On 30/11/2006, Floyd Webster Rudmin kindly informs us of the following article:

In State of Denial, Woodward recounts how Michael Gerson, at the time Bush's chief speechwriter, asked Henry Kissinger why he had supported the Iraq war: "Because Afghanistan wasn't enough. In the conflict with radical Islam, they want to humiliate us. And we need to humiliate them."

Conference Announcement: Law and the Emotions - New Directions in Scholarship
U.C. Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), February 8th and 9th, 2007.

Sponsored by Boalt Hall Law School, DePaul Law School, The Gruter
Institute for Law and Behavioral Research, The Vanderbilt Law School Law
and Human Behavior Program, and The U.C. Berkeley Center for the Study
of Law and Society.

Recent work in the still-emerging field of law and emotion has moved
well beyond the initial debates about reason and emotion, into diverse
and exciting areas of interdisciplinary study. Some scholars have
continued the investigations, in philosophy and psychology, for example,
that helped establish the field. Others are doing important new work in
other disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary
biology, and the sociology of emotion. Early focal points, such as
criminal law and courtroom practice, have been supplemented by a much
broader range of inquiry. However, scholars pursuing these nascent
directions often have little exposure to work in related areas. This
conference aims to facilitate the interdisciplinary connections and
collaborations that are vital for the continued development of the
field.

The conference will commence on Thursday, February 8th at 4 PM and end

on Friday, February 9th at 5 PM. Panels include:

Law, the Mind Sciences, and Emotions. This panel will view emotion and
its implications for law through the lens of neuroscience, cognitive and
social psychology, and behavioral biology.

Law and Emotion in Action. This panel will explore emotions as affective
responses developed in institutional and collective contexts, and
institutions (such as the jury, the workplace, and the social welfare
system) as entities that both shape and are shaped by emotion.

Theorizing Law and the Emotions. This will be a roundtable devoted to
reflections on the varied ways in which law is capable of engaging the
emotions, for example, by acting on emotions, moderating or channeling
them, scripting them, or helping them come into being.

New Directions in Scholarship on Law and the Emotions. This panel will
consist of a series of short presentations showcasing exciting new
approaches to the analysis of law and emotion.

Keynote Speakers: Arlie Hochschild and Dacher Keltner
Confirmed speakers: Kathy Abrams, Susan Bandes, Jeremy Blumenthal, Devon
Carbado, Laurel Fletcher, Oliver Goodenough, Mitu Gulati, Peter Huang,
Owen Jones, Hila Keren, Sharon Krause, Terry Maroney, Elizabeth Phelps,
Jeffrey Rachlinski, Carol Sanger, Susan Silbey, Elizabeth V. Spelman,
and Robin West.

Organizers: Kathy Abrams (Boalt Hall Law School); Susan Bandes (DePaul
Law School); Hila Keren (Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School) and
Terry Maroney (Vanderbilt Law School).

To register and for further information visit
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/csls/lawemotion_conference
or contact Debra Krauss at dkrauss@law.berkeley.edu

Essex Human Rights Review
Call for Papers

The Essex Human Rights Review would like to announce its call for papers. We welcome submissions on a rolling basis addressing human rights topics from a broad range of disciplines, including law, humanities, sociology, anthropology, economics, and business.

All submissions should be in English. The contributions must be original, previously unpublished material. Submissions must not already be under consideration for any other publication. The length of submissions should not exceed 8,000 words for articles and 3,000 words for other items (e.g. book/conference reviews), including footnotes. Submissions exceeding the word limit will be considered only in exceptional circumstances. The initial appraisal of all submissions will be carried out on an anonymous basis; the final decision regarding publication of a paper rests with the EHRR Editorial Board.

All submissions have to follow the EHRR style sheet, available on our website, or else they will not be considered for publication.

UN Secretary General's Statement on Elimination of Violence Against Women 2006
Message on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 25 November 2006

Violence against women causes untold misery, harms families across generations, and impoverishes communities. It stops women from fulfilling their potential, restricts economic growth, and undermines development. When it comes to violence against women, there are no civilized societies.

Last month, I issued an in-depth study which showed that half of humankind lives under this threat -- in every continent, country and culture, regardless of income, class, race or ethnicity. This is so, even though we live in a world order where human rights have been recognized in law, and guaranteed in international instruments; even though we have learnt that the enjoyment of human rights is essential to the well-being of the individual, the community and the world; even though, at the 2005 World Summit, leaders pledged to redouble efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women.

Fighting this scourge requires us to change a mindset which is still too common and deep-seated. To demonstrate, once and for all, that when it comes to violence against women, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses.

For years, women’s organizations and movements round the world have worked tirelessly to take violence against women out of the private domain and into the public sphere -- into the arena of State accountability. Many States have enacted and implemented effective laws, and provided comprehensive and gender-sensitive services to victims. And there has also been progress in creating international standards.

It is time to take these efforts to the next level. We in the United Nations must play a stronger, better coordinated and more visible leadership role. Member States must do more to implement the international legal and policy framework to which they have committed themselves. And all of us must form strong and effective partnerships with civil society, which has such a crucial role to play on this issue at every level.

Together, we must work to create an environment where violence against women is not tolerated. By mandating me to undertake the in-depth study, UN Member States have signalled that they are ready to do that. Now, with the study and its recommendations in hand, we must summon the necessary political commitment and resources. On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, let all of us -- men and women alike -- join forces in this mission.

- Kofi A. Annan

Manal Radwan, Saudi Arabia

Muslim women may not aspire to be traditionalist, but they are not really sure how to be modern. Many women feel alienated because they don't necessarily identify with who they are, but they identify with who others present them to be. And that's a huge problem.

Interviews by Tara Gadomski. Photographs by Mike Hodder

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/middle_east_speaking_out0_muslim_women_in_new_york_/html/8.stm

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
28 November - 04 December 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 John L. Esposito & Dalia Mogahed

Ben Arnoldy, staff writer at the Christian Science Monitor, looks at a new attempt to include women in the issuing of fatwas -- the widely-respected opinions based on religious reasoning of learned individuals or committees. Like many efforts that aim to shift a long-standing custom within a religious community, this initiative has its fair share of critics; however, many also feel that it is meeting an important need in Muslim society.
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, 21 November 2006)
   

1) What makes a Muslim radical?
John L. Esposito & Dalia Mogahed

Washington, D.C. - Ask any foreign-policy expert how the West will know it is winning the war on terror, and the likely response will be, “When the Islamic world rejects radicalism.” But just who are Muslim radicals, and what fuels their fury? Every politician has a theory: radicals are religious fundamentalists; they are poor; they are full of hopelessness and hate. But those theories are wrong.

Based on a new Gallup World Poll of more than 9,000 interviews in nine Muslim countries, we find that Muslim radicals have more in common with their moderate brethren than is often assumed. If the West wants to reach the extremists, and empower the moderate Muslim majority, it must first recognise who it’s up against.

Fundamentally Similar

Because terrorists often hijack Islamic precepts for their own ends, pundits and politicians in the West sometimes portray Islam as a religion of terrorism. They often charge that religious fervour triggers radical and violent views. But the data say otherwise: there is no significant difference in religiosity between moderates and radicals. In fact, radicals are no more likely to attend religious services regularly than are moderates.

The Radically Rich

It’s no secret that many in the Muslim world suffer from crippling poverty and lack of education. But are radicals any poorer than their fellow Muslims? We found the opposite: there is indeed a key difference between radicals and moderates when it comes to income and education, but it is the radicals who earn more and who stay in school longer.

A Hopeful Future

Whenever a suicide bomber completes a deadly mission, the act is often attributed to hopelessness—the inability to find a job, earn a living, or support a family. But the politically radical are not more “hopeless” than the mainstream. More radicals expressed satisfaction with their financial situation and quality of life than their moderate counterparts, and a majority of them expected to be better off in the years to come.

Extreme Esteem

The war on terror is premised on a key question: why do they hate us? The common answer from Washington is that Muslim radicals hate our way of life, our freedom, and our democracy. Not so. Both moderates and radicals in the Muslim world admire the West, in particular its technology, democratic system and freedom of speech.

The Way Forward

What, then, separates a Muslim moderate from a Muslim radical? Although almost all Muslims believe the West should show more respect for Islam, radicals are more likely to feel that the West threatens and attempts to control their way of life. Moderates, on the other hand, are more eager to build ties with the West through economic development. This divergence of responses offers policymakers a key opportunity to develop strategies to prevent the moderate mainstream from sliding away, and to check the persuasive power of those who would do us harm.

Note:Respondents who said 9/11 was unjustified (1 or 2 on a 5-point scale, where 1 is totally unjustified and 5 is completely justified) are classified as moderates. Respondents who said 9/11 was justified (4 or 5 on the same scale) are classified as radicals. The data for this poll were obtained during 2005-06 from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Approximately 1,000 in-home interviews were conducted in each country. The sampling mix of urban and rural areas is the statistical equivalent of surveying each nation’s adult population, with a statistical sampling error rate of +/- 3 percent.

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* John L. Esposito is professor of religion and international affairs and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. Dalia Mogahed is executive director of Muslim studies for the Gallup Organization. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Foreign Policy, November 2006, www.foreignpolicy.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) Europe's quiet integration
Zachary Shore

Monterey, California – Lately, European leaders seem seized by acute Islamophobia. First, President Jacques Chirac perceived a threat to French identity posed by schoolgirls decked in head scarves. Then Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain spoke of outlawing the veil from public view. Now, after calling for a nationwide burka ban, Christian Democrats in the Netherlands have won the most seats in Parliament.

Most Western European nations are tightening their immigration laws while fretting over free speech in cartoons, plays and print. All the while, right-wing xenophobic parties are on the rise across the continent. One year after riots set French housing projects ablaze, Europe appears to be shifting sharply to the right.

Just below the news media's radar screens, however, a counter-trend is under way, which promises a kinder, gentler and potentially more successful approach to Europe's Muslim quandary.

While right-leaning ministers at the national level are talking tough to Muslims, progressive officials and private citizens at local levels are spearheading innovative programs to aid Muslim integration.

In Berlin, Renée Abul-Ella runs Al- Dar (The Home), an organisation dedicated to helping Arab women and their families integrate into German society. Al-Dar provides language, typing and computer training to Muslim women and counsels them on issues they cannot discuss in most contexts. Abul-Ella told me that nearly every family she knows has had some incidence of domestic violence.

Al-Dar works with fathers, too, some of whom have prevented their daughters from attending school. "We don't make the people who come to us feel ashamed about their culture," Abul-Ella said. "Instead, we show them that what is appropriate in one country may not be appropriate in another.

At the other end of Germany, Michael Blume is at work in Stuttgart pushing through a series of radical policy shifts in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Blume had not even finished his doctoral thesis on comparative religion when he received a call from the state's minister-president. It was just after the 9/11 attacks, and the minister-president was repeatedly being asked about his government's policies toward Muslims, who comprise 5.7 percent of Baden-Württemberg's population, and whose numbers are swelling fast. He had no policies, and there was no one on his staff to handle it.

Having heard about Blume's provocative research, the minister-president invited the young Ph.D. student to tea, and in the course of their discussion asked Blume to join his staff. Since then, Blume has initiated a pilot program in 12 public schools serving large concentrations of Muslim children. With the schoolteachers' and parents' consent, these schools now offer classes in Islam as well as the usual courses on Christianity. Religion has always been taught in German schools, but the study of Islam had never been part of the curriculum. The aim is to encourage a sense of Muslim inclusion within German society and discourage the all-too-common development of a parallel society existing outside the mainstream.

Further west, the French city of Strasbourg is also experimenting with new integration strategies. Here sits the European Parliament, with its ornate marble stairways and plush voting chambers, and the Council of Europe, devoted to ensuring human rights and social cohesion throughout the continent. But travel just a few minutes to the other side of Strasbourg, to the neighbourhood of Neuhof, and you will see dilapidated housing, shattered windows and crumbled streets.

Drugs have plagued the neighbourhood, but the city is attempting to revitalise it, not just by constructing decent housing. Outside the Ecole Maternelle Reuss, scores of immigrant children play tag with all the boisterous energy you would find in any playground. Behind the playground, a more serious course is under way inside a prefab concrete two-room structure where the mothers are learning French. Many came from Bangladesh, Turkey, Morocco or Algeria with little education. All say they are grateful to learn the language, and their courses are paid for by the city if they cannot afford to pay themselves.

These are just a few of Europe's smart steps toward Muslim integration. There are many others. In Berlin, the Aziz Nesin Europa elementary school is completely bilingual. Half of all courses are taught in German; the other half in Turkish. Most policy makers insist that only by mastering European languages can immigrants and their children prosper. The Aziz Nesin school is proving that early bilingual education enhances cognitive ability, fosters curiosity about other cultures, and may even improve academic performance. And the school is not just for Turkish children. It is mixed between Turkish-German and German kids, fostering bonds between cultures at a very early age.

Tough talk and burka bans may win votes at the national level, but municipal governments cannot afford to let their Muslim residents remain closed off from the community and open to extremism. If any of the progressive local projects succeed, they will eventually be adopted nationwide. Europe's leaders have no other choice. If they keep fiddling with the politics of exclusion, Paris will again be burning.

###

* Zachary Shore is associate professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and the author of "Breeding Bin Ladens: America, Islam, and the Future of Europe.” This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 28 November 2006, www.iht.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

3) Lessons learned
James J. Zogby

Washington, D.C. - With the Middle East in turmoil, the State Department convened a two-day meeting for Arab American leadership last week. Over 100 community leaders from across the United States responded, some travelling great distances at their own expense to participate in the sessions. Eleven State Department officials participated and topics ranged from Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, to U.S. public diplomacy efforts and initiatives promoting democracy and reform.

Because the region is in a mess, and because many Arab Americans fault U.S. policy miscues, the sessions were bound to be tense. Contributing to the tension was the fact that this was the administration’s first such mass outreach effort in years (whereas during the last decade, similar meetings were convened on a more regular basis).

If there was frustration in the room, there was also goodwill. The fact that the State Department organised the twelve hours of meetings and brought senior diplomats to provide briefings and engage in discussions was significant. Also important was the fact that many, though not all, of the presenters, made it clear that they genuinely wanted to hear what the community leaders had to say. Some of the diplomats sought direct Arab American input and encouraged the attendees to participate in future outreach efforts, work with public diplomacy initiatives and help the department recruit more Arab Americans to join the Foreign Service.

The Arab Americans at the conference came seeking to provide input, because they were concerned about the damage U.S. policy has done not only in the Arab world but also to the understanding and appreciation of American values in the region. Iraqi Americans, Lebanese Americans and Palestinian Americans, in particular, testified to the painful experiences of their families and friends. Their testimonies were eloquent and moving.

The Arab Americans who participated not only wanted to share ideas, they also sought to offer themselves as a bridge between the United States and the Arab world. They put forth several important ideas as to how to improve U.S. outreach and public diplomacy efforts. Other lessons, though unspoken, came through loud and clear.
- U.S. policy in the Arab world is in deeper trouble than some policy makers either understand or can admit. Listening to the comments of many of the Arab American attendees, some elected officials from parties, as well as public servants and/or professionals, it should have registered that if this group is frustrated with U.S. policies, the Arab world must be much more frustrated. They were adamant in their belief that a real policy change is desperately needed before public diplomacy efforts can succeed.

- Observing how the attendees responded to different presenters, another lesson became painfully clear: if you talk at or dictate to people, refusing to listen to them or admit even self-evident problems, people will talk back at you. But if you engage with understanding and respect, then real dialogue can take place. This, of course, is a lesson not only for some U.S. officials who deal with Arab Americans and the Arab world, it also applies to how some Arabs and Arab Americans deal with American officials.

- For understanding to occur, relationships must be cultivated. Neither Arab Americans nor the State Department were well served by the failure during the past several years to convene more regular meetings. The State Department could have done more, but the community’s efforts can be faulted as well, since despite progress made, Arab Americans have so much more to do in the area of political empowerment.

What also became clear in the discussions was how important it is for the State Department to recognise Arab Americans as a resource for ideas and for outreach assistance.

- Finally, this meeting established that despite internal complexities (that are based on generational differences, country of origin and political outlook); Arab Americans are a cohesive community and deserve to be treated as such. This recognition is important, in and of itself.
For a number of years, there were some ideologues working within the administration who sought both to deny this reality and to impose their own definitions on the community. Specifically, denying that an “Arab American” community existed, they did attempt to convene other outreach efforts under the rubric “Middle Eastern”. In an effort to sideline the established Arab American community organisations, these officials instead invited a variety of religious organisations, “exile” political oppositional movements, and those who shared the administration’s ideological outlook. These meetings failed. Their failures provided the opportunity for more savvy officials to take charge and convene this “Arab American Leadership Forum”. This was important.

Given all this, the meetings of the past week, frustration included, can be deemed a successful beginning. What must now occur is to build on this effort and the lessons, I hope, we are all learning.

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* James J. Zogby is founder and president of the Arab American Institute. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Jordan Times, 21 November 2006, www.jordantimes.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

4) “Community policing” and U.S. diplomacy
Louis Werner

New York, New York - Back in the 1980s, when crime had reached epidemic proportions in American cities, a new idea was tested to restore law and order. “Community policing” rolled a number of different tactics into a single strategy - posting patrolmen in neighbourhoods where they live; prosecuting non-violent, quality-of-life crimes; walking the beat more, driving the squad car less; and repairing broken windows and streetlights. Each of these innovations recognised one thing - that police were most effective in their own neighbourhoods and could focus better on community concerns.

It is regrettable that the foreign and military policy parallels of this lesson have been ignored in Washington.

Opinion polls in Arab, Muslim, and indeed almost all countries show growing numbers of people angry at American policy statements, American government behaviour, and even individual American citizens. Unfortunately, the mood in the rest of the world seems a lot like the American inner city once did, when blacks feared the predominately white police force more than they did the hoodlums next door. When George W. Bush is seen as a bigger threat to world peace than Osama Bin Laden, you know it is past time to change drivers in the diplomatic squad car.

At first glance, one might rebuke any suggestion that police work in urban America has any relevance to American diplomacy abroad. Still, one might benefit from teasing out the small lessons of past success and failure, rather than simply "scaling up" from the neighbourhood to the entire Middle East, from the street corner patrolman's beat to a cross-border invasion with massive lethal force, as some Americans now advocate for Iran.

So what are the lessons from a community policeman's point of view?

First, enlist local talent - not, obviously, as simply more policemen per se, but rather as new voices to give feedback, to answer such questions as, what do people really want from us? And if they don't want us, period, that should be known sooner rather than later. Tragically, candy-throwing American Humvee patrols mistook the smiles of children for a hearty welcome from one and all. Ahmed Chalabi assured Washington that Iraqis would receive U.S. troops with cold drinks and flowers.

Yes, there were vague warnings from some American military leaders that they had just six months "to get it right" in Iraq, but those six months have now stretched to three-and-a-half years, and these same top brass keep giving themselves another, and yet another, six months. Americans never once asked average Iraqis how they themselves wanted to "get it right".

Second, publicly disavow financially corrupt allies and associates, whether they be local strongmen taking 10 percent off the top, or foreign companies over-billing for shoddy work and basic needs. From an Iraqi's point of view, Bechtel and Halliburton are the equivalent of public urinators, defiantly thumbing their nose at authority as they charge the Iraqi ministry of finance $7 per gallon for gasoline trucked across the border from Kuwait to American military bases. Iraqi civilians meanwhile have to smell it, as they wait in daylong lines at near empty petrol stations.

Third, stop building armoured military bases and razor wire-topped embassies. Do the diplomatic equivalent of what the British Army did in Basra - take off the sunglasses and helmets, and show yourselves to your hosts as fellow human beings. As funding for US cultural centres and State Department-sponsored academic exchanges is cut, all that's left to be seen of America by the typical Egyptian strolling through Cairo's Garden City diplomatic district is the ugliest, scariest, most ungarden-like embassy in the world.

Fourth, repair broken windows, especially if that is what has been promised. In Baghdad, electricity and water supplies have still not returned to pre-war levels. Just as broken windows are a constant and highly visible reminder that something is fundamentally wrong in the American inner city, so are nonworking air conditioners in Iraq's 120 degree heat. When people from New York City's Harlem see only dirty sidewalks, while just a few subway stops downtown all are clean and tidy, they blame the mayor for not sending street sweepers up to where they live just as much as they blame their own local litterbugs.

It is ironic that former New York City Police Chief Bernard Kerik, a man once associated with his department's new and improved ideas for community policing, was sent to Iraq as an advisor to Paul Bremer. But rather than bringing with him the right lessons, he came on an ego trip, joining night-time raids to bust down front doors and handcuff suspects in front of their families - every counterproductive thing that community police work warns against. And that in a nutshell is the problem with American diplomacy - so much that has finally been gotten right in its own cities has been totally botched when taken overseas.

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* Louis Werner is a frequent contributor to Saudi Aramco World Magazine based in New York. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Middle East Times, 17 November 2006, www.metimes.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) A bid to bring the female voice to Islamic law
Ben Arnoldy

New York, New York - For centuries, devout Muslims have looked to the fatwa - an opinion based on religious reasoning of a learned individual or committee - for direction on how to resolve moral dilemmas ranging from the mundane to the sublime. And for centuries, Muslim women have conceded the ground, for the most part, to the men who issue these opinions.

That's beginning to change.

Meeting in New York over the weekend, Muslim women from 25 countries began laying groundwork for the first international all-female council formed to issue fatwas. Their idea: to ensure that women's perspectives on Islamic law become part of religious deliberation in the Muslim world - particularly on issues such as domestic violence, divorce, and inheritance.

"There's this growing sense on the part of literate Muslim women ... that there is a vital need for women to confront the Islamic tradition and to work on a par with men in interpreting the sources," says Ann Mayer, an expert in Middle Eastern law at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. "Otherwise you end up with a very sexist bias in the readings."

The number of women officially sanctioned to issue fatwas is hard to pin down, but certainly tiny. The emergence of such women, known as muftias, usually makes headlines: a religious school in India installed three in 2003, and the Turkish government last year hired two assistant muftias, its first. Governments and schools try to license who can issue fatwas, but Islam stipulates only certain prerequisites, such as knowledge of the Qur’an and Arabic. As a result, the ranks of unofficial authorities are deeper and the barriers to women surmountable.

Whether the opinions of a women's council will carry any weight, especially in conservative cultures, is another matter.

Its advent is proving to be controversial even among Muslim women who share many goals of those launching the council.

“Advancing the idea of reinterpreting the texts has to be done, but I am totally against this initiative because it will have negative effects,” says Rebab al-Mahdi, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo. It will be portrayed as part of “a Western cultural invasion," she adds. “This is what conservative clerics always say, and people listen.”

For others, doubt is mingled with hope.

"I share some cynicism, but at the same moment, symbols are sometimes important," says Pakistani-born Asma Barlas, a politics professor at Ithaca College in New York and a prominent advocate of jettisoning what she calls male-centric and incorrect interpretations of the Koran. "These little steps...even if they don't change anything, do send a message that women are getting together and trying to make their voices heard."

The group is also up against the inertia of tradition. Throughout history, few Muslim women were prominent jurists, though scholars are uncovering more, including, some say, Aisha, the prophet Muhammad's wife. Some question whether much within the religion is open to new interpretation and, by extension, reform. Others note that fatwas are nonbinding and may have little effect on civil law and state judgments.

Still, Muslim women have recently brought change by citing the Koran and other Islamic sources:
- In Malaysia, a group called Sisters in Islam used Qur’anic scholarship to rebuff efforts to exclude Muslims from a domestic-abuse law.

- In Saudi Arabia, an effort this summer to push women further back at a crowded holy site in Mecca was thwarted with the help of a female Islamic scholar's arguments.

- In the United States, the forthcoming English translation of the Qur’an by a woman, the first ever, finds an alternate meaning in a verse widely interpreted to give husbands authority to beat their wives as a last resort.
The New York gathering, called the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equity, plans to seat the new council - perhaps seven members - within a year. Drawn from diverse schools within Islam, the members will be versed in Islamic law. The group also plans to give scholarships for more women to pursue advanced training - open to women in places like Morocco, Egypt, and Iran - in an effort to broaden the qualified pool.

"Islam is a religion of law, and it is important to express the principles of social justice within the framework of Islamic law," says Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and leader of the effort. "This is why we need muftias, in order to do that. Otherwise, it falls on deaf ears."

