development, a key element of the discussion is missing - a human rights approach to migration. UNA-USA's Council of Organizations will host this timely briefing to address this gap and examine migration from a human rights perspective