Traditionally, religious legal authority was local, vested in muftis and other leaders who attained their status via government appointment or community esteem. But today's global communications are challenging that, as more Muslims seek religious opinions far and wide through the Internet. The women's council takes advantage of this: its members will be in different places, taking questions and conferring over the Web.

Given this wider marketplace of ideas, the new council's credibility will be determined by the quality of its legal reasoning, and whether its logic strikes a chord, say several scholars and observers.

"There is a sense among many Muslims - particularly, but not exclusively, women - that Islamic jurists are out of touch, that their guidance is not adequate to the modern world. And if this shura council succeeds in bridging that gap, it may be speaking to an audience that doesn't currently consider itself bound by the pronouncements of existing groups," says Kecia Ali, assistant professor of religion at Boston University.

"But this is going to be a tremendously challenging task because religious authority, even scholarly authority, has always been contested," she adds. "It is in matters related to women, marriage, sexuality that Muslim intellectuals on both conservative and modernist sides of the spectrum have chosen to wage their epic battle."

For others, the council has a credibility problem right out of the gate. "It should not have happened in New York, because it will set back the agenda of women given the current political upheaval [over the Iraq war]," says Mohammad Reda, a Syrian-American Muslim in the Boston area often sought out for his religious opinions. He supports the idea that "women should stand up and give their own opinions on women's issues," but says American efforts to force change in the Muslim world, as in Iraq, mean reformers now must avoid links to the US. The New York conference used money from nongovernmental foundations, some based in the US.

Conference attendees say a muftia council could prompt wider support for women's struggles. "The women who we're trying to help, for them religion is very important," says Zainah Anwar, head of the Malaysian group Sisters in Islam. "It's empowering for them to know that their desire to not be beaten by their husband can actually be justified in the name of Islam."

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* Ben Arnoldy is a staff writer of the Christian Science. Staff writer Dan Murphy also contributed to this story from Cairo. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 21 November 2006, www.csmonitor.com
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. For reprint permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com.

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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
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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)
Nuruddin Asyhadie (Jakarta)
Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Andrew Kessinger (Washington)

Translators
Grégoire Delhaye (Washington)
Rio Rinaldo (Jakarta)
Zeina Safa (Beirut)

CGNews is a not-for-profit news service.

Global Responses to Global Threats

Contemporary threats are often interconnected. Led, in large part, by the United Nations, there is growing international awareness that problems such as international terrorism or armed conflict cannot be dealt with in isolation from those of extreme poverty or environmental degradation. These are all global issues, which threaten human security as well as state security, and they recognise no national borders.

9/11 demonstrated in the most dramatic way that rich Western countries cannot insulate themselves from developments taking place elsewhere. Poverty is not just a development issue; HIV/AIDS is not just a disease; climate change does not just affect poor countries; terrorism does not just happen in failed states - these have security implications for every country. The different societies that make up humanity are interconnected and interdependent today as never before. Only by working together will countries be able to overcome the threats they face.

Oxford Research Group has recently completed a long-term research project examining these issues. The resulting report, Global Responses to Global Threats: Sustainable Security for the 21st Century, was published in June 2006. It offers an overview of four groups of factors that we conclude should be considered the root causes of conflict and insecurity in today's world and the likely determinants of future conflict:

- climate change;
- competition over resources;
- marginalisation of the majority world; and
- global militarisation.

Please read the entire text at http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/programmes/globalsecurity/globalthreats.htm.

November 2006
Common Ground Awards
Held at the United Nations in New York

On November 1st, 300 friends and supporters of Search for Common Ground gathered at The United Nations in New York to honor recipients of the 2006 Common Ground Awards. Their generosity produced just over $230,000 to support the work of SFCG. The evening brought together an inspiring group of individuals who are making a difference through their belief that things can change and through their commitment to working for that change. This year Search for Common Ground honored:

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Sesame Workshop
John Whitehead
Taylor Branch
David Broza and Wissam Murad & Said Murad
Bradley Burston, Simone Korkus, Vivian Salama (Middle East Journalism Awards)

We were honored to welcome Lt.-Gen. (Ret.) The Honorable Senator Romeo Dallaire as special guest speaker. The Senator talked about his commitment to work towards the elimination of the use of child soldiers as weapons of war, and about his global initiative in partnership with SFCG on this critical issue.
Israeli music star David Broza received the Music Award. To everyone's enthusiastic delight, David and Palestinian musician Ibrahim Eid gave a celebratory performance together on guitar and oud.

The acclaimed actress Kathleen Turner was a wonderful "master of ceremonies," and we are grateful for her contribution to making the evening a success.

Kathleen Turner, John Marks, Ibrahim Eid, David Broza, Sen. Romeo Dallaire, Sandra Melone

To view more photos and to hear more from the guests: http://www.sfcg.org/sfcg/awards/2006gallery.html

Putumayo World Music provided Awards attendees with their new One World, Many Cultures CD, featuring musical collaborations between some of the world's leading musicians. The diversity of artists demonstrate the unique ability of musicians from different cultures to speak with a common tongue. Newly released on November 7th, the album is a celebration of musical and cultural diversity and unity.

Putumayo will donate $1.00 to Search for Common Ground for every CD that is sold. For more information about the CD: http://www.sfcg.org/sfcg/putumayo06.html

You can help to support the work of Search for Common Ground by purchasing the CD from us directly. The cost of the CD is $10 + $1.00 postage = $11.00 per CD. Visa or MasterCard accepted. Checks are payable to Search for Common Ground. Please send your mailing address, the number of CDs you wish to purchase, your credit card number, and the card's expiration date.
Or order One World, Many Cultures CDs from Search for Common Ground, please contact:
Karen Zehr
kzehr@sfcg.org
Search for Common Ground
1601 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009

To become an investor in the work of Search for Common Ground - click here or contact Susie Dillon at sdillon@sfcg.org .

Call For Papers

In Factis Pax is a peer-reviewed journal published twice a year by graduate students in the Judith Herb College of Education at the University of Toledo, in association with the Center for Non-violence and Democratic Education.

In Factis Pax is an online journal of peace education and social justice dedicated to the examination of the epistemological relationship between knowledge, peace, and social justice. The peer reviewed journal seeks articles which examine issues central to the formation of a peaceful society- the prevention of violence, political challenges to peace and democratic societies. Social justice, democracy, and human flourishing are the core factors which highlight the importance of the role of education in building peaceful and just societies. The goal of In Factis Pax is to use both traditional media and online technology formats to further the discussion- the quest for knowledge that
will inevitably bring the peace we strive to find in our time on earth.

Current issue theme:

The relationship between knowledge and peace.

Knowledge is of absolute importance for one to achieve critical consciousness, which is a factor in examining the hierarchies of social systems. Knowledge liberates individuals from the impediments to the achievement of peaceful societies. Educational systems that are based in human dignity and develop the full potential of humanity are the path toward peaceful, just societies.
Our call for papers seeks to expand upon this ideal, as well as entertaining similar and viewpoints to the contrary.

In Factis Pax is intended as a venue where both new and established scholars, researchers, practitioners and activists can make valuable contributions to the domains listed in the full title of the journal.

In Factis Pax welcomes manuscripts and book reviews as email attachments submitted to the editors at elijah.palmer@infactispax.org. All correspondence or articles should be written in English. Publishing decisions are made within 90 days by the Editorial Board based on recommendations by these reviewers and those of the Editorial Advisory Board. We work with authors, and respond with comments on submissions.

Manuscripts should be e-mailed to: elijah.palmer@infactispax.org
Please mail an original of the “permission for use” form to:

Elijah Palmer
Editor, In Factis Pax
Department of Foundations of Education, University of Toledo
2801 W. Bancroft Street,
Toledo, OH, 43606 USA

Call For Papers: African Journal of Political Science and International Relations

Dear Colleague,

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations (AJPSIR) is currently accepting manuscripts for publication. AJBM publishes high-quality solicited and unsolicited articles, in English, in all areas of the subjects. We welcome articles or proposals from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to Africa , Africa 's relationship to the world, public policy, international relations, comparative politics, political methodology, political theory, political history and culture, global political economy, strategy and environment. The journal will also address developments within the discipline. Each issue will normally contain a mixture of peer-reviewed research articles, reviews or essays using a variety of methodologies and approaches.

Our objective is to inform authors of the decision on their manuscript within three weeks of submission. Following acceptance, a paper will normally be published in the next available issue.

One key request of researchers across the world is open access to research publications. The African Journal of Political Science and International Relations is fully committed to providing free access to all articles as soon as they are published. We ask you to support this initiative by publishing your papers in this journal.

Instruction for authors and other details are available on our website www.academicjournals.org/ajpsir. Prospective authors should send their manuscript(s) to ajpsir@academicjournals.org.

AJPSIR is also seeking for qualified reviewers as members of its editorial board. Please contact me if you are interested in serving as a reviewer.

Best regards,
Aijay Ofugara
Editorial Assistant,
African Journal of Political Science and International Relations
E-mail: ajpsir@academicjournals.org
http://www.academicjournals.org/ajpsir

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

mit dieser Mail möchten wir Sie in Kooperation mit der AG gegen Rassismus herzlich zu der Tagung Von der „Rasse“ zur „Metapopulation“ - Zum gegenwärtigen Rassismus in den Lebenswissenschaften (Humanmedizin, Biologie, Genwissenschaften, Pharmazie, Biochemie etc.) einladen. Wir freuen uns, Sie am 02./03. Dezember 2006 in der Universität der Künste begrüßen zu dürfen. Weitere Information s.u.

Außerdem findet diese Woche, wie bereits angekündigt, die Premiere des Choreopoems Blaque ReinneCarnation. Moving up, out & beyond statt, am Donnerstag, den 30. November 2006 um 20.00 Uhr in der Werkstatt der Kulturen; weitere Aufführungen am 02.und 03. Dezember 2006. Das junge Künstlerkollektiv bringt mittels performativer Kunst Themen wie Identitätskonstruktion und Selbstdefinition auf die Bühne.

Schließlich möchten wir auf den morgigen Vortrag von Dr. Susan Arndt im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung am Otto-Suhr-Institut aufmerksam machen, Dienstag 28. November 2006, 18.15 Uhr. Frau Dr. Arndt wird über das Thema Afrika und die deutsche Sprache referieren.

Tagung: Von der „Rasse“ zur „Metapopulation“ - Tagung zum gegenwärtigen Rassismus in den Lebenswissenschaften

am 02./03. Dezember, ganztägig 10.00-18.00 Uhr, Universität der Künste, Hardenbergstr. 33. Raum 158. Nähe U/S-Bhf. Zoologischer Garten

Ein interdisziplinäres Seminar im WiSe 2004/05 erregte Aufsehen: Prof. Andreas Elepfandt vom Institut für Biologie an der Berliner Humboldt-Universität behauptete die biologische Existenz von „Menschenrassen“ und von genetisch determiniertem rassistischen Verhalten. Der folgende Versuch einiger Student_innen hierüber eine universitäre Auseinandersetzung anzustreben wurde zum Lehrstück institutioneller Abwehrstrategien seitens des Instituts für Biologie, der Fakultät und des Vizepräsidiums.

Das Beispiel zeigt, dass trotz unzähliger kritischer postkolonialer Positionen von einer Kontinuität biologistisch gedachter “Rasse“-Konzepte in den Lebenswissenschaften (Humanmedizin, Biologie, Genwissenschaften, Pharmazie, Biochemie etc.) gesprochen werden muss, die derzeit mit neuen Argumenten begründet werden.

Im Herbst letzten Jahres wurde von Dr. Peggy Piesche und Dr. Susan Arndt der erste Kongress zur kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit „Rasse“ im deutschen Kontext organisiert, der einen umfassenden Überblick zur Relevanz der Kategorie gegeben hat. Die Tagung zu Rassismus in den bundesdeutschen Lebenswissenschaften im Dezember 2006 knüpft daran an und soll eine Reflexion von Rassismus in einem gesellschaftlich wirkmächtigen Bereich etablieren, in dem kritische Positionen nahezu unsichtbar gemacht werden.

Die zahlreichen bundesdeutschen Debatten um die “Rasse”-Theorien des 19. Jahrhunderts, die erneute Verwissenschaftlichung dieser Theorien im 20. Jahrhundert, deren eliminatorische Auswirkungen im Nationalsozialismus und die neueren Untersuchungen der Genetik haben auch weitreichende Kontroversen um die Legitimation von “Menschenrassen”- Konzepten innerhalb lebenswissenschaftlicher Diskurse zur Folge gehabt. Dennoch sind diese Wissenschaften weiterhin vom Denken in biologistisch inspirierten “Rasse”-Kategorien bestimmt: Während die einen offen von der Existenz von „Menschenrassen“ sprechen, weichen andere auf Begriffe wie „ethnische Zugehörigkeit”, „Metapopulation” oder „Fortpflanzungsgemeinschaft“ aus. Damit wird der vormals explizit biologistischen Konstruktion von Gruppen ein Anstrich politischer Korrektheit verpasst.

Mit der Verknüpfung von postkolonialen Ansätzen, Positionen kritischen Weißseins und feministischer Naturwissenschaftsforschung sollen emanzipativer Positionen unterstützt werden.

Die Tagung ist in drei Blöcke geteilt:

Ein historischer Ausblick wird die Entwicklung des wissenschaftlichen “Rasse”-Begriffes vom Kolonialismus bis ‘45 mit einem spezifischen Blick auf die “Messverfahren” der physischen Anthropologie um 1900 geben.

Danach werden aktuelle Debatten und Aspekte zu „Rasse“ und Rassismus in den Lebenswissenschaften (Genetik, Psychologie, Eugenik, Epidemiologie, medizinischen Diskurs) im deutschen Kontext beleuchtet.

Ein dritter und letzter Block wirft anhand des Beispiels Bidil - das erste Medikament nur für Schwarze in den USA - einen Blick auf US-amerikanische Diskussionen um „Race“-Konzepte der Lifescience.

Bisherige Referent_innen:

Susanne Bauer (Kopenhagen), Timm Ebner (Berlin), Sigrid Graumann (Berlin), Christine Hanke (Potsdam), Christiane Hutson (Oldenburg), Carsten Junker (Berlin), Grada Kilomba (Berlin), Oliver Sonntag (Berlin), Timo Wandert (Mainz)

AG gegen Rassismus
Mehr Informationen und Programm unter: www.aggr.org oder http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/879

In Kooperation mit AfricAvenir International e.V. www.africavenir.org

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.

Graduate Student Conference on Language and Globalization: Policy, Education and Media

In GLS 2007, Language and Globalization: Policy, Education and Media, we will explore the interaction between language and the processes of globalization.

GLS 2007 is a conference run by the graduate students in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University. The conference will include three days of oral and poster presentations by students as well as invited plenary addresses and panel discussions by established scholars.

The objective of this Graduate Student Conference is to provide students with the opportunity to present their work in progress and get feedback from senior researchers and fellow students.

Confirmed Plenary Speakers:
Dr. David Block
Dr. Ron Scollon
Dr. Bonnie McElhinny

Panel Organizers:
Dr. Kendall King

Additional panel coordinator will be announced as s/he is confirmed.

Department of Linguistics
Georgetown University
3700 “O” Street NW
Washington, DC 20057
E-mail: gls2007@glsconf.com
http://www.glsconf.com/

Adlerian Articles About Child Guidance and Cartoons

Theme Pack 11 - Influencing Children: "Problem Children" and "The Child's Symptom Selection," by Alfred Adler. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adler stresses the futility of dominance and punishment in influencing children. In order to gain a child's respect and cooperation, an adult must approach the child with a feeling of equality and engage the child in a friendly discussion to solve problems for mutual benefit.
Children who feel intimidated by adults, often resort to lying, deception, and annoying symptoms to defeat their adversary.

Theme Pack 12 - The Roots of Child Guidance: "The Physician as Educator" and "The child's Need for Affection," by Alfred Adler. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In his earliest writings as a physician, before developing his principles of psychological theory and practice, Adler urges the medical community to look at the education of children. He stresses the avoidance of punishment as well as the seminal importance of affection. These articles foreshadow his later conception of social interest as a central factor in personality development.

Adlerian Humor: Cartoons with an Adlerian Flavor
----------------------------------------------------------
To view a growing collection of cartoons with an Adlerian flavor, visit http://alfred-adler.blogspot.com/search?q=adlerian. Visit often and enjoy the new additions.

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

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
21 - 27 November 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 The Muslim Public Affairs Council

There are a growing number of Arab comedians in the United States who are speaking to very receptive audiences. Alexandra Marks, staff writer at the Christian Science Monitor, considers whether humour from “stand-up rebels” can actually change the way people think, making them more open to “receiving messages that make them aware of their prejudices without offending them.”
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, 14 November 2006)
   

1) American pluralism delivers first Muslim Congressman
The Muslim Public Affairs Council

Washington, D.C. - The election of Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison as the nation's first Muslim member of Congress is a milestone for American pluralism. Ellison also became the first African American from Minnesota to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Ellison's election was accompanied by historic numbers of American Muslim voters going to the polls yesterday to make their voices heard.

"Tonight, we made history," Mr Ellison said in a victory speech to supporters. "We won a key election, but we did much more than that. We showed that a candidate can run a 100% positive campaign and prevail, even against tough opposition."

Throughout his campaign Ellison, a criminal defence attorney who converted to Islam as a college student, focused on issues that resonate in the 5th District in Minneapolis. Ellison says he became involved in politics in college after hearing about apartheid, and he converted from Catholicism to Islam.

"People draw strength and moral courage from a variety of religious traditions. Mine have come from both Catholicism and Islam," Ellison has said. "I was raised Catholic and later became a Muslim while attending Wayne State University. I am inspired by the Qur’an's message of an encompassing divine love, and a deep faith guides my life every day." Ellison's strength is that he brings together people of all faiths to work towards better policy.

Ellison said he wants to catalyse citizens of all income levels and races to have a voice in government. He reaches out to previously disengaged groups like students and immigrants to urge them to get involved. Already, his efforts have borne fruit: voter turnout shot up in his district during the September primaries.

"I think the most important thing about this race is we tried to pull people together on things we all share, things that are important to everyone," Ellison told the Associated Press.

This election should indicate to the Muslim community, that our vote counts. MPAC Executive Director, Salam Al-Marayati, stated that "the only way towards success in American society is by civic engagement and political participation." Al-Marayati also stated that "the effectiveness of this campaign was due to Ellison's ability to unite labour, minority communities and bring in people of all religions." The Muslim Public Affairs Council is hopeful that the balance of power in Washington, D.C. will bring forth a new energy and new perspectives on issues facing our nation today.

Ellison won 56 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Alan Fine and the Independence Party's Tammy Lee, both of whom garnered 21 percent of the vote.

In key elections throughout the country, candidates are beginning to realise the impact of the Muslim electorate. The increasing interaction of Muslim communities with elected officials and candidates is a positive step in solving public policy issues. Aside from anti-Islamic rhetoric in political campaigns, what matters is getting out the vote and getting our voices heard.

The Muslim community demonstrated its importance in this election and will continue to do so in future elections. In states like Virginia, the Muslim vote became the critical vote in tipping the balance on control of the U.S. Senate. Ellison's victory and the rise of Muslim participation in politics are success stories for our country. It is imperative for Muslims to continue to develop the path for civic engagement.

###

*MPAC is a public service agency working for the integration of Islam into American pluralism. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Muslim Public Affairs Council, 8 November 2006, www.mpac.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) ~Youth Views~ Jewish-Muslim dialogue can deliver
Leila Hanafi

Washington, D.C.- It would seem today that many view the great divisions among humankind and the dominating sources of conflict as being religious. This isn’t true, but as more and more is made of the potential for a clash of civilisations, the possibility could become real. There is already more than a little distrust and lack of accommodation between Western and Muslim societies, and these divisions are increasing in importance.

Radicalism, even though few of its objections to the status quo are valid or semi-valid, has a way of overwhelming public discourse. More than ever, we must realise that there is little difference between the various religions, all of which aim to provide similar systems of ethics and morals and a path to a closer connection with God. We must embark upon the challenge of creating a new reality by returning to the commonalities between these religions. When ordinary citizens unite in a commitment to positive change, a “culture of dialogue” to promote peace and prevent conflict will come into being.

It is incumbent upon the world’s Jewish and Muslim leaders to call for more interfaith dialogue, and make positive contributions to the cause of ethnic and religious tolerance. In addition to improving Muslim-Western relations generally, it would be easier to resolve the political conflict between Arabs and Jews, notably the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, if religion were removed from the equation.

Because of the recent history of warfare that has separated Arabs, who are mostly Muslim, and Jews, the underlying unity of Judaism and Islam is seldom recognised, except by scholars. These two great world religions not only have the same origins but the formulation of the ethical teachings of Islam resemble in many ways the Judaic teachings of the Old Testament. They also share an emphatic and central belief in one God and to a large extent look to the same genealogical and scriptural authorities as the basis of their faiths. Judaism traces its roots back to Abraham and God’s covenant with him, while Islam traces its roots to Abraham through Ishmael, the first born of Abraham. Indeed, Muhammad’s goal was to bring people back to the Abrahamic faith. The word “Islam,” which means peace and submission to God, carries the same meaning as the word “shalom” in the Torah.

This commonality was recognized by Jews and Muslims throughout much of the Middle Ages. Since the arrival of Islam and until only recently, Jews and Muslims had lived together harmoniously, getting on better than Christians with Jews, or Christians and Muslims. But this is often overlooked because of the current confrontation in the Middle East. Leaders would do well to look back at the example of Spain when ruled by the Moors. Until the invasion of the more conservative Almohad dynasty, Muslim Spain, at its best, was a beacon of religious and cultural tolerance, of libraries and literature. It produced great Muslim and Jewish scholars who interacted often. When Muslims took Jerusalem back from the Crusaders, one of their first acts was to allow Jews back to the city. Salahudin, a great Muslim hero, had as a senior advisor the great Jewish scholar Maimonides.

Men distrust people of different religious groups, even to the point of considering them profane and satanic, but what we should realise is that most differences between the Abrahamic religions have more to do with form than substance. A better Jewish-Muslim dialogue will depend on whether Jews and Muslims can prevent the ups and downs of Middle East politics from dividing them.

Politics and the control of territory are the real issues behind the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, not religion. That is why it is incumbent upon the world’s Jewish and Muslim leaders to call for more interfaith dialogue, to increase ethnic and religious tolerance.

We need to promote a dialogue of civilizations between Muslims and Jews, and between Muslim and Western societies, wherever these communities can be found. For Europe specifically, there is much to be learned from the past co-existence of Jews and Muslims in Palestine, Spain and elsewhere, as Christian (or more accurately, post-Christian) Europe struggles to accommodate its many Muslim immigrants.

Negotiation and politics become possible when the beliefs and practices of the “other” are no longer considered to be vastly different from one’s own. Dialogue can enable us to address the most important issue of all: what kind of future do we want to live in? This does not necessarily imply a common approach to every issue, but without a constructive dialogue the future is less likely to become one that we would want. In order to enter into a meaningful dialogue aimed at better results, every individual has to be prepared to exercise tolerance towards other ways of thinking and towards people who base their daily lives on values and experiences different from one’s own.

###

* Leila Hanafi is a graduate student at Georgetown University and director of the United Nations Young Professionals for International Cooperation Association - International Law and Human Rights Committee. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 21 November 2006, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for republication.

3) Our silence, their ammunition
Alia A. Toukan

Amman - A year ago, many across the world were shocked by news of bombs exploding in Jordan, a country seen as an oasis of stability in a volatile part of the world. We Jordanians were particularly pained and angered by the bombs that killed family members, friends and acquaintances. Although we had watched the rest of the region and the world increasingly being targeted by terrorism, we simply did not think it would happen to us — or at least hoped it would not.

The feeble reaction, however, we Arabs and Muslims have expressed regarding terrorism in the region and the world may have helped encourage an environment where terrorism is tolerated.

If we are to presume that terrorists inflict fear and terror in the belief that they have support for their agenda (at least from some people, at some level), then every time we have been silent we have in fact encouraged terrorists. Every time they killed in the name of Islam and spoke on behalf of Muslims, and we remained silent, watching the senseless killings, we acted as indirect supporters of their terror (and allowed them to usurp legitimate resistance struggles in the cases of Iraq, Palestine and Chechnya, for their own ends).

Every time we stood silent as they killed innocent people and bombed civilian locations we added to their strength, handing them the bullets for their next attack. Our silence has been their ammunition.

When Chechen freedom fighters forced their way into a school over two years ago, holding hundreds of Russian children hostage, many in the Arab and Muslim worlds kept disturbingly silent. The Chechens have legitimate political grievances against Russia, but is Beslan excusable?

In another instance, in October 2004 in Baghdad, Iraqi children were killed by anti-occupation forces while being handed sweets by American soldiers. Thirty-five young people lost their lives that day. Few among us were even aware of this. Their death might have gone unnoticed to some, in the mess that Iraq has become. A year later, in identical circumstances, 27 people were killed, the majority, again, children. No outrage was expressed.

These are but a few examples of how apathetic we as Arabs and Muslims have become. And it is apathy, not cultural or religious backwardness and cruelty, as some in the US and Europe would claim. Decades of institutionalised social and political submission, as well as the West’s relationship with us, have led to genuine apathy; a belief that our voices are simply not heard or valued.

Daily news of the killing of Palestinians and Iraqis, and the bombing of the Lebanese in the summer, have only increased this apathy. It is said that as a coping mechanism the body becomes numb when faced with extreme pain. What we are going through mentally and emotionally could be the equivalent of this physical numbness — who, after all, can stomach watching the daily killings of Muslim and Christian Arabs, by the Israelis, by the Americans, and, as in Iraq, by our own?

Every day, scenes on TV screens and news in print media show death and destruction around us. In the case of Palestine, we have been witnessing killings, oppression and dispossession for decades now. To our east, Iraqis fall victim by the hundreds every day.

Yet feeling victimised only compounds apathy. Like oppressed people everywhere, we have come to view our values in reaction to, and in the context of, our political realities and the West’s treatment of and actions towards us. But values are sacred; they need to remain unchangeable, regardless of the context. Killing of innocent people is wrong and unacceptable. Period. Regardless of the injustice done to us, we should hold true to our values and our Muslim teachings of tolerance and non-violence towards civilians. And, above all, we should not allow ourselves to be apathetic to a breach of our values.

In some ways, the Amman bombings might have created a small shift in unconscious support for or apathy towards terrorism; the very beginning of the end of this lack of awareness, in Jordan at least.

The tragic reality is that human beings, by nature, fail to act until the arrow has turned on them or their own. But we must realise that each time we are silent in the face of extreme wrongdoing, we are strengthening that arrow, until it takes its own course. Until it eventually aims at us as well.

###

* Alia A. Toukan is a media consultant and journalist. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Jordan Times, 9 November 2006, www.jordantimes.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

4) Muslim rocker preaches tolerance to a strong drumbeat
Mary Kissel

Jakarta -- "Why did I choose an Arabic beat? Because the Muslims think it's a Muslim song. It's not! It's a universal song."

So explained Dhani, the pony-tailed, baby-faced founder of one of Indonesia's most popular rock 'n roll bands, Dewa, on a recent afternoon here. Blasting a track from the group's latest album, "Republic of Love", Dhani explained how his faith, Sufism -- a mystic, tolerant form of Islam -- informs his music. Despite appearances, Dhani, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, is a very different kind of rock superstar. He's promoting moderate Islam -- vocally -- in a linchpin country in the war on terror.

Crammed into the back seat of his minivan while Dhani lounges upfront, I struggled to scribble down his words, barely audible as the booming bass shook the seats. "Wahai jiwa yang tenang!" ("O serene soul!"), blared the opening riff from the first song, "Warriors of Love", with a strong drumbeat backing it up. The tune's title in Indonesian, "Laskar Cinta", is a play on "Laskar Jihad" ("Warriors of Holy War"), Indonesia's homegrown, al Qaeda-linked terrorist group. But the song couldn't be more different from what they preach: Dhani sings about religious freedom, weaving in Qur’anic references easily recognizable to Dewa's primary audiences in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, and neighbouring Malaysia.

It's a conscious strategy; a cynic might even dismiss it as a marketing ploy. Dhani explains that he tucks messages of tolerance and peace beside Western, straight rock beats and halting, syncopated Arabic rhythms. Western-minded types and even radicalised Muslims buy his albums -- and, one hopes, his tolerant vision too. So far, so good: the group's new album is on track to sell a million legal copies in Indonesia alone; estimates put the volume of pirated versions at three to four times that number. The current disc's lead track was No. 1 in Indonesia for three weeks, running from last December to January, and the video reached MTV's top 10 chart. EMI plans to release an English-language version of Dewa's music into foreign markets soon.

It's ingenious, and infectious; indeed, some of Dewa's tracks could easily be mistaken for those of a Saudi Arabian pop band -- one whose members listened to Queen and classic rock as kids. But as the final verse of "Warriors of Love" fills the car, it echoes this holy verse: "O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another, and not to despise each other." A tad more thoughtful than "Bohemian Rhapsody", and not exactly what Dhani's hardline Islamic groupies are taught in their madrassas.

Dhani, 34, is an unlikely proselytiser for peace. His grandfather participated in the Daru Islam Islamist guerrilla movement, which counted among its members the terrorist group leader who plotted the Bali bombings a few years back. Dhani's father, Eddy, followed in his father's footsteps, figuring prominently in an organisation bent on preaching Wahhabism. Dhani's Indonesian-born mother, Joyce, proved a more moderating influence -- she converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam when she married. (But "she learned Islam from me, not my father," Dhani confides quietly.)

As a youngster, Dhani attended a Wahhabist school. (Wahhabism, the prominent Muslim sect in Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, promotes a strict observance of Islam; Sufism is historically dominant in Indonesia, among Muslims.) But the Wahhabist message didn't sit well with Dhani: in his teens, the young rebel dropped out of high school and started Dewa, also sometimes called Dewa 19, a reference to a personnel change when the band members were 19 years old. The name, an acronym of the founding members' names, ironically means "God" in Sanskrit. The group's catchy tunes caught on quickly; today in Indonesia, Dhani is a superstar on par with Bon Jovi or Bono.

Yet Dhani's message is arguably far more powerful -- and meaningful -- than those Western rockers' ditties. Since the fall of Suharto's autocratic regime in 1998 and the advent of democracy, support for hardline Islamic political parties in Indonesia has grown. While such groups are by no means supported by the majority, mostly moderate Javanese, recent events -- such as public calls to impose shari‘a, or Islamic law, the prosecution of the editor of Playboy's Indonesian edition, and virulent anti-Western demonstrations -- speak to Wahhabism's creeping influence on the archipelago, as does a quick count of the scarves on women's heads in metropolitan Jakarta.

Dhani has responded not only through his music, but by joining a small -- but growing -- group of religious moderates who are trying to educate Indonesians about tolerant forms of Islam. Organised by LibForAll, a small U.S. foundation based in Winston-Salem, N.C., its members include former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, a great Sufi leader; Abdul Munir Mulkhan, a prominent former member of the governing board of the Muhammadiyah, one of the world's largest Muslim organisations; and Azyumardi Azra, an outspoken Islamic intellectual, among others.

The risks are great for vocal religious moderates like the ones affiliated with LibForAll. Last year, after Dewa released an album that featured the word for "Allah" in Arabic script on its cover, Dhani was labelled an apostate. Fearing for his wife, Maya, and their three children, Dhani moved them into a hotel. Only when Abdurrahman Wahid held a press conference supporting the rock star did Dhani feel safe enough to move them home again.

Dhani seems unperturbed by his mission. When I asked him about it, he laughed, talked about his faith (his children are named after Sufi saints), and turned the car stereo up.

As we crawled through traffic, one of Dhani's troupe reminded me that Dhani isn't the first to have this calling. In a neat historical parallel, Dhani's saviour and mentor, Mr. Wahid, is a direct descendant of Siti Jenar, a 16th-century Sufi who also preached tolerance in the face of a militant Islamic group in Java. He was executed for his faith, and legend has it that his blood sprayed "Allah is good!" in the sand as he died. He was later heralded as a true prophet of Allah. In the notes for his latest album, Dhani thanks Syekh Lemah Abang ("Reddish-brown earth") -- a reference to the town where Siti Jenar once lived.

Dhani laughed again when I asked him if the story of Siti Jenar's death is true, and if he's been compared to the prophet. He nodded, and smiled. And then he turned the music up again.

###

* Mary Kissel is The Wall Street Journal Asia's editorial page editor. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: LibForAll Foundation, 15 August 2006, www.libforall.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) “Get your Arab on”: comedians chip away at ethnic fears
Alexandra Marks

New York, New York - Meet Dean Obeidallah. At a stand-up comedy open-mike night, he's quick to tell his audience that he was always "just a white guy in a white guy's life" from New Jersey. Then 9/11 happened and suddenly, he became ... "an Arab".

"And people would say, 'Hey, hey, hey, don't take this the wrong way, but if you hear of any terrorist attacks coming up, will you warn me?' And then they'd say, 'Only kidding! But, ah, seriously, will you warn me?' "

Born and raised in Jersey by a Sicilian mother and a Palestinian father, this lawyer-turned-comic is on the cutting edge of a quiet social revolution. Its weapon of choice is the joke. Just like vaudeville's Jewish comedians at the turn of the century and the stand-up rebels from the civil rights era, Arab-Americans are using humour to help remind people of the futility of vilifying others because of their culture, creed or colour. Mr. Obeidallah is part of a vanguard of young Arab-American comics who are determined to show America they are just like everybody else, one laugh at a time.

"Historically, humour has always been used to put people at ease and sort of open them up to receiving messages that make them aware of their prejudices without offending them," says Jack Shaheen, professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University and the author of "Reel Bad Arabs". "It's a wonderful way to help shatter stereotypes because with true laughter, particularly in open-minded people, comes real renewal and enlightenment."

Tuesday, the fourth Arab-American Comedy Festival opens in New York. It was started by Obeidallah and a friend in 2003 as a way to showcase Arab-American talent and deal with the sudden sense, in Obeidallah's words, "of being under siege."

Since then, it's grown and spawned other ventures. In December, Comedy Central will première on its Internet site "Watch List" a night of Arab-American stand-up humour. Hollywood, which has historically vilified Arab-Americans, according to Dr. Shaheen, is also taking note. Albert Brooks’ "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" debuted in 2005.

Obeidallah and his cohorts hope these are indications that more Americans are ready to "Get Your Arab On", as the motto to the festival says. Just listen to the producer of Comedy Central's "Watch List"/

"Obviously our foremost consideration is, is it funny? And the answer is yes. And secondly, there was this loud, very clear and cool idea that was politically relevant," says Daniel Powell, manager of original programming and development at Comedy Central in New York.

If it hadn't been for the terrorist attacks, many of these comedians would never have known one another. Before that, they were just like hundreds of other young stand-up comics doing the rounds of open-mike nights around Manhattan. But the climate after 9/11 gave them unique shared experiences - such as always being "randomly" searched at the airport.

Maria Shehata says her audiences tend to respond, regardless of heritage, because the experience of being singled out is universal. At an open-mike night in Greenwich Village last week, she introduced herself as an "Egyptian from Ohio".

"Usually, they laugh at that because, it's like, absurd - an Egyptian from the Midwest," she says. "People do want to reach out and understand the different cultures and laugh at their own fears."

The joke that got the biggest laugh in her set was about sitting on a bus with a friend. Two guys were speaking in Arabic. "My friend said, 'What are they saying? Do they have a bomb?' I told her, 'Look, it doesn't matter. Just get off the bus, now. Don't make eye contact.' "

Right after 9/11, that would have fallen flat, says Ms. Shehata. And it still does around the anniversary of the attacks. But this audience's reaction, and the joke itself, are indications of how Arab-American humour has evolved over the past five years.

"The humour in the beginning was, and now I'm paraphrasing: 'Don't beat us up, don't hurt us, we're not terrorists," says Obeidallah. "That's still there, but on a lesser note. Now we're much more challenging and confident."

In other words, they're much more likely to challenge stereotypes than just defensively explain themselves. One of Obeidallah's bits is about his name, and how people suggested he Anglicise it after 9/11 so others wouldn't know he was Arab.

"Literally, my name Obeidallah translates into Servant of Allah. So how easy would it be for me to get airplane tickets for the rest of my life?" he asks the crowd at Y Improv, a club in midtown Manhattan. "'Two tickets to Miami, please.' 'Name?' 'Oh, Mr. Servant-of-Allah....' 'Let me check with the right department.... FBI?' "

Part of the irony is unstated. Obeidallah, like the majority of Arabs in the United States, was raised a Christian.

"These stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims are as solid as prehistoric rocks, and humour is gently chipping away at those prehistoric boulders, ever so gently," says Shaheen. "I don't think while watching you suddenly think differently. But when you leave, later on when news stories break ... some of what transpired in that audience carries over, and people will think twice."

###

* Alexandra Marks is a staff writer at the Christian Science Monitor. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 14 November 2006, www.csmonitor.com
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. For reprint permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com.

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Third International Congress of Psychology and Law, Adelaide, 4-7 July 2007

The following text is quoted from http://www.sapmea.asn.au/conventions/psychlaw2007/index.html:

Psychology and law have not always been on speaking terms. Lawyers were suspicious (some still are) about the mysteries of human psychology. Psychologists were astonished (some still are) at law's solutions to human problems.

Now, the two disciplines are engaged in dialogue. It promises mutual enlightenment and public benefit.

A special invitation is therefore extended to members of the American Psychology-Law Society, the European Association of Psychology & Law and the Australian & New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law to attend the Third International Congress on Psychology and Law to be held in Adelaide 3-8 July 2007.

This will be the third International Congress of its type. The first was in Dublin in 1999. The second in Edinburgh in 2003. Now we bid you welcome to a new Hemisphere with new ideas in a city famous for its wine and culture.

Topics of human rights will have predominance. The whole experience will be enlightening. Put it in your diaries and start planning to come Down Under.

THE HON JUSTICE MICHAEL KIRBY AC CMG
High Court of Australia

Patron, Australian & New Zealand Association for Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

Deadline for submission of papers is 31 January, 2007

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

mit dieser Mail laden wir sie herzlich ein zur Premiere von ‚Blaque ReinneCarnation. Moving up, out & beyond’, einem der ersten Choreopoeme im deutschen Raum mit Gesang, Tanz, Spoken Word, Percussion & Beats. Das junge Schwarze Künstlerkollektiv wagt den Versuch, mittels performativer Kunst die Thematik von Identitätskonstruktion und Selbstdefinition auf die Bühne zu bringen. Die Veranstaltung findet statt am Donnerstag, den 30. November 2006 um 20 Uhr in der Werkstatt der Kulturen, weitere Informationen s.u.

Außerdem möchten wir Sie noch einmal auf die Deutschlandpremiere von Jean-Pierre Bekolos futuristischem Polit-Thriller ‚Les Saignantes’ aufmerksam machen am Sonntag, den 26. November um 17.15 Uhr im Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe. Im nachfolgenden Link finden Sie hierzu eine Rezension

Blaque ReinneCarnation. Moving up, out & beyond.
Ein Choreopoem mit Gesang, Tanz, Spoken Word, Percussion & Beats.

Aufführungen: 30.11., 2. & 3.12. jeweils 20 Uhr
Werkstatt der Kulturen, Wissmannstr. 32 (U-Bhf. Hermannplatz), Berlin-Neukölln
Eintritt: 8 € / 6 €

Edutainment is born!

Herzlich laden wir Sie zu „Blaque ReinneCarnation“ ein, einem der ersten Choreopoems im deutschen Raum. Es wagt den Versuch, mittels performativer Kunst die Thematik von Identitätskonstruktion und Selbstdefinition auf die Bühne zu bringen.

Das junge schwarze Künstlerkollektiv, das sich für dieses Projekt zusammengefunden hat, nutzt hierzu Gedichttexte und ergänzt sie durch Musik und Tanz. Musik als Botschafter, während Verse zu Bewegungen werden und Klänge zu Gesten. Genau wie Identität fragmentiert ein großes Ganzes bilden kann, bilden die unterschiedlichen Kommunikationsformen eine künstlerische Einheit. Diese stellt eine multimediale Verarbeitung der Tatsache dar, dass schwarze Realität seit Jahrhunderten Bestandteil des deutschen Alltags ist.

So wird die Bühne zum utopischen Raum von Identitätskonstrukten und Wirklichkeitskonstruktionen. Das Objekt des (vermeintlich) Fremden macht sich hier zum Subjekt des eigenen Handelns.

Wir freuen uns auf Ihr Erscheinen,

Cinn Sandjon (Chantal-Fleur Skähr)
ReinneCarnation-Team

Weitere Informationen:
http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/940
http://www.myspace.com/reinnecarnation

In Kooperation mit AfricAvenir International e.V.

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.

20th Annual Conference of the German Peace Psychology Association

June 15-17, 2007
University of Konstanz (Germany)

The aim of the conference is to take stock of recent research on the dynamics of domestic and international conflicts with special emphasis on communication within and between the groups. Three aspects of this subject, which will already be touched upon in the invited keynote speeches, will constitute the thread running through the conference: Migration, national identity and the role of the media for the escalation and de-escalation of conflict. Keynote-speakers will be:

* Valerie Purdie-Vaughns (Yale University, New Haven, U.S.A): Exploring Multiculturalism in the Context of National Identity: Cross-Cultural Studies in United States and Germany

* Eli Avraham (University of Haifa, Israel): Ways of Constructing the "Other": Media Images of National and Cultural Minorities

* Wassilios Baros (Dimokritos University, Alexandroupoli, Greece): Bildung und Überprüfung von Hypothesen in der Migrationsforschung

We call for empirical and theoretical papers from all fields of psychology, sociology, political science, communication studies and other social sciences that can contribute to the topic of the conference. Papers may be submitted in English (preferred) or German. For each paper 30 minutes including discussion time are scheduled. Submitted papers will be screened with regard to their general appropriateness and grouped with related papers into thematic sessions.

Deadline for the submission of papers is April 15, 1007. Please submit your contributions, including a summary of approximately 500 words, as soon as possible at the E-mail address Wilhelm.kempf@uni-konstanz.de . Further and up-to date information on the conference is available via the internet address:
http://www.friedenspsychologie.regener-online.de/

First Call for Papers
The HDCA invites you to submit proposals

Keynote speakers will include:
Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen, Hilay Putnam, Anthony Appiah & Sir Richard Jolly

Special conference theme: Ideas Changing History

The special theme of the conference will be on the spread of ideas and their social impact.

‘The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.’ (Keynes)

As the famous quote by Keynes reflects, breakthrough ideas in economics and political philosophy can change history, but what are the processes that shape their spread? Ideas spread and have impact through three channels: academia, government policy and social movements. What has been the experience of progressive ideas in the past and what are the prospects for human development and capability approach in shaping development policy? What is the likely intellectual trajectory of capability and human development?
Aims of the conference and program

The purpose of this conference is to promote high quality research and innovations in policy and practice. The conference will bring together researchers and practitioners engaged in leading work on human development and capability approaches to development.

As in previous years, this conference program will include the key themes of Human Development and Capability, including: (i) philosophical foundations, (ii) measurement methods; (iii) conceptual and theoretical issues; and (iv) policy applications. These should relate to the broad range of basic concerns including poverty and inequality, democracy and public action, freedom, justice, human rights, and the challenges of globalization.

To address the special theme, the conference program will include diverse studies in intellectual history and development policy that address issues of: (i) intellectual freedom in academic institutions; (ii) economics in universities; (iii) the recent trajectory of development economics; (iv) human development and social movements; (v) democracy and social movements; (vi) human development and development policy; and (vii) institutions and ideas.

Submissions of papers and panels for consideration
Proposals are invited for papers and panels on both the special conference theme and the broader theme of human development and capability approach.

Submissions for papers should be sent as follows:
• Abstracts of papers of 300-500 words (except as noted below), including an explanation of the paper's relation to the human development and
capability approach and up to five keywords, along with your name, affiliation, contact information and short bio.

Submissions for panels are welcome. Panels would consist of four papers or a roundtable discussion with 3-4 speakers. A panel proposal should contain:
• Title and description of the theme of the panel in up to 400 words;
• Titles, authors and abstracts of the papers (each of up to 400 words)
• Names, affiliations and short bios of the proposed speakers;
• Name and contact information of the panel organizer

Travel support:
• There will be a limited number of travel support for students and scholars from developing countries. To be considered, you must send a letter requesting travel support together with a full paper with the abstract by deadline of March 30.

Timetable for submissions
• Proposals to be sent before March 30, 2007
• Full papers to be submitted by July 30, 2007
• Application for travel support to be submitted by March 30, 2007 Proposals to be sent by email to:
• HDCA2007@newschool.edu

Organization
Programme Committee: Martha Nussbaum (Chair), Sabina Alkire, Jonathan Bach, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Reiko Gotoh, Siddiq Osmani, Ingrid Robeyns, Martin Van Hees.

Conference Director: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (fukudaps@newschool.edu) Conference Coordinator: Sabrina Quaraishi (quars810@newschool.edu) New School Committee Chair: Michael Cohen (CohenM2@newschool.edu)
For further information, please contact the Conference Coordinator, Sabrina Quaraishi at quars810@newschool.edu

The Peace Education Center invites you to attend a special conversation with distinguished visiting international scholar Evelin Lindner

PEACE EDUCATION’S RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS HUMILIATION: AN INSIDIOUS THREAT TO PEACE

Thursday, November 30 - 3:30-5:00pm

Teachers College, Columbia University
Room 285 Grace Dodge
(525 West 120th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam)

NO RSVP REQUIRED

We live in a world that is characterized by two historically unprecedented phenomena -- increased global interdependence and human rights ideals and advocacy. Human rights, however, combined with globalization, increases feelings of humiliation. If unattended, these feelings of humiliation can lead to violence, thus undermining peaceful efforts toward a comprehensive implementation of human rights. Dr. Lindner calls upon the field of Peace Education to take up primary responsibility to clarify and guide this transition in a constructive way, namely to act in the spirit of a Nelson Mandela who resisted turning humiliation into violence, but transformed it into constructive social change.

Evelin G. Lindner holds PhDs in social medicine and also in social psychology. In 1996-2001, she carried out research on the concept of humiliation and its role in genocide and war. Lindner has established the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Network (HumanDHS) for further work on dignity and humiliation. As a global citizen, Dr. Lindner teaches as senior lecturer atUniversity of Oslo; Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim; is affiliated with Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, and guest teaches at Columbia University and many others. Her book Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict was published by Praeger/Greenwood in 2006.

For further information on this & other Peace Education Center events: www.tc.edu/PeaceEd
peace-ed@tc.edu
(212) 678-8116

Violence and Human Rights
A Call for Papers
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

In a continued effort to promote and disseminate research that addresses the needs of survivors of disasters, armed conflicts, mass trauma, and interpersonal violence, JAMA will publish its annual theme issue on violence and human rights on August 1, 2007. JAMA is interested in considering manuscripts that report the results of original research on the causes, consequences, and prevention of violence and human rights abuses as well as interventions aimed at assisting survivors of violence and human rights abuses. The editors are particularly interested in randomized controlled trials of interventions to address these public health problems but will also consider observational studies, systematic reviews, and commentaries. Manuscripts received by March 1, 2007, will have the best chance of consideration for publication in this theme issue. See the link above for JAMA's Call for Papers.

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 26. November, um 17.15 Uhr zur Deutschlandpremiere von Jean-Pierre Bekolos avantgardistischem Science-fiction Politthriller „Les Saignantes“ in das Berliner Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Der Film läuft im Original (französisch) mit englischen Untertiteln. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit dem Regisseur Jean-Pierre Bekolo statt.

Les Saignantes (The Bloodettes)
R: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Kamerun/F 2005, FrzmEnglU, 92 min.

Am: Sonntag, den 26. November 2006
Beginn: 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, 10178 Berlin)
Eintritt: 5€

Kurzinhalt
Nach acht Jahren Abwesenheit meldet sich der kamerunische Regisseur und Querdenker Jean-Pierre Bekolo mit einem Meisterwerk zurück. „Les Saignantes“ ist ein großartig fotografierter, stilvoll geschnittener und gefilmter Science-Fiction Politthriller über zwei junge Frauen, die ausziehen, um ein futuristisches Land im Jahre 2025 von seinen korrupten, sex- und machtbesessenen Männern zu befreien. In diesem stilisierten sci-fi-action-horror-Mix navigieren Majolie and Chouchou – beeindruckend gespielt von Adèle Ado and Dorylia Calmel – in einer Welt, in der Sex, Geld, Politik und Tod auf gefährliche Weise miteinander verwoben sind. Jung, attraktiv, modern und todbringend sind sie auf Mission, die Zukunft ihres Landes zu verändern. Doch ein hartnäckiger Feind stellt sich ihnen in den Weg.

Als Metaerzählung webt Bekolo in seinen Film das so genannte Mevungu ein - ein Ritual der Beti, das den Geheimgesellschaften der Frauen vorbehalten ist und welches nur in Krisenzeiten vollzogen wird. Angesichts der aussichtslosen Lage, in der sich Afrika und besonders Kamerun heute befinden, sei es an der Zeit gewesen, so Bekolo, dieses Ritual wieder einmal durchzuführen.

Gewagt in seiner Darstellung gesellschaftlicher Exzesse, einer kühlen Ästhetik verpflichtet, ist „Les Saignantes“ einer der ersten Science-Fiction-Filme aus Afrika. Es ist ein politischer Film; ein Film, der kritische Fragen stellt zum Verhältnis zwischen Mann und Frau, zum Zustand eines Kontinents, zur Zukunft des Filmschaffens in Afrika… In Kamerun wäre der Film fast der Zensur anheim gefallen.

Regisseur und Diskussionsgast
Jean-Pierre Bekolo wurde 1966 in Yaoundé/Kamerun geboren, studierte dort zunächst Physik und später Film in Frankreich bei Christian Metz. Er ist Autor, Regisseur, Produzent und Professor für Film an den US-amerikanischen Universitäten Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1998), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001) und Duke University (2003).

Bekolos Debütfilm "Quartier Mozart" gewann 1992 den Prix Afrique en Création in Cannes. Sein zweiter Film, „Aristotle’s Plot“, war neben Werken von Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard und Bernardo Bertolucci einer der 10 vom British Film Institute in Auftrag gegebenen Filme zur Feier von 100 Jahren Filmgeschichte. „Les Saignantes“ feierte 2005 in Toronto Weltpremiere.

Pressestimmen (Auszug)
Der Filmkritiker Aboubacar Sanogo beschreibt „Les Saignantes“ als avantgardistisch in jeglicher Hinsicht. Sowohl die angewandten erzählerischen Mittel als auch die Herangehensweise seien neu und unkonventionell. Der Film symbolisiere die Geburt eines « cinéma du corps » (den Körper inszenierendes Kino) in Afrika sowie eines afrikanischen Science-Fiction Genres. Die Idee, zwei junge, moderne Frauen als im Namen des Kontinents handelnde Rächerinnen an einer korrupten politischen Elite auftreten zu lassen, sei einfach genial.

„In seinem dritten Spielfilm bleibt Bekolo seinem Hang für Provokation, Spott und Sozialesatire treu (…) Mit schönen Farben, großartigen Schauspielern erscheint uns „Les Saignantes“ eher magisch als futuristisch. Mehr als einmal stellt das Geschehen die Logik und das Rationale in Frage.“ Francis Mbagna, Verfasst im Rahmen eines Workshops während des 10. Festival Ecrans Noirs, Yaoundé.

Web:
Les Saignantes Homepage : http://quartiermozart.blogspot.com/
Jean-Pierre Bekolo auf Wikipedia (französisch) : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Bekolo
Africultures Interview mit Jean-Pierre Bekolo (französisch): Etre à la fois africain et contemporain. http://www.africultures.com/index.asp?menu=affiche_article&no=3944
—–
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 mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Stiftung Umverteilen, der South African Airways und der GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft).

Medienpartner: Radio multikulti

Ständig aktuelle Informationen auf:
http://www.africavenir.org
http://www.inisa.de

—–

Invitation to the German Premiere of Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s „Les Saignantes“ (The Bloodettes)

On Sunday 26 November 2006 at 5.15 p.m., AfricAvenir International and the Initiative Southern Africa (INISA) welcome you to the Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe for the German Premiere of Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s futuristic polit-thriller “Les Saignantes / The Bloodettes”. The film will be shown as part of the monthly film series “African Perspectives”. The screening language will be French with English subtitles. After the screening, a discussion with director Jean-Pierre Bekolo will take place.

Les Saignantes / The Bloodettes
D: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Kamerun/F 2005, french with engl. subtitles, 92 min.

Sunday, 26 November 2006, 5.15 p.m.
Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Entrance: 5 Euro

Synopsis
After eight years of absence, maverick Cameroonian director Jean-Pierre Bekolo (“QuartierMozart”, “Aristotle’s Plot”) returns with his magnum opus, “Les Saignantes/The Bloodettes”, a superbly photographed, stylishly edited and tastefully scored film about two young femmes fatales who set out to rid a futuristic country of its corrupt and sexually obsessed powerful men. In this stylized sci-fi-action-horror hybrid, Majolie and Chouchou, exquisitely played by Adèle Ado and Dorylia Calmel (both budding stars to look out for), navigate a sordid world where sex, money, politics and death are perniciously imbricated. Young, attractive, fashionable and lethal, they are on a mission to change the destiny of their country. But their task is made difficult by a formidable foe.

Also embedded into the film is the Beti-ritual called Mevungu, which is traditionally performed by women’s secret societies, only in times of deep social crisis. Africa and particularly Cameroon, says Bekolo, is facing such a deep social crisis that it was high time to perform this ritual.

Revealing in its display of excess, committed to an aesthetics of “cool”, “Les Saignantes/The Bloodettes” is one of the first science fiction films to come out of Africa. It is a film with attitude, a film that asks critical questions about relationships between men and women, about the destiny of a continent, about the nature and future of cinema… The film nearly fell victim to censorship in Cameroon.

Director
Jean-Pierre Bekolo was born in Cameroon in 1966. He has made several short films including Boyo (1988), Un Pauvre blanc (1989), Mohawk People (1990) and Original Sin Toronto (1998). Bekolo’s debut feature film, "Quartier Mozart", received the Prix Afrique en Création at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. His second film, "Aristotle’s Plot", was one of several films commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema and included works by Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Bekolo recently released “Les Saignantes”, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Bekolo studied film semiotics under Professor Christian Metz in Paris and teaches film at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University.

Press
“Along with the intertitles, the abundance of crooked politicians and the trading of sexual favors all point to Bekolo’s radical political commentary, an aspect that has gotten the film into trouble with Cameroon’s censorship board.” Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle

The film critique Aboubacar Sanogo qualifies „Les Saignantes/The Bloodettes“ as avantgarde in any sense of the term, particularly in its narrative methods and its approach. For him, the film symbolizes the birth of a « cinéma du corps » (cinema of the body) in Africa as well as of an African science-fiction genres. The idea to stage two modern young women as the avengers of the whole continent against a corrupt political elite is just ingenious, writes Sanogo.

“In his third feature film Bekolo remains faithful to his inclination towards provocation, mockery and social satire. (…) With beautiful colours, fantastic actors/actrices, „Les Saignantes/The Bloodettes“ is perhaps more magic than futuristic. More than once the action goes against any logic and rationale.” Francis Mbagna, written in the context of a workshop at the 10th Festival Ecrans Noirs, Yaoundé.

Web:
Les Saignantes Homepage : http://quartiermozart.blogspot.com/
Jean-Pierre Bekolo on Wikipedia (French) : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Bekolo
Africultures interview with Jean-Pierre Bekolo (French) : Etre à la fois africain et contemporain. http://www.africultures.com/index.asp?menu=affiche_article&no=3944

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African Perspectives is a monthly film series in the framework of which documentaries and feature films by African filmmakers are screened.

In cooperation with the Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe. With the friendly assistance of Stiftung Umverteilen, South African Airways and the Labor Union Education and Science (GEW).

Media Partner: Radio Multikulti

News on:
http://www.africavenir.org
http://www.inisa.de

-----

Invitation à la Première de « Les Saignantes » de Jean-Pierre Bekolo

Dans le cadre de la série cinématographique "African Perspectives", AfricAvenir International et l’Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) sont heureux de présenter, dimanche 26 novembre à 17h15 au Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe la première du film « Les Saignantes » de Jean-Pierre Bekolo. Le film sera diffusé en français avec sous-titrages anglais. Après le film aura lieu une discussion avec le metteur-en-scène Jean-Pierre Bekolo.

Les Saignantes
D: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Kamerun/F 2005, bande originale (français) à sous-titrages anglais, 92 min.

Dimanche 26 novembre 2006, 17h15
Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Entrée : 5 Euro

Synopsis
Deux belles jeunes femmes opèrent une sortie d'un enfer où plane la mort et la corruption dans un film de genre original africain qui flirte avec l'humour, l'horreur et l'action.

Note d'intention :
Comment faire un film d'anticipation dans un pays qui n'a pas d'avenir ?
Comment faire un film policier dans un pays où on ne peut enquêter ?
Comment faire un film d'action dans un pays où agir est subversif ?
Comment faire un film d'amour où l'amour est impossible ?
Comment faire un film d'horreur dans un endroit où la mort est une fête ?

« Les Saignantes » est un film d'une Afrique à la recherche de son cinéma.
Et si ce cinéma était tout simplement « le mevungu », cette chose qui a besoin de tout un film pour être comprise ? Un genre de cinéma nouveau et typiquement africain. Un cinéma qui est négation du cinéma avec ses genres actuels.

2025, le futur et l'Afrique sont deux choses qui ne vont pas ensembles. Si on est incapable de se projeter, il n'y a pas d'avenir... C'est de cette prison qu'il faut sortir l'Afrique... La prison de l'imaginaire, comment obtenir une chose qu'on ne peut pas voir ?

Metteur en Scène
Jean-Pierre Bekolo a étudié la physique à l’Université de Yaoundé au Cameroun puis il a travaillé comme monteur à la naissante Cameroon Television. Il a ensuite suivi une formation a l’Institut National de l’Audiovisuel à Bry-sur-Marne en France et a étudié la théorie du cinéma avec Christian Metz. Jean-Pierre Bekolo vit entre la France, les États-Unis et le Cameroun où il est impliqué dans de nombreuses activités (Francophonie, Médias, Éducation, Cinéma, Développement…). Il a notamment développé une methode d'enseignement denomée "Auteur Learning" qu'il experimente dans les Universités Black Americaines.

Jean-Pierre Bekolo Obama, auteur-réalisateur, producteur et monteur enseigne aussi le cinéma aux États-Unis. Il a été professeur à l'University of North Carolina à Chapel Hill, à la Virginia Polytechnic Institute et à Duke University. Il est révélé à Cannes 1992 avec son film "Quartier Mozart" qu'il réalise à à peine 25 ans. Le jury présidé par le producteur français Daniel Toscan du Plantier déclare: « ce n'est pas du cinéma africain, mais une manière de faire du cinéma en Afrique ». Ce film a obtenu de nombreux prix à Locarno, Montréal, Ouagadougou et une nomination aux British Awards aux côtés de Reservoir Dogs de Tarantino. Pour les 100 ans du cinéma, il réalise Le "Complot d'Aristote", un film appartenant à une série commandée par le British Film Institute a laquelle ont participé Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, Bernardo Bertolucci et Jean-Luc Godard.

Critiques de presse
Le critique Aboubacar Sanogo qualifie « Les Saignantes », le nouveau film de Jean-Pierre Bekolo de film, d'avant-garde tout simplement. Avant-garde narrative, avant-garde en termes d'approche. C'est la naissance d'un « cinéma du corps » en Afrique. D'un cinéma de science-fiction. L'idée d'avoir deux jeunes filles complices et branchées comme "avengers" pour le continent et contre la classe politique pourrie est tout simplement géniale.

Film avant-gardiste s'il en est, ce troisième long métrage de Jean Pierre Bekolo reste fidèle à son goût pour la provocation et la dérision, une satire sociale. Francis Mbagna, Article écrit dans le cadre de l'Atelier de Critiques de Yaoundé - 10ème FENCAF (Festival Ecrans Noirs).

Film empruntant à plusieurs genres (science-fiction, policier, fantastique, etc.), Les Saignantes nous apparaît en réalité comme un film militant dénonçant la prévarication d’une société ou d’un pays ayant subi un choc si puissant « qu’il a perdu la tête ». (…) Film d’anticipation, film fait d’ellipses, de rythme tantôt lent, tantôt saccadé, et tantôt accéléré, mais participant de cette recherche esthétique ayant pour ambition de construire sa voie entre l’abstrait et le concret, « Les Saignantes » de Jean-Pierre Bekolo est remarquablement porté par Adèle Ado et Dorylia Calmel, les deux premiers rôles, féminins. N’est-ce pas finalement un poème en leur honneur ? Jean-Marie Mollo Olinga, Cine-Press, Cameroun.

Web:
Les Saignantes Homepage : http://quartiermozart.blogspot.com/
Jean-Pierre Bekolo sur Wikipedia : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Bekolo
Africultures interview avec Jean-Pierre Bekolo : Etre à la fois africain et contemporain. http://www.africultures.com/index.asp?menu=affiche_article&no=3944

-----
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.

Ce film vous est présenté grâce au soutien de Stiftung Umverteilen, South African Airways et du Syndicats Education et Science (GEW).

Plus d’informations:
http://www.africavenir.org
http://www.inisa.de

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.

India-Russia Partnership: Kashmir, Chechnya and Issues of Convergence/

New Delhi, New Century, 2006, xii, 212 p., $32. ISBN 81-7708-114-4.

Contents: Preface. 1. Indo-Soviet relations. 2. Impact of the disintegration. 3. The Yeltsin period. 4. Putin's approach. 5. Chechnya and Kashmir. 6. Areas of convergence. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

Keeping in view the Cold War period, the Indo-Russian relations were marked by indifference initially but later those were called special. The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the emergence of Russia as its successor led to a saga of drastic changes not only in the domestic arena but also in foreign policy. The economic compulsions prompted the Russian leadership to tilt towards the west at the cost of traditional friends like India. This was further compounded by controversies and misunderstandings.
The changing equation in international politics due to the emergence of terrorism on a global scale, as also Islamic extremism, has provided opportunity for the two countries to come on a common platform. The problem of terrorism in Chechnya and Kashmir has been of great concern for Russia and India. The other areas where the interests of Russia and India converge are: striving for multipolar global order, strengthening democracy, technological and economic imperatives that have immense potential for joint ventures and cooperation. Thus, Indo-Russian relations are not only marked by the historical compulsions but also by the changed global realities that make it necessary to further strengthen the bilateral ties.
Written in a communicative style, the book attempts to highlight and trace various aspects of Indo-Russian relations since their evolution, including the major developments that have happened in this area. The focus has been on convergence of interests in post-cold war period. The book should prove useful not only for researchers, policy makers but also for all those interested in understanding the comprehensive mapping of the Indo-Russian relations."
About the Author: Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra holds Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His areas of specialization include, Kashmir issue, terrorism, Chechnya and Indo-Russian relations. He has presented papers on the above topics at the national and international level. He has also contributed articles in reputed journals and newspapers. Currently, he is working as a Fellow in the Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu, Jammu (India). He is also the editor of the quarterly journal Across LOC.

Please obtain a copy from https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no46379.htm.

Charles Figley kindly writes to us:

November 19, 2006

Dear Colleagues,

Please help us spread the word about FIRST NOTICE of the 2nd National Symposium on Combat Stress Injury Management at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. The first announcement is at http://fsu.edu/~trauma/nationalsymposium.htm. Featured speakers: Dr. Zahava Solomon, Tel Aviv University (Israel), Navy Captain William Nash, MD, Headquarters Marine Corps, and Dr. Charles Figley, Professor and Florida State University Traumatology Institute Director.

Each of the four keynotes is followed by a panel discussion among experts inside and outside the university, military and veterans affairs community. Submissions for poster sessions are welcome.

Thank you for your assistance,

Symposium Committee

Alicia Cabezudo kindly writes to us:

Dear friends,
I strongly recommend this book in order to learn present situation on our region and more.- Yes, a transformative resistance experience is happening indeed !
All the best,
Alicia Cabezudo

Dispatches from Latin America: On the Frontlines Against Neoliberalism

Vijay Prashad and Teo Ballvé; Editors
Pages: 380
ISBN: 0-89608-768-9
Format: Paperback original
Publisher: South End Press
Release Date: 2006-10-10

please contact Alexander Dwinell at 617-547-4002
or alexander@southendpress.org

Conflict and Displacement in Jammu and Kashmir: The Gender Dimension
by Seema Shekhawat

Subject: human rights, gender studies, conflict and displacement
Price: US $ 30 (+ 5 postage charges)
ISBN: 81-89478-04-4 Publication: 2006
Pages: 221 Binding: Hardback

Displacement is one of the stark realities of the enduring J&K conflict. It remains dwarfed by the attention that the conflict itself has drawn. There are twelve identifiable groups in the region that were forced to leave their native places due to internal or external dimension of the conflict. Amongst the thousands of the displaced women comprise almost half the number. Yet the gender dimension remains almost neglected in the dominant discourse on J&K conflict, as also on displacement that itself by and large has received little attention. The humane aspect of the conflict, linking displacement and gender, has formed major part of discourse in this book. The study, first of its kind, makes a comprehensive analysis of this aspect hitherto unfocused. It is primarily based on field survey undertaken along the border and in the camps of the displaced in the period 2001-2004. The border displaced and the Kashmiri Pandits, being numerically the major victims of conflict in and over J&K, have become subject of special focus. The book aims at providing an alternate approach to study in this area. This timely and important book will be of interest to a wide readership comprising scholars, human rights activists, journalists, policy makers and every one interested in the J&K issue.

See more!

Author Information:
DR. SEEMA SHEKHAWAT is associated with Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu, J&K, India. seemashekhawat@gmail.com

Saksham Books International
Orders to: 62, Peer Mitha Bazar, Jammu-180001, J&K, India
E. Mail: sakshambooks@rediffmail.com

Dear colleagues,

Please see a call for applications for our Dual Masters Program in International Peace Studies, located in Costa Rica and Manilla. Applications from students from the Middle East with an intermedium level of English are welcome.

Please distribute widely within your networks.

Best regards,

Victoria Fontan

Victoria Fontan, PhD
Director of Academic Development
Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies
United Nations-mandated University for Peace
P.O. Box 138-6100
San Jose, Costa Rica
http://www.upeace.org

You can also see this announcement on the CA website: http://www.culanth.org/

The Society for Cultural Anthropology has awarded the 2006 Cultural Horizons Prize to Peter W. Redfield for the essay "Doctors, Borders and Life in Crisis" which appeared in the August 2006 issue of Cultural Anthropology. Redfield, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, examined the Nobel prize-winning Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to analyze the ethical dilemmas of the post-colonial world as well as the political limits of medical sensibilities. "A humanitarian response to human suffering, after all, cannot escape either the historical context of conditions to which it responds or its own categorical rejection of any justification for the sacrifice of human lives," Redfield writes.

Redfield's ethnography, which opens with a visit to a model refugee camp erected by MSF in Central Park, is situated within an analysis of MSF's history, from the 1968 student uprisings in Paris to the creation of a highly organized transnational NGO whose physicians and other volunteers now care for the sick and displaced in Sudan and more than 70 other countries. Throughout the piece, Redfield explores the tensions inherent in providing humanitarian relief in realms of conflict where responsible political authority is often absent. "Amid worldwide zones of repeated disaster, medical humanitarian action offers the promise of preserving existence. It does so, however, at the possible expense of deferring actions that might support a mode of being more consistent with dignity," Redfield writes.

Redfield's article appeared in a special issue of Cultural Anthropology focusing on "Ethnographies of the Biopolitical." In examining the biopolitics of one the most respected humanitarian organizations operating today, Redfield details the ethical and political dilemmas of action in a world that is not only "untidy" but also "thoroughly implicating," folding both providers and recipients of humanitarian aid - and its cultural analysts as well - within its contradictions and double-binds.

Redfield's efforts to lay the groundwork for renewed ethical and political discussions that can end in practice inside and outside the academy have earned him the fifth annual Cultural Horizons Prize, an honor awarded each year by a jury of doctoral students for what they concur is the best article appearing in Cultural Anthropology.

Redfield received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995. His 2000 work Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana (University of California Press) examined the impact of French efforts to launch satellites on the physical and cultural landscape of France's former colony.

Freedom and Humiliation, New Routes: A Journal for Peace Research and Action. Volume 11 Number 1 2006.

• Humiliation and degradation behind cartoons protests by Jan Henningsson
• Peru: Truth, violence and reconciliation by Jesper Wiklund
• Civil society actors playing central role by Jesper Wiklund
• Teaching children to handle conflicts by Sandra Pineda Forsberg
• Fragile peace in Republic of Congo by Jérôme Gouzou
• LPI in Sudan: Supporting a vital process by Kristina Lundqvist
• Dutch study: Faith-based organisations important in peacebuilding by Hanna Jagtenberg

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

mit diesem Newsletter möchten wir Sie besonders auf die Premiere am 30.11.2006 von Blaque ReinneCarnation - Ein Choreopoem mit Tanz, Gesang, Spoken Word, Percussion & Beats aufmerksam machen, präsentiert von AfricAvenir.

Außerdem ein Hinweis für Filminteressierte - im Seminar ‚Auteur Filmmaking’ mit Jean-Pierre Bekolo am 25.11.2006 sind nur noch 5 Plätze frei:

Filmmaking Workshop with Jean-Pierre Bekolo
On Saturday, 25 November 2006, AfricAvenir International e.V. invites you to an intensive one-day workshop with internationally acclaimed and award winning filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo at the Werkstatt der Kulturen in Berlin. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/862

Deutschlandpremiere ‘Les Saignantes’
Im Rahmen der Filmreihe “African Perspectives” lädt AfricAvenir am Sonntag, den 26. November, um 17.15 Uhr zur Deutschlandpremiere von Jean-Pierre Bekolos avantgardistischem Politthriller „Les Saignantes“ (OmEnglU) in das Berliner Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit dem Regisseur Jean-Pierre Bekolo statt. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/862

Blaque ReinneCarnation. Moving up, out & beyond. Ein Choreopoem.
Am 30. November 2006 um 20:00 Uhr findet die Premiere des Choreopoems in der Werkstatt der Kulturen statt. Das junge Künstlerkollektiv bringt, mittels performativer Kunst Themen wie Identitätskonstruktion und Selbstdefinition auf die Bühne. Weitere Termine 02.12. und 03.12. je 20:00 Uhr. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/940

WEITERE HINWEISE

SWR2 Wissen: Afrikanische Wiedergeburt - Eine Spurensuche
Hervorragender Beitrag zur ‘African Renaissance’ von Birgit Morgenrath, u.a. im Gespräch mit Prof. Kum’ a Ndumbe III., Pitika Ntuli, Dot Keet u.a. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/946

May Ayim: Blues in schwarz weiß
Knapp 10 Jahre nach der ersten Ausgabe veröffentlicht der Orlanda Verlag May Ayims Lyrikband blues in schwarz weiss nun in der vierten Auflage. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/943

Rezension: Mythen, Masken und Subjekte
Diese Rezension des Buchs “Eggers/ Kilomba/ Piesche (Hrsg.): Mythen, Masken und Subjekte. Kritische Weißseinsforschung in Deutschland” wurde rezensiert von Claudia Breger, Germanic Studies, Indiana University für H-Soz-u-Kult. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/921

Tagungsbericht: „Rasse“. Historische und diskursive Perspektiven
Bericht von Noemi Yoko Molitor über die Tagung „Rasse“. Historische und diskursive Perspektiven, die am 4. – 6. November 2005, Zentrum für Literaturforschung in Berlin stattfand. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/770

Kolloquium “Denkanstöße aus Afrika”
Am Seminar für Afrikawissenschaften der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin tragen afrikanische Wissenschaftler aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen aus ihren Arbeiten vor und geben so Einblicke in ihre spezifischen Sichtweisen. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/922

Tagung zum Rassismus in den Lebenswissenschaften
Am 2./3. Dezember, an der Humboldt Universität Berlin ganztägig 10-18 Uhr. Raum wird noch bekannt gegeben. Mit der Verknüpfung von postkolonialen Ansätzen, Positionen kritischen Weißseins und feministischer Naturwissenschaftsforschung gegen die Kontinuität biologistischer Kategorien. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/11/879

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

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

IX IRCT International Symposium on Torture
Download the full programme at http://www.irct.org/Default.aspx?ID=2669

Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, will close the IX IRCT Symposium on Torture, which features a remarkable range of the world’s leading experts on reparation for torture survivors and the prevention of torture.

We have the honour of announcing the full programme for the ninth IRCT International Symposium on Torture.

This scientific symposium is devoted to outlining and discussing the achievements and future challenges of the global movement against torture.

The speakers will address a variety of subjects, such as combating impunity for torturers, new treatment approaches, and the impact of recent counterterrorism measures on the prohibition of torture.

With its wide array of presentations and topics the symposium offers a unique and exciting opportunity for health, legal and other professionals to familiarise themselves with the latest developments in the field and provides an outstanding occasion for exchanging knowledge and experiences. Moreover, those with a general interest in the field – be it politicians, the press or the general public – will find that the diverse programme addresses fundamental human rights issues of great significance for us all.

We believe that the symposium will make a crucial contribution to the invaluable efforts of devoted individuals and organisations across the world in their struggle to end torture and to ensure torture survivors’ inalienable right to rehabilitation and redress.

Sincerely,
Abdel Hamid Afana
President

Brita Sydhoff,
Secretary-General

Christian Pross
Chair of Scientific Committee

The symposium will be held in English only.

Seminar: The CSSR, "Sustainable Development: Can it Save the Creation?" 16 November 2006, New York, NY , USA

Miller Theater
Columbia University
For directions, visit:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cssr/directions_Miller_Theater.html
It is the subway 116th Street stop on the “1”

For more information, call:
212.854.1673

Or visit:
www.columbia.edu/cu/cssr

This event is free and open to the public.

PLEASE NOTE:
Advanced registration is required for all events.
To RSVP, send your name and email address to CSSR@columbia.edu with the date of the event in the subject line.

Edward O. Wilson
Two-Time Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author; Recipient of Time Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001; Pellegrino Research Professor in Entomology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Jeffrey D. Sachs
Named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in 2004 and 2005; Director of the UN Millennium Project; Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Columbia University; Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Robert E. Pollack
Award-Winning Author of “Signs of Life: The Language and Meaning of DNA”, among others; Professor of Biological Sciences, Columbia University; Director, Center for the Study of Science and Religion, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

To reconsider the large question -- is the natural normative? -- from both scientific and religious perspectives at once, and to examine the social, medical and political implications of our current inability to reach a single answer, the Center for the Study of Science and Religion (CSSR) was founded in the summer of 1999. The CSSR is an interdisciplinary, inter-school, collaborative forum for the examination of issues lying at the boundary of the scientific and religious ways of comprehending the world and our place in it.

Visit http://www.columbia/edu/cu/cssr for directions and more information, or contact cssr@columbia.edu.

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

©1997-2006 Metanexus Institute
www.metanexus.net

Published 2006.11.8

International Health and Development Conference at Stanford - Early Bird Rate Deadline

Innovation, Advancement, and Best Practices To Achieve Global Goals
Unite For Sight's Fourth Annual International Health Conference
APRIL 14-15, 2007 - STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, CALIFORNIA, USA
http://uniteforsight.org/conference/2007/index.php

**Please also feel free to forward this message to anyone who may be interested in attending.**

Register Today For A Reduced Rate! (Current Rate is $45 Students/$65 All Others - EARLY BIRD RATE INCREASES AFTER SEPTEMBER 15
http://uniteforsight.org/conference/2007/index.php

When: April 14-15, 2007
Where: Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA
Theme: "Innovation, Advancement, and Best Practices To Achieve Global Goals"
Who should attend?Anyone interested in eye care, international health, medicine, health education, health promotion, public health, international service, nonprofits, or microenterprise
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Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
14 - 20 November 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.
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Inside this edition

1) by El Hassan bin Talal

Ranty Islam, a Berlin-based contributor to the Christian Science Monitor, believes that Europe can learn from the United State when it comes to multi-culturalism and pluralism. Highlighting the U.S. Embassy program “Windows on America” which aims to give European students of migrant backgrounds a better picture of U.S. society, he brings the discussion around to the German integration debate, particularly when it comes to the large Muslim community which is an essential part of Germany.
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, 3 November 2006)
   

1) Will Europe capture the moral high ground?
El Hassan bin Talal

Berlin - As I write this piece in this formerly divided city, I can only feel hope that walls built between populations must inevitably fall to the communal needs of peoples with an equal right to justice and security.

Last week, I began my trip to a so-recently divided Europe with a visit to Copenhagen where I was delighted to declare my full support for the Nordic Council’s Co-existence Agenda. Whether European or Asian, we all have a strong vested interest in the success of any initiative that recognises the importance of dialogue.

Co-existence of Civilisations is an international project that grew out of Denmark’s recent cartoon controversy. In response to the crisis, the country’s leading economic and political newsletter, Monday Morning, devised the initiative to mobilise regional and global media to promote understanding, debate and engagement.

I was honoured to take the baton as patron of an expedition of understanding launched by the initiative and to be the first outsider to address a plenary session of the regional Nordic Council, a consultative body representing five Nordic countries and three autonomous territories (Danish parliament, Copenhagen, November 1, 2006). The countries’ prime ministers, ministers and politicians agreed almost unanimously to promote multicultural development through the co-existence project.

It is perhaps timely to remember that the notion of co-existence was formed in the dangerously divided era of the cold war. It marked the start of a process of rapprochement in fractured Europe. Similarly, the Nordic Co-Existence Initiative aims to reach past mere co-existence towards true partnership — of people, of ideas and of governments.

Many in Europe agree with my urgent belief that the time has come to reassess the responsibilities of a fast-paced, globalised world. The various crises facing our peoples should serve to remind governments and policy-makers alike that rights emanate from and affect not only the European and American contexts but the entire family of cultures that comprise our human civilisation. Crucially, our quest for co-existence must look beyond technological, market-driven imperatives to achieve a lasting reconciliation of cultures and peoples.

At a press conference at the Danish parliament, I stressed the role of the Nordic countries as catalysts for world peace. I believe that the history of Scandinavian, Nordic and Baltic co-operation can act as a model for peaceful interaction in our region. Our cultural, linguistic and existential links in the Levant or Mesopotamia are worth more than many outside the region appreciate.

Nordic governments and civil society activists have a long history of upholding the fundamental rights of humanity and of promoting human security above all else. Their continued involvement in our region will provide much needed moral support for cultural engagement. The region’s governments have recognised that globalisation presents us with a clash of opportunities and challenges. To deal properly with the implications of growing interdependence, we must invest to reconcile diverse cultural and religious values, political ideas and economic regimes.

The Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy and the Barcelona Process for Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue outlined three inter-connected categories of human relations: security, economy and culture. We must integrate these into a coherent strategy in which culture is not merely an afterthought.

For Europe, migration is an inevitable aspect of economic globalisation, bringing the issues faced by far-off populations to the heart of European societies. Ethnic and religious groups are no longer confined to one region as traditional margins shift and groups disintegrate and reintegrate at escalating rates. We have all seen how conflicts arising from repression can spread swiftly from their epicentre.

At the first Middle East-North Africa Summit in Casablanca in 1994, delegates called for the European Union to invest $35 billion in 24 countries over 10 years, to build an infrastructure to encourage a “will to stay”. Providing opportunities at home was cited as the only way to avoid the problems caused by mass migration. Sadly, the European response at the time was “first come, first served”.

It is ironic that the same sum was allocated in one day for Homeland Security in the US following the September 11 attacks. However, supporting a siege mentality in the US or in Europe does nothing to alleviate the chronic problems caused by the inequities of globalisation.

The Nordic Co-Existence Initiative reminds us that the dominance of military response in international relations must be addressed. In the Gulf area alone, there have been no fewer than 22 active border disputes since 1900, all dealt with by military means. The recent war in Lebanon provides yet another example of militarism called into play as a first-resort tactic.

The politics of military supremacy have fuelled massive military spending, augmenting national debts in my region and diverting funds that could have been used to narrow the gap between inclusion and exclusion. It is a telling irony that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the group empowered to uphold peace around the world, together account for some 90 per cent of the world’s arms trade.

The Nordic Co-Existence Initiative marks a positive step in bringing cultural comprehension into the globalisation process, both at home and abroad. Managing cultural complexities through a framework for dialogue must become the norm in inter-state and inter-regional relations. Participation rather than exclusion must underpin security and freedom, while freedom of expression must come with a responsibility to protect the livelihoods and beliefs of all.

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* HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal, brother of the late King Hussein of Jordan, is chairman of several organisations in fields which include diplomacy, interfaith studies, human resources, and science and technology. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Jordan Times, 7 November 2006, www.jordantimes.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) ~Youth Views~ Pakistan’s President Musharraf walks a tightrope with the United States
Rehan Rafay Jamil

Oberlin, OH- As General Pervez Musharraf closes his seventh year as President of Pakistan, the debate rages over how long he can remain at the helm of power. In October 1999, he overthrew the civilian government of Nawaz Sharif, continuing Pakistan’s pattern of alternating between military and civilian rule and making him the fourth military ruler in the country's short history. Pakistan’s leading opposition parties argue it is unconstitutional for the serving President to be Army Chief at the same time. In 2005, Musharraf reneged on his pledge to step down from the position as head of the Armed Forces and confirmed that he would remain as both head of state and army.

For Musharraf’s supporters, he is the saviour of the country, the man who prevented Pakistan from becoming a failed state and perhaps, as has recently come to light, from being bombed by the United States. Indeed, Musharraf, who prides himself on being the master “tightrope walker”, made a dramatic change in Pakistan’s foreign policy following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon of 9/11.

Since 9/11, Pakistan has emerged as a frontline state indispensable to the Bush administration’s self-styled “War on Terror”. It severed its long-standing links with the Taliban in Afghanistan, paving the way for the U.S.-supported Northern Alliance to come to power in Kabul. The Pakistani government has also provided the United States with unprecedented military and intelligence support and is jointly carrying out a controversial military operation to find Osama Bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan, which has resulted in scores of unaccounted for civilian deaths.

When Musharraf came to power, Pakistan – a declared nuclear state since 1998 - was on the verge of bankruptcy. Today with the help of U.S. financial assistance and the competent leadership of the former international banker turned Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan has foreign reserves in excess of 11 billion dollars. The commercial capital, Karachi, which hosted one of Asia’s best performing stock exchanges last year, is symbolic of this new-found affluence, as an emerging middle class and nouveau riche become more visible in the city.

In comparison to its Middle Eastern neighbours to the west, Pakistan has never been a police state even under periods of military rule. Under President Musharraf’s government, Pakistani electronic media has experienced an unprecedented boom, with dozens of new private channels springing up, many of which air opinions and debates that are openly critical of his government.

President Musharraf often justifies his rule by saying that he is paving the way for “true democracy” in Pakistan. Unfortunately, he is not the first military leader to espouse such noble intentions. But under his rule, many of the country’s civilian institutions critical to the re-establishment of democracy in the country have been weakened, not strengthened. Today, the leaders of Pakistan’s two main political parties, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, are in exile. Parliament is divided between a political faction loyal to the President and the main opposition parties who have become increasingly united on one issue: to end Musharraf’s rule and completely restore civilian rule in the country. The President has promised to hold national elections in 2007, but many skeptics argue it will be eyewash so long as the American government continues to have faith in Musharraf.

For many Pakistanis, the current situation carries a sense of déjà vu from the 1980s when another Republican administration of the United States aligned itself with a military ruler in Pakistan. That, of course, happened during the final years of the Cold War when President Ronald Reagan conveniently ignored the lack of democratic credentials of the government of General Zia-Ul-Haq in return for his support for U.S efforts to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan. Supporting armed jihad and Islamic fundamentalism in those days was part of explicit U.S policy in the battle against the godless “evil empire”, as Reagan called the Soviet Union – a policy that eventually came back to haunt the United States. Today, President Musharraf is viewed by many in the West as the best and only defence against Islamic extremism in Pakistan, a fear his critics in Pakistan argue has been over-stated to justify his continued rule.

Supporting Musharraf is the easy, but certainly not only, option. It is in the long-term interest of the United States to support democracy and return civilian rule to Pakistan, and to nudge Musharraf towards undertaking such reforms. The unprecedented cooperation the U.S government has received from the Pakistani military in its search for Al Qaeda cannot come at the expense of sacrificing democracy in Pakistan. The U.S. government should make it clear that it will work to empower civilian governments in Pakistan and that continued foreign and military aid will be contingent upon democratic reform in the country.

The Pakistani case is illustrative of the wider contradictions of American foreign policy in the Muslim world. The United States champions the cause of democracy and human rights around the world while continuously aligning itself with authoritarian governments in the Muslim world. It is this perceived hypocrisy in U.S foreign policy that enrages many in the Muslim world. Today, Musharraf critics routinely rebuke him for being America’s puppet in the region, a perception that only further strengthens the idea that the United States is not seriously committed to furthering democracy in the region.

For many Pakistanis, the choice between military rule and the corrupt civilian governments of the past is a dismaying one. What is certain is that one of the most pivotal countries of the Muslim world’s future cannot be left in the hands of one individual. Free and fair elections in 2007 are just one part of what should be a complete transfer from military to civilian rule in the country. Rejuvenating Pakistan’s shattered political institutions and ending the complex power struggle between its civilian and military leadership is going to be an even greater challenge.

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* Rehan Rafay Jamil is a senior at Oberlin College where he is majoring in Politics & History. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 14 November 2006, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission has been granted for republication.

3) Has America “lost” the Middle East?
Patrick Seale

Paris - Richard Haass, one of America's leading foreign policy specialists, has pronounced that “the American era in the Middle East… has ended.” His controversial judgement - which President George W. Bush would certainly not agree with -- is to be found in the very first paragraph of an article he wrote in the November-December issue of Foreign Affairs, the prestigious journal of the New York-based Council of Foreign Relations, of which Haass is President.

Haass argues that in the Middle East's recent history, America's supremacy can be seen as the fourth period of domination by outsiders. The first period was Ottoman control up to the First World War, then British and French colonial rule between the wars, followed by the Cold War, in which Moscow and Washington competed for influence and shared out the region between them. The collapse of the Soviet Union some 16 years ago ushered in a period when America ruled supreme, enjoying what Haass calls “unprecedented influence and freedom to act”.

But now, he says, this era too is drawing to a close, and may indeed already be over. He predicts that the region is entering a phase “in which outside actors have a relatively modest impact and local forces enjoy the upper hand.”

Is Haass right? Or is he being a little hasty? Are his gloomy conclusions unduly influenced by the misjudgements, omissions and foreign policy blunders of the Bush presidency? Could America recover its authority under a new administration? These are questions of considerable interest to the region.

Perhaps the first thing to say is that, in spite of its recent failures, the United States is still not seriously challenged in the Middle East by any other external power or group of powers. The Iraq war may have all the makings of a major disaster, but what other power could afford to spend $500 billion dollars and deploy an army of 140,000 men for an indefinite period half way across the world?

The European Union, which many had hoped would serve as a counterweight to the United States, has conspicuously failed to forge a common foreign and defence policy. Its members pull in different directions. They are divided on major issues such as the war in Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict and on how best to confront the threat of Islamic militancy. On Iraq, Britain chose to side with the United States rather than with its principal European partners, splitting the EU down the middle.

Because of its spectacular economic growth, China is emerging as a strategic challenger to the United States, particularly in East Asia. It is certainly a formidable competitor in the feverish world-wide search for raw materials. It has made deep inroads into Africa, where some 500,000 Chinese are already at work, many of them on construction sites.

But China's economic partnerships and alliances have still not been translated into the sort of naked power the U.S. can project by means of its numerous deep-water fleets, its global network of military bases and its technological supremacy.

Russia's economy, in turn, has improved on the basis of oil and gas revenues, but it is still very far from recovering the considerable influence it used to have in the Middle East as an arms supplier and great power protector of several Arab states.

As for local actors, which Haass predicts will soon “enjoy the upper hand”, it is hard to see whom he has in mind. All too often at odds with each other, the Arabs are even more divided than the Europeans. Their oil wealth - their main material asset -- has still not been put to any consistent political purpose.

Iran poses a more serious challenge to American power, but its ambitions would seem to be purely local and defensive. It seeks to break out of the artificial isolation the US has imposed on it. It wants to be recognised as a major Gulf power, and as the protector of Shi'a communities everywhere. Militarily, it seeks the means to confront or deter an attack on itself - to avoid devastation such as Iraq has suffered - rather than to attack others.

As for non-state actors like Hizbullah and Hamas, they pose no credible challenge whatsoever to the United States. Their quarrel is with Israel - and with what the United States has allowed Israel to do in Lebanon and Palestine. Their ambitions are strictly limited to their own societies. If their legitimate grievances were addressed, they would cease to be any sort of a threat.

As the United States faces no serious challenger in the immediate future, either from inside or outside the region, could it recover its authority? There is no doubt that the United States is now deeply unpopular in the Arab and Muslim world, even an object of loathing in many quarters. Militant groups would like to strike at it, if they could.

Many Arabs look back with nostalgia to the era of President Eisenhower, who put an end to the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression at Suez in 1956 and, more recently, to the presidency of Jimmy Carter who, although he only managed to do half the job - by forging the Egyptian-Israeli peace -- made a valiant effort to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in its entirety.

What then should the US do to regain trust and credibility? It should perhaps begin by recognising its many mistakes.

Perhaps the greatest mistake over the past 25 years was to allow Israel to expand its settlements on occupied Palestinian territories. There is no greater obstacle to a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and to Israel's integration into the region, than the nearly half a million Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The relentless erosion of the rump of Arab Palestine has created the militant movement Hamas and has aroused hostility to the US throughout the Arab and Muslim world.

Another mistake, made under Ronald Reagan's presidency, was to allow Israel to invade Lebanon in 1982, killing over 17,000 Lebanese and Palestinians. The US even attempted to reward Israel for its invasion by forcing Lebanon to conclude a separate peace which would have put it in Israel's orbit. When that attempt failed, the US allowed Israel to remain in south Lebanon for the next 18 years until 2000 - an invasion and occupation which created the militant movement Hizbullah.

A third mistake was the failure to re-establish friendly relations with Iran in the 27 years since the Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution, and indeed to have backed Iraq in the long and brutal Iraq-Iran war (1980-88.) Instead, outraged at the seizure and incarceration of its diplomats for 444 days at the start of the Iranian revolution, the US allowed itself to be trapped in a posture of unrelenting hostility towards a major regional power - and is now paying for that mistake by Iran's defiance over the nuclear issue.

A fourth mistake which dwarfs the others was America's rash and intemperate reaction to the traumatic terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The war against Iraq, waged on false and fraudulent premises, has proved a catastrophic error. It was driven by a wish, in the heat of the moment, to teach the Arabs a lesson about America's military power; by the ambition to control Iraq's vast oil resources; and also - and perhaps primarily in the minds of pro-Israeli officials in the U.S. administration -- by a bid to improve Israel's strategic environment by smashing a major Arab state.

Not only has the war - and the “Global War on Terror”, of which it is a part - squandered America's human and material resources, it has also done tremendous, perhaps irreversible, damage to America's moral standing.

What should the US now do? It should regain the independence of its foreign policy by freeing itself from the pressures of lobbies and special interest groups. It should punish those responsible for gross human rights abuses, such as torture. It should announce a firm date for its withdrawal from Iraq. And it should bend every effort - and every resource - to solving the Arab-Israeli conflict on a basis of equity and justice.

George W Bush has two more years in office. Can he -- will he -- act? Or will Haass' prediction of an end to the American era come true?

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* Patrick Seale is a British writer on the Middle East and the author of The Struggle for Syria. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Al Hayat, 3 November 2006, english.daralhayat.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

4) How Al Jazeera can go up a gear
Mohamed Elmenshawy

Washington, D.C. - Last week, the Arabic-language satellite news channel Al Jazeera celebrated its 10th anniversary. In the years since its first broadcast on Nov. 1, 1996, Al Jazeera has become a popular news outlet that no government or opinion shaper can afford to ignore. The Qatar-based station has created a home-grown forum for free speech and controversial debates after decades of government control over the news outlets in the region.

Of course, the huge success of Al Jazeera, which is owned by the royal family of Qatar, has come with plenty of controversy. Critics in the West, particularly in the United States, have called its aggressive journalistic style biased in favour of Arab causes. Top Bush administration leaders have called the station's coverage inflammatory and misleading.

Al Jazeera has also agitated many of the elites of Arab governments. Despite (or perhaps because of) its controversial coverage, Al Jazeera's success has become a strong vehicle for change in the Arab world, putting serious pressure on entrenched autocratic leaders. Its reporters have been banned in Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Most recently, the Tunisian government recalled its ambassador from Qatar in protest of an aired interview with an exiled Tunisian opposition figure.

Anti-Western or not, Al Jazeera has secured a front-row seat in the international media arena, right next to CNN and BBC. If there is one news outlet that can shape the opinions and perspectives of Arab audiences, it's Al Jazeera. In short, Al Jazeera has done its job, and done it well.

For a still-young news station of this magnitude and influence, expectations are high. And despite the respect many observers hold for the courageous journalists of Al Jazeera, myself included, these growing expectations have yet to be met.

For one thing, Al Jazeera's coverage of the United States has yet to offer viewers a complete picture of American society. Since 11 September 2001, interest in America has risen noticeably in the Arab world, and not a single Arab media outlet has satisfied this demand. Everyone reports on America the superpower, but no one reports on America the complex, diverse and democratic society.

Decisions that affect daily life in the Arab world are made in Washington, but the politics and dynamics that shape those decisions are found elsewhere in America.

Only Al Jazeera's journalists hold the qualifications, capabilities and credibility to fill this gap. The station should broadcast a program focused on life outside the U.S. capital to provide viewers with a more nuanced understanding of what America is all about.

U.S. and other Western media outlets have not performed any better in their coverage of the core Arab societies, but this should not deter Al Jazeera from reaching this next level of excellence.

Al Jazeera must also transform itself from a forum dominated by Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood to a platform that is equally accessible to political voices, whether Islamist, leftist, nationalist or liberal. A great deal of programming has been devoted in the past to Islamist thinkers and leaders like Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, without balancing views from opposing voices.

Al Jazeera could also improve by adding some local coverage. The station will lose viewers to locally oriented television stations like Dream TV in Egypt, or LBC and Al Manar in Lebanon, if it persists in focusing on regional issues like Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict at the expense of other important local issues.

For example, Al Jazeera did not employ the daring style for which it is known in its reporting about recent cases of sexual assault in Cairo. Dream Television was much more willing to unravel the story.

Finally, Al Jazeera's reporters and anchors should minimise the airtime devoted to their own views, and focus more on reporting the story. In doing so, Al Jazeera must divorce itself from the sensibilities of its main financier, the emir of Qatar, and focus on reporting on, as opposed to engaging in, politics.

As Al Jazeera prepares for another year of restless noise-making, its staff must not lose track of the expectations of the Arab viewer, and the need to match the quality of its reporting with the level of controversy it evokes.

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* Mohamed Elmenshawy is the editor of Taqrir Washington, a Washington-based Arabic-language information and news service sponsored by the World Security Institute. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 6 November 2006, www.iht.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

5) German Muslims laud US diplomat's style
Ranty Islam

Berlin - The last time high-schoolers in Berlin's Neukölln district made headlines was this spring, when teachers wrote an official letter to politicians essentially declaring a state of emergency over a violent student body - 80 percent of whom come from immigrant backgrounds.

But Jazan, a 16-year-old student at Neukölln's Ernst-Abbe high school, got his moment in the media limelight this week for an entirely different reason: along with nine other students, he'd just returned from a 10-day trip to America sponsored by the U.S. Embassy.

What most impressed him?

"People in the US can start driving at the age of 16 - why do we have to wait till 18 in Germany?" he says, laughing. But then, more serious, he adds, "Arabs, Jews and Muslims [in the US] walk on the street next to each other and nobody tells them how to dress or what to do."

Such a change in perspective is exactly what U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken Jr. is looking to accomplish with the embassy's "Windows on America" programme.

Funded by corporate donors, the project aims to gives students from migrant backgrounds a clearer picture of the US, the ambassador says. While some see Windows on America as a thinly veiled PR campaign, Muslim leaders have lauded Mr. Timken's pragmatic approach to engaging Muslims as a useful model for their own politicians.

In September, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Timken broke the fast with Muslims at a mosque near the western city of Düsseldorf, as well as with a number of Muslim representatives invited to the Frankfurt residence of U.S. Consul General Jo Ellen Powell.

Previously Ms. Powell, together with the ambassador's wife, Sue Timken, had organised a round-table discussion with Muslim women leaders working with immigrants.

The embassy also hosted a symposium with roughly 100 students from schools in Berlin's minority districts to discuss political, cultural, and educational issues of concern to them.

"The ambassador's efforts are warmly welcome," says Aiman Mazyek, secretary-general of Germany's Central Council of Muslims, one of the largest Muslim organisations in the country. "We'd like to see more of those [efforts] from German politicians. But, sadly, a visit by the German president to join Muslims breaking their fast is probably a long way off," he adds.

Burhan Kesici, vice president of Berlin's Islamic Federation, also agrees that German leaders could better emulate Timken's approach. At a joint breaking of the fast last year, hosted by the ambassador in a "private, warm, and welcoming setting", he and the other Muslims "got the impression that we can talk to and respect each other - even if we don't agree with a lot of U.S. politics on the global scale," says Mr. Kesici.

Interactions with German politicians are lacking this warmth, he says, but "with them we can talk to actually get things done and move ahead on the political level, too."

A sign of change came at an unprecedented government-organised conference of German Islamic organisations and leaders last month. At the meeting, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble called Muslims an essential part of Germany who "belong to us."

But not all Germans see it that way. According to a poll earlier this year by the German news magazine "Stern", 55 percent of Germans consider Islam a valuable part of society - but also a threat.

German Muslims are not insensitive to such sentiments; a more recent Stern poll revealed that almost half of all Muslims in Germany believe that relations with other parts of society have deteriorated over the past few years.

Whether Timken's approach will make a difference to the integration debate in Germany is uncertain, says Torsten Jäger, managing director of Germany's Intercultural Council. Given its limited scope and funding, "the embassy's program seems to be primarily a PR effort."

Is Timken's dialogue a neat PR-campaign to polish America's image or a meaningful effort to get engaged on integration issues in Germany?

A bit of both, says Timken. "We don't tell Germans how to run their country," he declares. “My job is to get people to understand the United States better."

The students at Ernst-Abbe seem interested in getting a better understanding of the United States; the ambassador says that many of them expressed a concern in their essays that their image of the United States is skewed by German media, as well as the movies and TV shows they watch.

"The negative opinions here about the United States are really just about their government," says Sharonda, a 17-year-old at Ernst-Abbe.

The daughter of immigrant parents from Ghana, she was surprised by the attitude of Americans she met on the trip's stops: New York, Washington and Des Moines, Iowa. "The American people are, well, just so different, very open and welcoming."

So despite his reservations, Mr. Jäger says Germany should still consider Timken's initiative and start advertising in a similar way abroad.

"It is not enough for a country to more easily integrate foreigners and strive to become an open, inclusive place," says Jäger. "An immigration country needs to actively advertise this fact in the right places abroad - to make sure it attracts the best."

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* Ranty Islam is a Berlin-based contributor to the Christian Science Monitor. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 3 November 2006, www.csmonitor.com
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. For reprint permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com

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.
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New Alliance of Civilisations

Alliance of Civilisations report.

The Alliance of Civilisations, which includes Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, dismisses the notion that a clash of civilisations is inevitable, but says that swift action is needed.

The group argues that the need to build bridges between Muslim and Western societies has never been greater.

They say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, along with Western military interventions in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, contributes significantly to the growing sense of resentment and mistrust that mars relations among communities.

See the report at www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/AllianceofCivilisation13_11_06.pdf.

The International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR) and the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) present:

"Women Confronting Globalization: Cultural Resistance, Fair Commerce, and Human Rights: Building autonomy in Zapatista communities."

Featuring sociologist Gabriela Martinez Lopez from Chiapas, Mexico, a representative of the Mexico Solidarity Network, who will speak about Zapatista women's collective strategies of resistance while discussing the impacts of globalization on women in Mexico and the leadership role that women play in the movement for fair trade and social and economic justice. The following issues will be discussed: threats to indigenous communities, such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, North American Free Trade Agreement, Plan Puebla Panama, and the corn and coffee crises in Mexico; human rights abuses in Mexico; the 6th Declaration of the Selva Lacandona issued by the Zapatistas; and the leadership of women in fair trade cooperatives.

Gabriela Martinez is a sociologist and researcher who worked with the Center of Political Analysis and Social and Economic Research (CAPISE) in Chiapas, Mexico. Gabriela's studies have focused on collective rights of indigenous communities, liberation theology, and fair trade and women's cooperatives.

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Teachers college, Columbia University
Milbank Chapel

1st International Conference on Language and Health Care
Location: Alicante, Spain
Contact Person: Adelina Gomez
Web Site: http://www.iulma.es/congreso

Meeting Description:

The Instituto Interuniversitario de Lenguas Modernas Aplicadas de la
Comunidad Valenciana (IULMA) is proud to announce the first edition of
this International Conference on Language and Health Care, to be held at
the University of Alicante (Spain) on the 24th, 25th and 26th October
2007. The main topic of the Conference will be the study of language in
the context of health sciences and health care: interdisciplinary
perspectives. The main aim of this Conference, which deals with language
from an interdisciplinary point of view, is to explore and analyze the
contribution which can be made to a better understanding of health
sciences by linguistics and language analysis.

The Conference is organized by the Instituto Interuniversitario de Lenguas
Modernas Aplicadas de la Comunidad Valenciana (IULMA). IULMA is a centre
for research, teaching and services run jointly by universities of the
Valencian Community and dedicated to theoretical and practical issues in
applied modern languages, also known as professional and academic
language. IULMAs activities take place within an interdisciplinary
framework as required by a society based on knowledge and information,
with a view to the satisfaction of scientific, business and social needs
created by the globalization of knowledge, science, technology and
economics.

Communications dealing with the present state of research in any of the
following topic areas of the conference, are welcome. The provisional
topic areas are:

1. The language of health science: a. The linguistic characteristics of
health science language.

2.The language of pharmaceutical science:
a. Registers;
b. Pharmaceutical
protocols;
c. Clinical testing;
d. Health economics;

3. Medical language and communication:
a. Language in the doctor-patient relationship;
b. Professional genres. Medical protocols, informed consent forms etc.
c. The language of interprofessional communication: professional genres
articles, conference communications, seminars and round tables;
d. Case notes and clinical histories;
e. The language of popularisation (genres);
f. Advertising.

4. Language as a medical strategy:
a. The language of psychiatry;
b. The language of clinical psychology.

5. Language and law;
a. Bioethics;
b. Medical claims assessment;
c. Legal medicine;
d. Forensic psychiatry;
e. Pharmaceutical patents;
f. Informed consent: medical and surgical implications.

6. Language pathologies:
a. Aphasia;
b. Dysphasia.

7. Medical translation and interpretation:
a. Characteristics;
b. Documentation;
c. Translation tools;
d. Terminology;
e. Genre translation;
f. Neutral language (Spanish and English);
g. Interpretation of doctor-patient communication;
h. Interpretation in medical conferences.

The final deadline for the reception of summaries is the 15th April 2007.

A list of accepted communications, following the necessary evaluation
process, will be published at the conference website before the 30th May.
Communications should include some point of interest, reflection or study
related to language and health care, from a language or health care point
of view, and possibly involving other disciplines such as law, economics
etc.

While Spanish, English and Valencian are the official conference
languages, communications may be given in any of the official languages of
IULMA: Spanish, Valencian, English, French and German.

Presenters of communications will be allowed twenty minutes for their
presentation, followed by ten minutes for questions and debate. Those
wishing to present communications should fill in the registration form
(boletn de inscripcin) together with the communication proposal form
(http://www.iulma.es/inscripcion_en.asp), and should include two summaries
of the communication, one in Spanish and one in English (max. 2000 words).

http://linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-3218.html

Linda Hartling kindly sends us this message:

Dear JBMTI Friends,

Here is an important update. We have rescheduled the following program...

The Connected Brain: Building Resilient Relationships and Flexible Brains
is rescheduled for Friday, April 27, 2007, Boston/Dedham Holiday Inn
Conference Center, Dedham, MA presented by Amy Banks and Judith Jordan.
Register by April 6th to receive a $25 discount. (5 CEs available). This
seminar promises to be one of our most popular offerings; enrollment is
limited. Additional information will be available after December 1st at
jbmti.org

In addition, please save this date...

JBMTI SPRING INSTITUTE, Friday, March 2, 2007, 9-4PM, WANG CAMPUS CENTER,
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA - Relational Leadership: It Makes All the
Difference (5 CEs) presented by Judith Jordan, Joyce Fletcher, Maureen
Walker and others. Learn what relational leadership is and why it matters
and explore how this enhances the way people work in organizations.
Register before February 15 OR with a colleague and receive a $25
discount. Additional information will be available after December 1st at
jbmti.org

If you have questions about either of these programs, please call
781-283-3800. We hope to see you soon.

Jean Baker Miller Training Institute
Web site: http://www.jbmti.org
e-mail: jbmti@wellesley.edu
Phone: 781-283-3800
Wellesley Centers for Women
www.wcwonline.org
Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481

Dear Friends!

bottom of page 3:

Social emotions like guilt, shame, pride, embarrassment, disgust and lust are based on a uniquely human mirror neuron system found in a part of the brain called the insula, Dr. Keysers said. In a study not yet published, he found that when people watched a hand go forward to caress someone and then saw another hand push it away rudely, the insula registered the social pain of rejection. Humiliation appears to be mapped in the brain by the same mechanisms that encode real physical pain, he said.

Alicia Cabezudo wishes us to be aware of this Manifesto in Favor of Life, of Peace, of Equality:

According to the FAO 35,000 children die from hunger each day. This is genocide of appalling proportions, which we witness with apathy daily. At the same time it is estimated that 2,800 million dollars are spent daily on weapons, while US and European Union agricultural subsidies amount to 800 million dollars a day. There are no funds for the treatment of AIDS... while to a large extent the global economy is ruled by the profits of the military war industry. It is essential that we share more fairly. There are no better breeding grounds for radicalization, hostility and aggression than humiliation and exclusion. Violence is never justifiable, but its origins must be closely examined.

Instead of strengthening multilateralism and endowing the United Nations with the means and authority to implement a global development plan to the benefit of all, the natural resources of progressively impoverished countries continue to be exploited, and their citizens are forced to emigrate in circumstances that frequently offend their dignity. Genuine democracy cannot be built and consolidated with captive votes and blind obedience and fear. The world’s great challenges and inequalities on all fronts cannot be addressed through wars of greed, demonstrations of force, military strikes and invasions based on economic and energy interests, generating a spiral of violence, of action and reaction, and of interventions and reprisals.

Government leaders have abdicated their political responsibilities, replacing universal values with the laws of the marketplace. The result has been a concentration of wealth in very few hands, and an ever-widening social and economic gap between the rich and the poor.

NO TO POVERTY! In a great roar heard worldwide we must demand that our government leaders give priority to fulfilling the Millennium Objectives. We must forsake complacence for personal involvement.

Let us once again proclaim that we do not justify attacks and violence, no matter what their origin. We condemn all terrorism: terrorism of groups hidden in the shadows, and terrorism of the state. Torture and cruel and degrading punishment is being used in constant violation of international and humanitarian law.

The international community must put an end to this savagery and massacre. As set forth in the United Nations Charter, all peoples must be able to decide their destiny. We must urgently join the voices of all peoples of the earth to say NO TO WAR AND VIOLENCE.

We have remained silent too long, but this silence must stop. The peoples will raise their voices. War is a tragedy for all. It is urgent that we disarm this armed reason. Today more than ever we need the capacity for dialogue and alliance, a commitment to resolving conflicts peacefully, supporting attitudes of convergence and respect for others, through the application of human rights in our daily lives.

It is necessary to change our present course through collective actions, fomenting solidarity among all peoples. It urgent that intellectuals, artists, educators, scientists... abandon their passive attitudes and take action. Only then will their works and their words become credible, enabling them to contribute their efforts to those of others who seek to stop the madness of war, confrontation and violence.

The time of the peoples has come. And above all, the time of those young people, men and women who believe that another world is possible. Public institutions and the media must help the citizens of the world to finally cease to be mere spectators and to take up their tasks as protagonists in designing the future. Government leaders, parliamentarians, members of municipal councils... all have a special responsibility in bringing about this historic change.

The time has likewise come for even the most diverse cultures and religions, united in their inherent solidarity and love for their fellow men, to take up their place at the forefront in the effort to rescue human dignity.

All peoples must join social, cultural, political and spiritual resistance movements, refusing to cooperate with violence and injustice, and uniting with others to denounce those responsible for the domination and pain that afflict humanity.

We must stand up for peace and march toward new horizons of life, not death. After all, this is our hope.

In view of the above and with our sights set on the future generations, we call on all of those who are equally concerned to demonstrate their support for peace through all available means, whether live or virtual.

NO TO WAR AND VIOLENCE!

YES TO PEACE AND JUSTICE!

For 24 hours, throughout the world on (DATE) we will demonstrate with our voices or in the media the next days 10th and 11th of December, 2006, in commemoration of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.

If we make progress, in these advances we will soon achieve a “globalized conscience”, the source of real independence for the world’s peoples.

First adhered:
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel - Peace Nobel, Argentina
Mario Soares - Former President of Portugal
Federico Mayor Zaragoza - President Fundación Cutura de Paz, Spain
Pere Casaldàliga - Bishop, Brazil
Danielle Mitterrand - President France Libertés, France
François Houtart - Theologian, Belgium
Montserrat Ponsa - Journalist, Catalunya, Spain
Luís Eduardo Aute - Cantautor, Spain
Arcadi Oliveras - President Justicia i Pau, Catalunya, Spain
Ernesto Cardenal - Theologian, Nicaragua
Marilia Guimaraes - President Committee Defense of the Humanity, Brazil
Handel Guayasamín - Architect, Ecuador
Silvio Rodríguez - Cantautor, Cuba
James Cockcroft - Writer, USA
Eliseu Climent, Valencia, Spain
José Enrique González Ruiz, Mexico
Giovanni Parapini, Journalist, Rome
Marianna Masciolini, Comunication, Rome

If you want to join to this Manifesto, please look at http://www.fund-culturadepaz.org/MANIFIESTO/INGL.php

Bykr, A. S. and B. Schneider (2002). Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement. New York, Russell Sage Foundation.

Dear Friends!

The book suggests that "relational trust" in organizations is a fundamental resource that facilitates change and innovation. When people experience higher levels of relational trust, they feel less vulnerable and assume that others are attuned to their interests, as well as shared goals. In particular, I think the research validates the necessity of "walking the talk." The authors back their conclusions with impressive research.

I'm offering you my notes so you don't have to read the book.

Much love!...enjoy!
Linda
__________

Bykr, A. S. and B. Schneider (2002). Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement. New York, Russell Sage Foundation.

Page - Note/Quote

xiii - The research described in this book followed the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 - one of the most far-reaching efforts at school reorganization.

xiv - "Schools are networks of sustained relationships."

xiv - "...as the 1997 survey data became available, we at last had the capacity to link measures of developing relational trust over time within school communities with changes in the work life of these schools, and the most importantly, with measured improvements in school academic productivity during the early to mid 1990s.

5 - "In this book, we argue that the social relationships at work in school communities comprise a fundamental feature of their operations. The nature of these social exchanges, and the local cultural features that shape them, condition a school's capacity to improve. Designing good schools requires us to think about how best to organize the work of adults so that they are more likely to fraction together a coherent environment for the development of children." [and the development of all]

6 - "This lack of trust between teachers and parents --often exacerbated by race and class differences -- makes it difficult for these groups to maintain a genuine dialogue about shared concerns."

9 - 1988 Chicago School Reform Act, which sought to bring about more direct involvement of local school professionals with parents and community members in the the improvement of neighborhood schools, with elected Local School Councils (LSCs)...decentralized reform...

12 - Little attention has been focused on the nature of trust as a substantive property of social organization of schools, on how much trust levels actually vary among schools, and how this may related to their effectiveness....social exchanges in school communities, organizational property called relational trust.

12 - Building on Robert Putnam's research,

13 - Finish Fukuyama social capital and social trust contributing to the efficient operation of national economies,

14 - James Coleman's theory of social capital "Whereas human capital is acquired through education, social capital develops around sustained social interactions." According to Coleman, two general factors combine to create high levels of social capital. 1) social network closure, i.e., interconnectedness makes it easier for people to communicate; 2. Dense relational ties...to articulate mutual expectations....high levels of trustworthiness maintain socially desirable norms and sanction unacceptable actions.

15 - ...self-identification process...individuals come to define themselves as connected to that person or organization and undertake subsequent actions because this identification is meaningful to them....

...the microdyamics of trust entails a complex mix of individual motivations...

16 - Forms of social trust
1. Organic Trust - predicated on the more or less unquestioned beliefs of individuals in the moral authority of a particular social institution - trust unconditionally - fundamentalist religion
2. Contractual Trust - more for modern institutions, base of trust is more material and instrumental, contract defines basic actions, agreements, focused on product or outcome, which doesn't readily apply to schooling.
3. Relational Trust - organized around a distinct set of role relationships, teacher with students, teachers with teachers, teachers with parents, ...individuals typically withdraw their trust when expectations are not met, leading to a weakening of relationships...

21 - ...like contractual trust, relational trust requires that the expectations held among members of a social network or organization be regularly validated by actions [ walking in the talk]...Formally, we posit that a discernment of the intentions of others is a fundamental feature of day-to-day interpersonal change...

21 "Relational trust diminishes when individuals perceive that others are not behaving in ways that can be understood as consistent with their expectations about the other's role obligations. Moreover, fulfillment of obligations entails not only "doing the right thing," but also doing it in a respectful way, and for what are perceived to be the right reasons." [walking the talk]

22 - ...relational trust differs from organic trust and contractual trust in that it is founded both on beliefs and observed behavior...relational trust is rooted in a complex cognitive activity of discerning the intentions of others.

Criteria for Discernment...
Respect, competence, personal regard for others, and integrity.

1. Respect needs to be reciprocated by parties...perceive opportunities to influence

2. Competence - execution of formal role responsibilities

3. Personal regard for others - Any actions taken by a member of a role set to reduce others' sense of vulnerability affects trust...RT deepens as individuals perceive that others care about them and are willing to extend themselves beyond what their role might formally require.

4. Integrity - consistency between what they say and do.

26 - Power -- Role Set Relations: Obligations, Expectations, Dependence, and Vulnerability - no single role in school enjoys dominance [?]....more powerful in the system obligated to reduce the vulnerable feelings of the less powerful....low-status are concerned about exploitation and unfair treatment, high-status concerned that subordinates will shirk their responsibilities.

30 - While at any given time these exchanges may be imbalanced, an expectation is that the imbalance eventually will be redressed.

32 - Organizational Consequences of Relational Trust -

1. Relational trust moderates the sense of uncertainty and vulnerability that individuals feel as the confront demand...when trust is strong, individuals engagement with reform does not feel like a call for heroic action...relational trust is a catalyst for innovation.

2. Transaction costs of decision making are reduced in requirements where people are predisposed to trust one another....progress is faster in high trust contexts because participants are more able to coalesce around a plan of action...relational trust facilitates public problem solving..

3. ...Contexts with strong relational trust benefit from clear understandings about role obligations that are routinely reinforced in day-to-day behavior.

4. ...relational trust sustains an ethical imperative among organizational members to advance the best interests of the children [of all engaged in relationship]

Three schools chosen for an in-depth analysis of three urban schools: Ridgeway Elementary representing the most adversarial and conflictual...Holiday Elementary School a positive case, Thomas Elementary School complex, middle case.

50 - Ridgeway School

Unmet Obligations...

50 - 51 "We have argued that the social exchanges of schooling are origin around distinct sets of role relations. Each participant maintains an understanding of his or her obligations and holds some expectations about the role obligations of the other. Building and sustain trust requires that the expectations that participants hold for others must subsequently be validated in the discernment of intentions that they make about the behavior of others. Relational trust atrophies when individual perceive that others are not acting in ways that are consistent with their understanding of the other's role obligations. Moreover, the fulfillment of obligations involves not only doing the right thing, but also doing it for what are the perceived to be the right reasons and in ways that are viewed as personally respectful."

51 - [Humiliation story] - one teacher punished misbehaving students stand in the wastebasket - message - you are trash...resulting in weak collegial regard.....

53...The conflict at Ridgeway was grounded in a pervasive distrust of the intentions of others. This distrust constrained all parties from looking beyond narrow self-concerns to the broader interests of children. Individual affronts were perceived first and then used to justify personal reactions. Taken as a whole, role expectations among adults in the school community were wildly misaligned.

84...The crushing poverty and limited education of parents at Holiday created a severe imbalance in [parent] power relationship with teachers...The Holiday School faculty acknowledged this parental vulnerability and acted vigorously to relieve it.

89 - next effort...examining the link between relational trust and academic performance...combining theory, field observations, empirical results from pilot research. Survey items on respect, trust and caring in different role relationships...Teachers asked to assess whether they felt mutual respect in their relationships with parents...

97...Trust relations are easier to maintain between parents and teachers in schools with more stable student populations...

101 - Assessing how much are children learning while they are enrolled in school and are gains improving over time?

111 - "In general, the compo sit trust measure is highly predictive of school productivity trends. Schools reporting strong positive trust levels in 1994 were three times more likely to be categorized eventually as improving in reading and mathematics than those with every weak trust reports....Perhaps most telling of all, schools with weak trust reports in both 1994 and 1997 had virtually no chance of showing improvement in either reading or mathematics."

Refining the any with Hierarchical Multivariate Linear Model...allowing various student composition and school context factors might link to changing productivity.

114 - The relational trust reports from teachers in 1994 strongly differentiate between schools eventually classified as improving and nonimproving...That is schools that sent relations from 1991 to 1994 were more likely to show academic productivity."

115... "As a social resource for school improvement, relational trust facilitates the development of beliefs, values, organization routines, and individual behaviors that instrumentally affect students' engagement and learning.

116...relational trust does not directly affect student learning. Rather, trust fosters a set of organizational conditions, some structural and other social psychological, that make it more conducive for individuals to indicate and sustain the kinds of activities necessary to affect productivity improvements...relational trust reduces the sense of vulnerability that school professionals experience as they are asked to take on the new and uncertain tasks associated with reform...relational trust should facilitate teachers' efforts both to innovate in their classroom in order to develop more effective instruction and to reach out to parents in order to deepen their support around students' engagement in learning...relational trust facilitates problem solving.

122...Benefits...collective decision making with broad teacher buy-in occurs more readily in schools with strong relational trust...reform initiatives are more likely to be deeply engaged by school participants and to diffuse broadly across the organization...This is different from the service implimentation or even outright resistance to change observed in Ridgeway and Thomas schools...trust is a lubricant...shared control and internal accountability

125...Each party in these role sets maintains an understanding of the personal obligations and holds some expectations about the obligations of the other....synchronized expectations.

126...
1. relational trust is grounded in social respect...without interpersonal respect, social exchanges may literally cease as participants typically choose to exit demeaning situations, if they can...
2. Personal regard..
3. Personal integrity.

128...no one person exercises absolute power...structural interdependence

135...May veteran teachers have come to view their students' needs as so overwhelming, and the larger school system as so resistant to change, that resignation becomes the only survival strategy...

136..."Relational trust thus is not something that can be achieved simply through some workshop, retreat, or form of sensitivity training, although all of these can be helpful. Rather, relational trust is forged through social exchanges...137 - Trust grows over time through exchanges where the expectations held for others are validated in action." [walking the talk]

145...The three cases were drawn from a larger field study involving intensive work in twelve elementary schools over a three-year period.. The design consisted of interviews, school and classroom observations, focus groups, and document collection.

NEW ONLINE JOURNAL: Studies in Language and Capitalism
First Issue: November 2006

Editors:
John E Richardson, Loughborough University, UK, Ian Roderick, Wilfrid Laurier
University, Canada, Katie Weir, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Studies in Language and Capitalism is a peer-reviewed online journal that seeks to promote and freely distribute interdisciplinary critical inquiries into the language and meaning of contemporary capitalism, and the links between economic, social and linguistic change in the world around us. The journal is a project of the LNC Group listserv and stems from our shared concern regarding the global spread of new economic ideologies and specifically the way that neoliberals attempt to naturalise, and hence entrench, social, political and economic inequalities.

Studies in Language and Capitalism will publish substantial research articles, shorter pieces and commentary. The journal will bridge the false disciplinary boundaries erected between discourse analysis, linguistics, communications, political science, sociology, history, and other related fields. We welcome submissions not only from academics and researchers analysing language in use, but also activists in social movements who see language use as part of their concerns, journalists concerned with language and rhetoric, and social researchers in other fields where the politics of language is an issue.

Though language is foregrounded in our title, Studies in Language and Capitalism is equally interested in presenting research that addresses the roles which semiosis as a whole plays in making capitalism meaningful. Further, SLC will not limit itself to the economic field. We are also interested in publishing work that examines the ramifications of capitalism in fields such as culture, education, the mass media, politics (both national and international), public and civil society, and in relation to structured social inequalities on the basis of nationality, 'race', religion, gender and sexuality.

Possible areas of analysis include:
representations of scarcity and abundance
the state, governance and control
coercion, hegemony and pedagogy
dynamics of the public sphere
development, dependency and globalisation
historical and future conceptions of value
relationships between technology and social action
the restructuring of various public and private life domains including
education, labour, healthcare and development
neo-feudalism and neo-corporatism
the War on Terror and the Long War
people's movements and socio-economic alternatives
and a wide range of other topics.

Studies in Language and Capitalism is seeking articles for the early issues of the journal. Longer articles should be no longer than 8,000 words and shorter articles no longer than 4,000 words. A primary concern of the journal is to provide open access to knowledge on a global basis. Therefore, SLC will accept previously published papers, or drafts and revisions thereof. Items previously published must still undergo the same peer review process as all other submissions and will not necessarily be accepted for publication by SLC. Please state if your submission has been previously published, where, and whether the paper is a draft, an update, or a piece you have permission to republish. Submissions will be refereed by reviewers. All articles should be accompanied by an abstract of approximately 150 words and 5-10 keywords. The journal uses the Harvard system of referencing with the author's name and date in the text, and a full reference list in alphabetical order at the end of the article.

All submissions must be sent electronically as Microsoft Word documents to:
info at languageandcapitalism.info

Forthcoming contributions include:
- Robert de Beaugrande (Universitá del Litorale, Slovenia): Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Ideology, Methodology.
- Panayota Gounari (University of Massachusetts Boston, USA): Contesting the Cynicism of Neoliberal Discourse: Moving Towards a Language of Possibility.
- Phil Graham (Queensland University of Technology, Australia): Capitalism as 'false consciousness'
- Peter Ives (University of Winnipeg, Canada): 'Global English': Linguistic Imperialism or Practical Lingua Franca?
- Richard Jackson (University of Manchester, UK): Genealogy, Ideology, and Counter-Terrorism: Writing Wars on Terrorism from Ronald Reagan to George W.
- Bush Jr. Carmen Luke (University of Queensland, Australia): Eduscapes: Knowledge, Capital and Cultures

Dept of Social Sciences
Loughborough University
Epinal Way
Loughborough
Leicestershire LE11 3TU
UK
+44(0)1509 228874
http://www.freewebs.com/johnrichardson/
http://www.languageandcapitalism.info/

On 11/11/2006, Arran Stibbe kindly informs us:

Arran

”NO MORE EXCUSES”
ENDING ALL FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
INVITATION TO SEMINAR NOVEMBER 17TH 2006
Venue: Plans new office in Grensen 5-7
Facilitator: Bjørn Rongevær

0930: Welcome by Chief Executive Officer Sandro Parmeggiani, Plan Norway

0945: Findings from research on children in the poorest and most difficult circumstances in India, Nepal, Vietnam, Egypt, Uganda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Guatemala. What works and what has failed. By Dr. Patricia Ray

1030 Grass-root experiences - breaking the culture of silence

Preventing and responding to violence in Zambia: Plan Zambia’s Gender and Child Rights Advisor Beatrice Hamusonde, Precious Hamalengwa (14) and Judith Mungaila (13).

1130: Lunch.

1215: Example of a “best practice”

The project ”Youth as Peace Builders” from Colombia brings together youth from different parts of a political conflict, for dialogue and positive interaction. UNESCO has described it as innovative and that it should be used as a “best practice”. By Felix de Sincelejo (17) and Andres Bastidas

1300: Norway’s role in the global follow-up of the UN Study on Violence Against Children , Ambassador for Children, Ragne Birte Lund, MFA

1330: Coffee Break

1345: The Ombudsman for Children

1415: How will the Government end violence against children in Norway? By State Secretary Kjell Erik Øie, Ministry for Children and Equality

1445: Wrap up and recommendations for future work, by Ann-Kristin Vervik, Plan Norway

1500 End

Please register with Titti Aaastad by November 15th: titti.aastad @ plan-norge.no

Mvh
Ann-Kristin Vervik
Leder for Rettighetsseksjonen
Manager, Human Rights Section
Plan Norge
Wesselsgate 8
Pb. 1, St. Olavsplass
0130 Oslo

On 11/11/2006, Virginia Swain kindly sent to us the following mesage:

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:
- Coaching leaders in career and life direction.
- Coaching leaders and teams.
- Consultation and training for Reconciliation Leaders™ committed to providing conditions for a sustainable peace.
- Providing dispute resolution services for business, community, institutional, national and global challenges.

Virginia Swain, Founder and Director, Institute for Global Leadership at 508-753-4172, 508-245-6843; Learn more about Virginia Swain...

Recent Press:

"What Price Workplace Conflict? Injuring the Bottom Line" by Virginia Swain, Worcester Business Journal, October 30, 2006.

"As I See It-A Remedy for Political Incivility" by Virginia Swain, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, October 30, 2006.

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

"Dedicated Visionaries Keep Faith in World Governance." Read the Worcester Telegram & Gazette March 19, 2006.

"Learning to Lead in Harmony." Worcester Telegram and Gazette, March 14, 2005.

Local Expert Backs UN." Worcester Telegram and Gazette, December 26, 2004.

The Institute for Global Leadership Fifth Anniversary Calendar of Events in New York and Worcester

We’re excited about our fifth anniversary events!

· Join us as we celebrate graduates of the Reconciliation Leadership program and honor emerging and seasoned leaders as they dedicate their mission statements at the UN on Human Rights Day, December 8.
Introduction of Reflective Leadership courses and program Write your own mission statement to dedicate your life/work in the UN Dag Hammarskjold Meditation Room.
Leadership as Vocation Presentations
A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace by Virginia Swain click here.
To RSVP or provide contact information.

The Institute for Global Leadership began in the months following September 11, 2001 when Virginia Swain was in New York City and the United Nations. The Institute is dedicated to implement The International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) and the Millennium Development Goals. Over five years, the IGL contributed a rich history of presentations, consultations and training in new leadership models, courses and programs designed and implemented by Virginia Swain and supported by United Nations Patron Mr. Anwarul K. Chowdhury, United Nations High Representative and Under-Secretary-General, Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. We are a member of The Global Compact.

Being effective leaders in the current workplace and community reality requires different values, skills and experience than what leaders have brought to a September 10 world. The conditions of September 11th and its aftermath have caused a spiritual crisis in leadership, moral numbing, burn out from the stress of increased work hours, lack of balance and wellness in people's lives, and fear of both emotional and physical violence that escalates out of control when their fears become reality.

Fifth Anniversary Calendar of Events in New York and Worcester MA

Sunday, November 12, 9:40-10:20 a.m. Leadership as Vocation, Part I Guild Room, All Saints Church Forum, Irving and Pleasant Streets, Worcester “Leadership as Vocation, Mining a Defining Moment”. Vocational Leaders embody a philosophy of life, a way of being, where one leads by example and vision. A philosophy of life is cultivated by clarifying one’s vocational calling as well as clarifying where one can apply the gifts. Knowing one’s gifts and talents is the foundation upon which leadership can be practiced. When clarified in a vocational assessment process, one can be confident about these core talents and unique calling. That way, confidence and ego strength in one’s true power of vocation allows the courage to withstand the resistance of the world of temporal power. We will “mine a defining moment”, a cross road, where participants will learn more about their gifts and strengths and apply them to a challenge. Sunday, November 19, Leadership as Vocation, Part II,

All Saints Church, Worcester, Irving and Pleasant Streets, 9:40 a.m.-10:20 am Telling Our Stories of Vocational Leadership. Participants will share their experiences of being called to leadership. Directions at www.allsaintsworc.org. Free.

Writing a mission statement allows emerging and seasoned leaders to decide why they are here on this earth at this moment in time. As leaders develop their mission and purpose, so do they clarify and integrate their values, skills and abilities. A mission statement gives leaders the ability to focus and say “Yes” to the direction where they make a difference in the world by working and living their mission. The Enneagram and Jungian Inventory must be completed before the first group session. The Inventory is available from Aspell Associates, www.aspell.org. Call Dee Dee Aspell at 210-846-1183 to order ($15)

There are two ways to write a mission statement: in a group process for $350 or individually with Virginia Swain for $550. Each process is 10 hours. For Mission Statement Reservations, call Virginia Swain 508-753-4172, 508-245-6843. Visa/Mastercard or check payable to the Institute for Global Leadership and mailed to 32 Hill Top Circle, Worcester, MA 01609.

Group Mission Statement Process, Worcester
Saturday, November 18, 1-5 p.m.,
Wednesday and Thursday, November 29 and 30 7-9 p.m.
Two hours individually with Virginia Swain

Group Mission Statement Process, New York
Two hours individually with Virginia Swain, before December 8.
Wednesday, December 6, 9-12 and 1-6 p.m.

$350.00, 5th anniversary group special. Rate after January 1, $995.

Individual Mission Statement Process by Telephone

$550 5th anniversary individual rate. Rate after January 1, $995.

Friday, 8 December, United Nations, Human Rights Day
Briefing on the United Nations in the Millennium by United Nations Official 11:30-12:30
Lunch (on your own) 1:00-3:00 p.m. or join with others in the Delegates Dining Room (approximately $35)
UN Tour 1:45 p.m. (under $10)
Emerging and Seasoned Leaders 3:00-3:45 pm dedicate their Mission silently in the United Nations Meditation Room. General Assembly Lobby.
Friday, 8 December 4:00 pm. Ceremony to Honor Graduates of the Basic Reconciliation Leadership Programme and those who completed their Mission Statements with the Patron of the Programme, Mr. Anwarul K. Chowdhury, United Nations High Representative and Under-Secretary-General and Ms. Virginia Swain, Director, Institute for Global Leadership
Presentation of three papers: Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service™; Reconciliation as policy: A capacity-building proposal and A Leadership and Practice to Reconcile Challenges in a Post-September 11th World by Dr. Sarah Sayeed and Virginia Swain with Mr. Anwarul K. Chowdhury. Director and Founder of the Institute for Global Leadership, Virginia Swain

All day event cost is $115 includes trip from Worcester, MA to UN and registration fee and all events except for tour and meals. Deadline is November 20, 2006.

For New York non-awardees or there is a $15 registration fee. Deadline is November20, 2006.

For bus, schedule and travel reservations, call Cindi Chase at 508 987-9289; cchase@worcester.edu.

The Practice of Reflective Leadership, Thursday, 14 December, 3-6 pm $30. Worcester. Participants will be introduced to the personal competencies of this new breed of leaders; introspection; listening skills; clarity of one’s own needs and agenda; balance and wellness in one’s daily life; giving feed back to others in a way that is not alienating. Participants are introduced to a foundation of knowledge of core gifts and strengths. These leaders step off the treadmill by building personal time first in their daily lives. They learn to listen more effectively, reflect on their roles and the latest business practices to learn new competencies. Reflective Leaders are practical idealists who facilitate trusting, supportive environments to address a challenge while keeping bottom line needs in mind. Reflective Leadership courses and program

Leadership as Vocation, Monday, January 8, 2007. First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester, 7:30 p.m. http://www.firstunitarian.com/ See November 12 for description. (Free)

January 2007: A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace. For more information on the book, click here.

“Because I have a certainty of what I am being led to do with my life, I understand now how I can make a difference in the world." ­From the Introduction: A Mantle of Roses: A Woman's Journey Home to Peace

Book signing and talk at Borders Books in Boston, MA and Providence, RI. Downtown Crossing, 10-24 School Street, Boston, MA. For directions to the Borders Books, click here.

142 Providence Place, Providence, RI. For directions to the Borders Books, click here.

February-May 2007 New! Reflective Leadership courses and program

To RSVP or provide contact information

For more information, call Virginia Swain 508-753-4172, 508-245-6843.

From Virginia Swain, Founder and Director

“There is a spiritual and moral crisis in leadership. More is needed of us to reconcile people and systems to their potential, develop a vision with a broad world view, offering emerging and seasoned leaders reflection time and resources to discover their greatness. The need to discover greatness is not to make them egotistical, but to give them the ego strength to support and trust their God-given core gifts, talents and special calling. Our society values telling people what is wrong with them rather than what is good and true. As people themselves take the time to receive the gifts they generously have given to others, they develop the ego strength to deal with the difficult challenges of a post-September 11th world. . In the Institute’s programs, people are introduced to what they can accomplish to address the need for human development as a way to offer resources for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. (2001-2010) and the Millennium Development Goals.”

© The Institute for Global Leadership

Virginia Swain, Director
Institute for Global Leadership
32 Hill Top Circle
Worcester, MA 01609
508-753-4172 (office) 508-245-6843 (cell)
www.global-leader.org

DIGNITY INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY NEWSBULLETIN - November 2006

Dignity News
* Human Rights in the Schools - Alcochete Resolution Passed
* Learning about Learning
* Rising Activities

Forthcoming Events – Highlights
* Reform of International Institutions - An International Conference
* Humiliation and Violent Conflict – 2006 Workshop
* Assembly of the Poor and Discriminated - National Conference of Dalit Organisation (NACDOR)
* Recent Trends of the Supreme Court Concerning Rights of People – A Panel Discussion

DIGNITY NEWS

 *** Human Rights in the Schools – Alcochete Resolution Passed - Following over two years of work in the primary schools in Alcochete, Portugal, where Dignity Secretariat was previously based, the town council recently passed a resolution to put human rights day and the activities surrounding it on its official calendar. The resolution is a landmark for all parties concerned. The seed that was sown by the Group of Schools in Alcochete and Dignity International can now flourish and be sustained in the local context under local leadership. See the full text of the resolution (http://www.dignityinternational.org/dg/RC/Dignitydocs/2006/Alcohete_proposal.doc).
The classroom activities for 2006 will soon be underway with a joint celebration scheduled for Thursday 7 December. The animation group Anime will use puppet theatre and build on last year’s story of Tito and Nini´s adventure in the Land of Human Rights.
Paula Dias, responsible for the Education Sector in the Municipality of Alcochete said “ …it is a pleasure to be partner of such an important project and that December 10 is now part of the official calendar. We will do what we can to encourage human rights in the schools and to celebrate human rights day – every year!”

*** Learning About Learning – From 30-31 October, Dignity International’s Executive Director Aye Aye Win participated in a conference organised by Oxfam-Novib entitled “Learning about Learning” that took place in the Netherlands. This is the second annual conference organised by KIC, which is Oxfam family’s knowledge infrastructure project. KIC was started in 2005 as a pilot to boost knowledge exchange and collaborative learning with and between counterparts. This year’s conference took stock of lessons learned by Oxfam partners in KIC projects as well as lessons learnt elsewhere. Learning from practical experiences and further developing and promoting approaches that work were the topics of the two day exercise.
In her opening remarks, Sylvia Borren, Chief of Oxfam Novib set the tone of the conference by saying, “…we should be honest with ourselves and admit that sometimes we do make mistakes in our work. It is therefore as important to learn from our mistakes and bad practices as well as from good and new practices”.
Access the KIC internet portal. (http://www.oxfamkic.org)
Back to back with the conference, Oxfam Novib also organised a one day workshop on Rights Based Approaches where a group of NOVIB partners shared their practices and reflected on dilemmas faced in HRBA works well as attempted to develop tools effective HRBA programming. “I feel we took a few modest steps forward at this workshop” says Nuria Pena of NOVIB, one of the organisers of the workshop.

*** Rising Activities – For the first time in history of Dignity International, there are overlapping core activities in two different continents of the world. First a regional training programme in Quito (2-9 November) organised with the host organisation Centre for Economic and Social Rights, Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, Mexico based Equipo Pueblo, and Social Watch. Dignity is represented by its Programme Associate Simone Andrade and the activity comes to a close today 9 November.
In full swing now several thousands miles away is the Training of Community Trainers (7-11 November) as part of the “Get Up Stand Up – Stand Up for Your Human Rights” Project which is being organised with Hakijamii Trust of Kenya. Dignity is represented by Jerald Joseph, Advisor for the Capacity Building Programme. This will be followed by Training for Community Theatre Groups (13-14 December).
“I am very pleased to see the rise in activities and partnerships. May the activities and partnerships flourish. May we also be a few steps closer towards social change” says Ton Waarts, Chairman of Dignity International.
Further reports about the above programmes in next issue of the News Bulletin.

OTHER NEWS

*** A New Guinness World Record - Over 20 Million People “Stand Up Against Poverty” - On 15-16 October, 23,542,614 people, in over eighty countries around the world set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to “Stand Up Against Poverty”. The Stand Up record attempt, an initiative of the United Nations Millennium Campaign in partnership with the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) was set in time for the United Nations International Day for Poverty Eradication on 17 October. See Full Inter Press Service Article (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35138)
* Madhya Pradesh tops Guinness World Record for "Stand Up Against Poverty" - India leads with 9,731,983 - The people of Madhya Pradesh have topped the world in creating a new Guinness World Record. A whopping 3.3 million residents of the state joined the "Stand Up Against Poverty" event this week, which is the largest figure from a single region across the world.
Government departments, educational institutions and social organizations held the "Stand Up" events across 42 districts of the state. A total of 3,327,399 people stood up while participating in the event. This figure is almost one-third of the total number of people who stood up across India.
Speaking on the worldwide Stand Up, an official statement from Guinness issued in London commented: "By the time we get all the figures in, it will be the largest single coordinated movement of people in the history of the Guinness World Records."
* Trade unions join world record attempt to Stand Up Against Poverty - Brussels, 16 October 2006 (ICFTU Online): As part of the Global Month of Action of GCAP, on 15-16 October workers world wide joined the global attempt to set an official Guinness World Record for the biggest number of people ever to Stand Up Against Poverty. Trade unions are involved in this campaign, and in the world record attempt, to draw attention to the trade union values - economic and social justice - that underpin the call for more and better aid, trade justice and cancelling debt. The Stand Up world record attempt was held in a 24-hour period from 11am on Sunday 15 October to 11am on Monday 16 October. Some people took part from their workplaces whilst others joined activities planned in their local area. For more information, see Full Article (http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991225123&Language=EN)

*** No Real Commitments in FAO´s "Food Summit Plus 10" - The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concluded its 32nd session on Saturday (4 November) by adopting a report that illustrates the process of the session but says little on tangible commitments by governments to improve food security, particularly for the poor. It was a dismal end to what was essentially the World Food Summit - Ten Years Later. See Full Choike Article (http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1799.html)

*** Give the fight against poverty the political drive it deserves! On the occasion of the fifth European Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion that took place in Tampere, Finland on 16-17 October, European Anti Poverty Network shared with EU and Government officials its initial reflections on the recent publication of the new ‘streamlined’ Reports for 2006-2008 under the Open method of coordination on social protection and social inclusion (OMC).
“Six years after the launch of this process, we stand at a crossroads, looking back on past commitments and achievements, facing the ambitions and expected goals ahead and nevertheless confronted with the daily reality that officially 72 million people in the EU are still facing the burden of poverty and social exclusion, with little evidence of significant improvements in this situation” reminded Fintan Farrell, Director of the European Anti Poverty Network.
Read EAPN full statement (http://www.eapn.org/code/en/publ_detail.asp?pk_id_content=2128). A full report will be produced in November.

*** Finalising Plans for the 2007 WSF - Human Rights Human Dignity Caucus Met in Nairobi – A planning meeting of the Human Rights and Human Dignity Caucus of the World Social Forum took place at the offices of Mazingira Institute in Nairobi from 22-23 October. The aim of the meeting was to finalise plans for the Caucus, as well as to assign responsibilities for the organisation of the various global themes that have been identified earlier. Humphrey Otieno and David Mwaniki from the Nairobi People's Settlement Network also attended the meeting. Click for Further Information. (http://www.dgroups.org/groups/Aprodev-FN/docs/Meetingnairobifinal3010.doc?ois=no)

*** Netherlands Under Scrutiny by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – The 37 th Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is in full swing (6-24 November). During this session the Committee is considering State Party reports from Albania, El Salvador, Tajikistan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Netherlands.
Piet de Klerk, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, addressing the Committee, reported that all the obligations under the Covenant had been adequately incorporated into national legislation.
In questions to the delegation, Committee Experts raised various issues, including what was the practice of the courts, in particular the Superior Court, for determining the applicability of the Covenant, and whether economic, social and cultural rights were given equal importance with civil and political rights in this context; the implementation of the human rights approach in the Netherlands's development cooperation policy and what qualitative changes had been made in this regard since the adoption of this approach; the issue of domestic violence and whether a specific Action Plan had been implemented and what impact it had had on the phenomenon; and the right to education from the perspective of young people, including the right to be educated under safe conditions, and what was being done to keep control of the situation in the context of this right to safety.
Read Full Press Release (http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/990D2DDAC35CA1C4C1257220004D88CE?opendocument).

*** International Civil Society Forum: an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Lisbon: 12th-13th October 2006- After 2 days of intense discussion and reflection, the NGO’s and international experts present at the Forum, reasserted the need to pursue the debate over the drafting process of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Forum was organized by CIDESC, the Lisbon based International Centre for Economic Social and Cultural Rights. Read More (http://www.esc-rights.org)

PUBLICATIONS

*** The Right Not to Be Poor - The Social Watch Research Team has published "The Right to not be Poor: POVERTY AS A VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS". This occasional publication compiles articles written by Social Watch and other NGO networks that address poverty as a multiple violation of Human Rights. Read The Publication. (http://www.socialwatch.org/en/informeImpreso/cuadernosOcasionales.htm)

*** "Achieving Women's Economic and Social Rights: Strategies and Lessons from Experience" A New Report by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)
In 2005 AWID asked over 50 activists working in diverse settings all over the world what strategies they found most useful in their efforts to improve economic and social rights for women? What were the greatest challenges they were encountering in their work? Did the ESCR framework actually fulfill its promise in presenting them with a new and more effective approach to their work? This report synthesizes and analyzes some important examples and lessons that emerged through this investigative process. Profiled here are interesting and instructive case studies and examples, strategies for success and lessons from experience in translating "rights on paper" to ensuring their concrete implementation in women's lives. For More Information and Report (http://www.awid.org/go.php?pg=escr_report)

*** Global Employment Trends for Youth 2006 - released 30 October 2006, estimates that at least 400 million decent and productive employment opportunities will be needed in order to reach the full productive potential of today's youth.
Youth are more than three times as likely to be unemployed as adults and the relative disadvantage is more pronounced in developing countries, where youth represent a significantly higher proportion of the labour force than in developed economies, says the report.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

*** Urgent Action Alert in Mexico - HLRN has received disturbing reports from its office in Mexico City of a violent police military invasion of the city of Oaxaca. With President Fox´s approval a 4000 strong army of troops were given orders to seize the city and violently remove barricades and sit-ins of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). Urgent action is requested immediately. READ MORE (http://www.laneta.apc.org/laneta/interior.shtml?sh_itm=e5b34d2cbd1b4e74805ba089a40a93b3)

*** Registration for WSF 2007 is open! - Registration for organizations, self-organized activities and individual participants is already available for the WSF 2007, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from January 20 to 25, 2007. Attention: the deadline to register activities is November 30 th , 2006 . Don’t leave it for the last minute! Further INFORMATION. (http://wsf2007.org/%20)

FORTHCOMING EVENTS – HIGHLIGHTS

*** Reform of International Institutions – This international conference will be held from 20-21 November at the headquarters of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. The conference is organized by the Secretariat of the World Forum of Civil Society Networks - UBUNTU (http://www.ubuntu.upc.edu) and the World Campaign for In-depth Reform of the System of International Institutions (http://www.reformcampaign.net) . For further information please contact the conference secretariat at josep.xercavins@ubuntu.upc.edu
*** Humiliation & Violent Conflict - 2006 Workshop - This workshop will take place at Columbia University in New York from 14-15, 2006 - The workshop will be convened by SIPA – Center for International Conflict Resolution on behalf of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) project of the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN)
The Research Workshop is made possible by a generous contribution of the Slifka Foundation (please see the HumanDHS' Work: Objectives and Evidence of Success (http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/SlifkaObjectivesEvidenceSuccess.pdf), developed in cooperation between HumanDHS and ABSF) READ MORE (http://www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/annualmeeting08.php)
*** Assembly of the Poor and Discriminated - National Conference of Dalit Organisation (NACDOR) is organizing conference on “Assembly of Poor and Discriminated” on 11 November 2006, from 4.00 pm to 7 PM at Exhibition Grounds, Jawaharlal Lal Nehru Stadium, in New Delhi. Speakers include Prof Amit Bhaduri, renowned Economist, and Minar Pimple, Deputy Director, UN Millennium Campaign, Susheela Jeitlin, Arjun Dangle, Prof.Jean Dreze, Development Economist Grass root leaders and the affected people.

*** Recent Trends of the Supreme Court Concerning Rights of People – A Panel Discussion is being organized on 11 November from 12.30 to 3.30 by the India Centre for Human Rights and Law on the recent trends of Supreme Court concerning rights of people. Sub-themes include Economic Policies, rights affecting urban and rural poor and Accountability and Transparency of Supreme Court.
The aim of the panel discussion will be to understand the recent trends of the Supreme Court in matters pertaining to peoples rights, and to find ways and means to strategise against this.
For further information, please contact India Centre at documentation@ichrl.org

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

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

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CONTENTS

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

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DEMOCRACY ALERTS/APPEALS

1. Human Rights Organizations Demand Justice for Slain Russian Journalist Anna Politkovskaya
On October 7, Anna Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old investigative reporter for Moscow’s newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was found shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow. Politkovskaya was best known for criticizing President Vladimir Putin and for her reports on human rights abuses in Chechnya. Many Russians believe that her murder was a contract killing, and her newspaper has offered a $1 million reward to solve her murder. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Moscow have opened a murder investigation, and President Putin and the Duma speaker, Boris Gryzlov, have pledged to hold thorough investigations of the case. Reporters expect that there will be international pressure to solve this case in a transparent way.

There have already been a number of statements and demonstrations in Politkovskaya’s memory across Russia and Europe. Reporters Without Borders, for one, has started an online petition campaign, demanding the creation of an international commission of enquiry to establish the truth about her death. Also, the Chechnya Advocacy Network has initiated a letter writing campaign demanding a full and honest investigation into the murder. Among demonstrations in Politkovskaya’s honor that occurred across Russia and around the world, one held on October 16 in the Russian Republic of Ingushetia stands out as it was violently dispelled by local police. Magomed Mutsolgov, head of the NGO, Mashr, along with many others, were tried and sentenced in connection to this demonstration. Mutsolgov was fined for violating legislation on organizing demonstrations, even though he had informed the city authorities in writing beforehand of his intention to stage one.

Because Anna Politkovskaya was threatened, jailed, forced into exile, and poisoned during her career, her case underlines the dangers critical journalists face today in Russia. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Russia as the third deadliest country in the world for journalists in the past 15 years, behind only Algeria and Iraq. Since 1992, a total of 42 journalists have died in Russia, and the vast majority of these cases remain unresolved by Russian authorities.
To sign the Reporters Without Borders petition, go to: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19163
To join the Chechnya Advocacy Network writing campaign, go to:
http://www.chechnyaadvocacy.org/APletter.html
To learn more about other unsolved murders of journalists in Russia, go to:
http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/russia_murders/russia_murders.html

2. In Memoriam: Kazakh Human Rights Activist and Scholar Nurbulat Massanov
On October 5, Nurbulat Massonov of Kazakhstan passed away at the age of 53 due to an apparent reaction to a food allergy. Massanov was a human rights activist, historian, and scholar of Kazakh history and national identity. He attended the last two World Movement Assemblies in Durban, South Africa, and Istanbul, Turkey. Massanov was always willing to help other people. He was frequently confronted with situations when activists he knew needed help, like fellow WMD participants Sergei Duvanov and Slava Mammedov, when they were exiled, jailed, or pressured in various ways, and he was always the first to offer support and assistance and to advocate on their behalf. For the last several years, Massanov was a visiting professor abroad because he was kept from local teaching positions for political reasons. Most recently, he had founded a new institute on the problems of cultural legacy of nomads and had been running Club Polyton, a lively discussion club dedicated to fostering political discussion among local activists and visiting dignitaries in spite of government censorship. With Club Polyton, Massanov strove for tolerance of varying points of view, the development of a brave and active civil society, the development of democratic ideals, and the wide involvement of youth in political discussions in Kazakhstan. Previously, he was an academic secretary in the Department of Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences in Kazakhstan, a reader in the Kazakh State University, a co-founder of the International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, a member of the governing board of the "Soros-Kazakhstan" foundation, a co-chair of the Forum of Democratic Forces of Kazakhstan, and head of the Kazakhstani Association of Political Science. He leaves behind a wife, a son, and two daughters.
To visit Club Polyton’s active Web site, go to: http://www.club.kz/index.php?lang=en

3. US Campaign for Burma Demands Urgent Action in Eastern Burma
The US Campaign for Burma has begun a “30 Days of Action” effort to demand UN Security Council action to address the destruction of over 3,000 villages in Eastern Burma by the ruling military junta. Over 500,000 people are currently internally displaced in Eastern Burma, many barely surviving the ravages of disease and military violence. The US Campaign for Burma’s goal is to have people from all over the world send 3,000 individually signed postcards to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanding that he immediately call for strong UN Security Council action on Burma’s military dictators. The US Campaign for Burma will provide postcards to those interested in joining the effort. The Campaign also asks that individuals reach out to their local communities to provide information on the situation, collect signatures on the provided postcards, and write op-ed pieces for their local papers.
Go to: http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/action/action.html

4. CIVICUS Condemns the Closure of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society
On October 13, CIVICUS released a statement condemning the closure of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), and asks individuals to write letters to President Putin appealing to the Russian Government to respect the freedom of association for civil society organizations. RCFS is a prominent human rights organization in Russia that has been critical of government policy in Chechnya and has published reports alleging torture, abductions, and murder of civilians by government forces. RCFS was liquidated on the grounds that it had violated the recently amended Federal Law on Public Associations under which it is illegal for an NGO to be headed by a person with a criminal record. The director of RCFS, Stanislav Dmitrievskii, was handed a two-year suspended sentence in February after he was found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred; the charge was condemned by rights groups as politically motivated. The courts also accused RCFS of changing addresses without notifying the appropriate authorities, holding an unsanctioned march in April, and refusing to remove the word “Russian” from its name.
To see the CIVICUS press release, go to: http://www.civicus.org/csw/RUSSIA_Appeal_13.10.06_English.htm
To send a letter in English, go to: http://www.civicus.org/csw/RUSSIA_19.10.06_Template-English.doc
To send a letter in Russian, go to: http://www.civicus.org/csw/RUSSIA_19.10.06_Template-Russian.doc

5. Web Site Blocked by Bahrain Government Ahead of Elections
The Web site of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), bahrainrights.org, has been blocked by Batelco, Bahrain's main Internet service provider. The BCHR is especially concerned that the latest moves may be part of an attempt to stifle criticism of the government ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, due to be held in less than a month. The Center demands that the Web site be unblocked and renews its call for the government to end its long-standing practice of censoring the Internet for political reasons. The BCHR believes that the move is an attempt by the government to prevent discussion or awareness of the recent Bandargate scandal, in which several government officials have been accused of fomenting sectarianism and planning to unfairly influence the upcoming parliamentary elections. Aside from the BCHR's Web site, it should be noted that at least 15 other Bahraini news and discussion Web sites are already blocked by Batelco. The BCHR calls upon the government to immediately unblock the BCHR Web site, as well as all other blocked sites, and permanently end its practice of censoring the Internet; lift the press gag on the Bandargate scandal and guarantee the freedom of speech on all issues ahead of the upcoming elections; and launch a transparent investigation into the allegations of the Bandargate scandal and punish all officials who are found guilty.
Go to: http://www.bahrainrights.org/ref06102600

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

6. International IDEA Publishes Handbook on Democracy, Conflict, and Human Security
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) recently published a new handbook, “Democracy, Conflict and Human Security: Pursuing Peace in the 21st Century.” Using case studies from Bosnia, India, Liberia, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Sri Lanka, the handbook covers how democracies can deliver social and economic rights, include all citizens in decision making, and reduce poverty. It also suggests ways that democratic practice can contribute to the management of contemporary conflicts and promote the realization of security and development objectives. The handbook is unique in that it focuses on the linkages between democratization and human security, while offering entry points for improved social justice. The key findings in the publication include: democratization must be linked to meeting human needs and reducing inequality; democratic systems must evolve from technical into substantive democracies; and the viability of democracy will be influenced by the legitimacy it achieves and its ability to respond to human needs.
Go to: http://www.idea.int/publications/dchs/dchs_vol1.cfm

7. Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Calls for Article Submissions
The Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) is asking for article submissions for its new publication, entitled “Quarterly Review of the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,” to be released February 2007. The journal will promote reflection on human rights and humanitarian laws, policy and action for democracy, conflict transformation, and peace building through contemporary international law. The Review will offer a forum for discussing representative democracy and humanitarian affairs as well as analysis of the causes and characteristics of conflicts. Submitted manuscripts should relate to international human rights, humanitarian law, international law, transitional justice, conflict transformation, peace building, policy, and/or action. Articles must have footnotes, be in English, and only be submitted to IHRHL. Articles should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words, although shorter contributions may be included under the “Notes and Comments” section of the journal.
To submit an article, send an attachment in an email to: ihrhl_review@yahoo.com or to quarterlyreview_ihrhl@yahoo.com.

8. African Transitional Justice Research Network Publishes First Newsletter
The African Transitional Justice Research Network (ATJRN) based in South Africa has published its first electronic newsletter. The newsletter serves as a forum through which the ATJRN can share information on and among African transitional justice researchers. It includes updates on regional transitional justice developments, a digest of new developments in the ATJRN, and information on capacity building workshops. ATJRN welcomes any comments or suggestions regarding the newsletter through emails to info@transitionaljustice.org.za.
Go to: http://www.transitionaljustice.org.za/docs/atjrnvol1.pdf

9. ARDA Publishes Book on Asia’s Leading Freedom Fighters
The Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA) recently published a book, entitled “Those Who Dare: Voices of Asia's Democrats.” It is a compilation of stories of Asia's leading freedom fighters who describe and analyze their confrontations with authoritarian governments. The book is a celebration of the creative power of ideas when they are energized by the acts of those who stand up and fight for their fellow citizens.
Go to: http://www.asiademocracy.org/content_view.php?section_id=1&content_id=689

10. Online Community of Zimbabwean Activists Updates Web Site
Kubutana, an online community of Zimbabwean activists, has updated its Web site, which now contains over 7,000 articles. The Web site also now contains interviews with famous Zimbabweans, including filmmaker and writer Tsitsi Dangarembga; artist, activist, and educator Heeten Bhagat; civil society activist Catherine Makoni; and journalist Percy Zvomuya. There are a number of active blogs on the Web site concerning the current issues of voter apathy, domestic violence, and the brutal suppression of dissent in Zimbabwe. Kubatana also provides a list of opportunities to get involved in human rights and civil society activism.
Go to: http://www.kubatana.net/

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

11. IPCRI Holds Conference on Education for Peace and Democracy
On November 19-23, 2006, The Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) is convening an international conference on education for peace and democracy. The conference will bring together peace and democracy educators, curricula writers, encounter facilitators, peace studies practitioners, conflict resolution practitioners, human rights educators, mediators, and activists from academia, the research sector, governmental and community organizations, and others from Israel, Palestine and beyond, with a special emphasis on other crisis regions. The conference will serve as a meeting ground for dialogue and mutual learning in the field of peace and democracy education from the viewpoint of academia and from the field of practitioners. The conference will also provide an opportunity to build connections across multi-disciplinary sectors. It will be held in Antalya, Turkey.
For more information go to: www.ipcri.org/peaceeducation/index.html
To see the conference schedule, go to: www.ipcri.org/peaceeducation/docs/program.html
To register, go to: http://www.ipcri.org/peaceeducation/docs/registration_form_2006.doc

ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR

12. Center for International Private Enterprise Releases Fall “Overseas Report”
On October 19, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) released its fall 2006 “Overseas Report.” This report features, among other items, articles on making democracy deliver in the Philippines, a new computer-based simulation program used to facilitate dialogue and decision-making by Iraqi elected officials, improving corporate governance in Palestine, and groundbreaking polls on bribery and barriers to doing business in Yemen. The center spread features CIPE’s work in Africa, including an article on an important anti-corruption toolkit released by a CIPE partner in Mozambique.
Go to: http://www.cipe.org/publications/overseas/pdf/OR_Fall_2006_final.pdf

ELECTIONS

13. Human Rights Information & Training Center Issues Report on Media Coverage of Yemeni Election Campaigns
The Human Rights Information & Training Center (HRITIC) has issued a report on the national media’s coverage of Yemeni elections held on September 20. HRITIC finds that the national media’s coverage was unbalanced and unfair, and therefore favored the incumbent, President Saleh. Media monitors claim that the media showed favoritism towards the incumbent not only through the content of the articles, but by giving him bigger headlines, better photos, and providing more cameras at his election rallies. HRITIC criticizes the media for not providing voters with balanced coverage of all candidates and for violating the elections law. HRITIC also criticizes the Supreme Elections and Referendum Commission for not providing a legal framework in the “Election Manual” to ensure balanced media coverage.
Go to: http://www.hritic.org

14. ACHRS Organizes Workshop in Bahrain for Elections Monitoring
In cooperation with the Supreme Commission for Elections, the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) organized a workshop in Bahrain for domestic election observers. The two-day workshop is an activity of the Arab Election Network. The program included a training session on international standards and monitoring, the role of the media in elections monitoring, the process of elections monitoring, and the rules of observers’ behavior.
Go to: http://www.achrs.org/english/CenterNewsView.asp?CNID=231

HUMAN RIGHTS

15. Southeast Asia Human Rights Defenders Forum to be Held in November
The first Southeast Asia Human Rights Defenders Forum (SEA-HRDF) will be held at La Parranda Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 14-18. Under the theme of “Promoting People-Centered Regional Cooperation: Strengthening the Role of Human Rights Defenders in Southeast Asia,” the forum will be co-hosted by FORUM-ASIA and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) in cooperation with the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC). The forum will provide a venue for dialogue and discussion on practical strategies to strengthen the role of human rights defenders in the implementation of the right to adequate housing and secure livelihood, and freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement, and access to information. More than 50 participants are expected to attend.
For more information, contact Ms. Niza Concepcion at niza@forum-asia.org or Miwa Igawa at miwa@forum-asia.org.

16. Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Uganda Issues a Report on Civil Liberties
The Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) in Uganda has recently released a Report on Civil Liberties. The report covers the condition of human rights in Uganda from January to July 2006. Among many other issues, the report addresses the treatment of detainees and conditions in places of detention, including the treatment of juvenile offenders. In preparing the report, FHRI visited various places of detention, interviewed detainees and wardens, and discussed the findings with concerned authorities. In the report, FHRI makes several recommendations to the Ugandan Government and to the Parliament to improve the quality of human rights in Uganda.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/nov06-1.pdf, http://www.wmd.org/documents/nov06-2.pdf

17. Human Rights Education Associates Offers Long-Distance Courses for Early 2007
Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) organizes specialized courses via distance education for human rights advocates and educators, staff of social justice organizations, and development professionals. For early 2007, HREA courses will include: The United Nations Human Rights System: Transitioning from the Commission on Human Rights to the Human Rights Council; Einfuehrung in die Menschenrechtsbildung (Introduction in Education on Human Rights); Incidencia Politica para Avanzar los Derechos Humanos (Political Struggle for the Advancement of Human Rights); Human Rights Advocacy; Research and Evaluation in the NGO Sector’s Rights-Based Programming; and Human Rights Litigation.
Go to: http://hrea.org/courses/index.html

18. HURIDOCS Launches Search Engine for Human Rights Materials
The Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, International (HURIDOCS) has launched a new Web search engine for human rights materials called HuriSearch. HuriSearch is intended to provide human rights professionals with a powerful Web research tool, to increase the visibility of information published by human rights organizations, and to encourage webmasters to use data systematically, thus making human rights information searches more reliable and efficient. HuriSearch targets persons working with or interested in human rights who need powerful search tools to access up-to-date and relevant information, including human rights monitors and researchers, students and academics, diplomats and persons working in international organizations, and politicians and journalists. HuriSearch is available in English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese.
Go to: http://www.hurisearch.org

19. SAHRDC Assesses Human Rights in Singapore
According to the Singapore Democratic Party, the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) claims that money is silencing the problem of human rights in Singapore. In Singapore, citizens are not permitted to circulate newspapers, make broadcasts, hold demonstrations, or even speak to a public audience without government authorization. World Movement participant Chee Soon Juan, for one, was summoned to court in May for speaking publicly without a permit. More recently, the government banned demonstrations this September during the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Anti-poverty activists were denied entry to the main venue, which caused both the IMF and World Bank to voice disapproval. SAHRDC asserts that human rights violations continue to go ignored because of the economic interests of foreign investors, noting that there are over 7,000 multinational corporations currently invested in Singapore. SAHRDC calls on the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that such situations in states like Singapore receive the attention they deserve.
Go to: http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/articlehrf06.html

20. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Issues Political Violence Report for September
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has issued a Political Violence Report for September 2006. The report includes several cases of political violence and activism against political violence. On September 9, eight Zimbabwe National Student Union leaders were arrested while having a meeting; police arrested 107 Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members in Harare during a protest; and on September 13 police brutally assaulted Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) demonstrators. On September 17, activists on a door-to-door campaign for the election scheduled for October 7 were also reportedly attacked. On September 25, however, about 200 individuals demonstrated for a new constitution.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/nov06-3.pdf

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

21. Freedom House Launches New Online Resource on Press Freedom
Freedom House has launched a new online resource that provides information about press freedom around the world. The Web site includes global and regional pages highlighting the main trends for each year, as well as detailed historical data from the organization’s annual Freedom of the Press Survey. Other features include annual overview essays summarizing the state of global press freedom for each year since 2002, and reports and ratings for every country. The Web site also contains links to a variety of press freedom resources.
Go to: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16

22. Applications Now Being Accepted for John S. Knight Fellowships for Journalism
Stanford University is now accepting applications for the 2007-2008 John S. Knight Fellowships. The Fellowship is intended to provide journalists with a year to study and reflect, far away from newsroom deadline pressures, in the company of other accomplished journalists. The program gives outstanding mid-career journalists the chance to broaden and deepen their understanding of a changing world, in order to improve the quality of news and information reaching the public through the news media. Completed US applications must be postmarked by February 1, and completed international applications must be postmarked by December 15.
Go to: http://knight.stanford.edu/application/index.html

23. Regional Human Rights Network Petitions Against Continued Detention of Eritrean Journalists
On October 30, the chairperson of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net), Hassan Shire Sheikh, together with lawyers and other Network members in Kenya, met the Eritrean Ambassador to Kenya and presented a petition on behalf of 16 journalists who have remained under detention since 2001. The meeting was also attended by the Network Focal Point and the Independent Medical Legal Unit, as well the Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Omar Faruk. The Ambassador promised to forward the petition to his government with a recommendation for further action. The operation of private media is prohibited in Eritrea. The Network is calling upon the Eritrean government to observe all international press laws and re-open media channels as a way of facilitating the checks and balances necessary for democratic governance.
For more information, send emails to: ehahrdp@yahoo.ca, hshire@yorku.ca

LABOR UNIONS AND WORKER RIGHTS

24. The Laogai Research Foundation to Release Laogai Handbook 2005-2006
The Laogai Research Foundation, an organization established to gather information and spread public awareness on the Chinese prison system known as Laogai, has announced the release of its Laogai Handbook 2005-2006. The Laogai Handbook is the world’s only independent and publicly available catalog of China’s Laogai, the most extensive and covert network of forced labor camps in the world. This edition, which incorporates information uncovered through September 2006, identifies 1,045 camps in operation and many others that have been dismantled, merged, or moved. Yet this number is only an estimate and most likely many more exist. The Chinese government considers national statistics about the Laogai to be state secrets. The handbook will be made available in mid-December and can be pre-ordered. Handbooks from previous years are available online.
To pre-order a copy, contact the Laogai Research Foundation: laogai@laogai.org
To read previous handbooks, go to: http://www.laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2293

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH

25. Youth Activists Around the World Celebrate World Youth Day for Democracy
In commemoration of the World Youth Movement for Democracy’s World Youth Day, which is celebrated each year on October 18, dozens of groups in various countries, such as Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Palestine, and Taiwan, organized youth workshops, conducted dialogues between students and representatives of national and local government institutions, and studied youth perspectives on democracy. World Youth Day focuses on highlighting what youth are already doing in their communities, both to increase recognition of diverse youth contributions to democracy building and to inspire new activities and collaboration in the future. The Youth Movement's secretariat highlighted some Youth Day activities on its Web site. To celebrate World Youth Day, the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections-Partners of Democratic Development (NAYMOTE-PADD) based in Liberia organized a series of activities emphasizing the role of youths in the democratic process. NAYMOTE-PADD took outstanding youth leaders to school campuses, where they talked to students about various topics of importance to democracy, including participation and leadership. These events provided students with the opportunity to pose questions to the various speakers. NAYMOTE-PADD also recently issued its newsletter, “Partners,” for July-September 2006. This issue highlights NAYMOTE-PADD interventions on civic education and democracy promotion in Liberia. It includes grant information, a story about a recent cultural exchange, information on recent elections, coverage of various recent activities, and a list of upcoming events.
To see World Youth Day activities, go to: www.ymd.youthlink.org/ymd/launchday.html
To see the NAYMOTE-PADD newsletter, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/nov06-5.pdf

26. World Youth Movement for Democracy Releases November Newsletter
The World Youth Movement for Democracy has issued its online newsletter for November. This issue contains updates on activities, including World Youth Day events; news concerning Zimbabwe, China, Chile, and Russia; a list of upcoming events for the month of November; a list of opportunities for grants, funding, and participation; and highlighted articles and reports from youth and democracy groups in Africa and Europe. Those interested in posting new information in the World Youth Movement’s online newsletters can send items by email to wymd@youthlink.org.
Go to: http://www.ymd.youthlink.org/ymd/november06newsletter.html

27. Arab Democracy Network Issues Report on Establishing a Youth Wing
The Arab Democracy Network (ADN) has issued a report, “Perception of the Palestinian Youth to Establish a Youth Wing for the Arab Democracy Network,” which is a result of core group meetings held in October in the West Bank and Gaza strip. Over 200 men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 attended the meetings. The core groups met in seven different locations and were asked to consider questions relating to what democracy means, the measure of youth tendency towards democracy, and youth reaction to forming the Arab Youth Democracy Network (AYDN). Focus group participants reached consensus that Panorama Center, as the secretariat of the ADN, should continue its joint efforts to cooperate with Arab and civil society institutions in implementing the recommendations listed throughout the report. They also asserted that additional studies, conferences, workshops and operational activities and projects should be undertaken to establish a strong and reputable youth network that will promote and support rehabilitation and democracy-building efforts in Palestine and the Arab region.
Go to: http://www.wmd.org/documents/nov06-6.pdf

28. Women’s Learning Partnership Announces Young Women’s Learning Partnership Initiative
The Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) has announced a new initiative focused on developing the leadership skills of young girls between the ages of 12 and 15. The Young Women’s Learning Partnership (YWLP) initiative, coordinated by Asma Khader of Jordan, will help develop the talents and skills of emerging leaders and facilitate intergenerational dialogue and cooperation, thereby expanding and strengthening young women's active participation in the women's movement. The initiative will focus on engaging young girls in a leadership learning process that is participatory, inclusive, and respects diversity. The leadership concept and methodology created by the Partnership and reflected in Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women that has been published in 17 culture-specific editions, will be adapted for young girls to help them create a shared vision, build consensus, hone their communication skills, and create action plans to achieve specific group goals. The initiative will begin work in Bahrain and Jordan. After the new curriculum is adapted for Arabic and English, it will be taken up by other partners to augment their existing programs for young women of eighteen and older.
Go to: http://www.learningpartnership.org/publications/training/ltc

29. African Social Science Council Calls for Proposals for Multinational Working Group on Youth and Identity in Africa
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites researchers to submit proposals for consideration for its new Multinational Working Group (MWG) on the theme of youth and identity in Africa. The MWG is a flagship research program generally lasting two years, through which CODESRIA promotes multinational, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational reflections on issues in the African social research community. Moreover, youth and youth identity is one of the thematic areas at the heart of the Council, and child and youth studies are also a core activity of CODESRIA. A long list of research fields for this particular MWG is available online. The deadline for proposals is November 20. Selected candidates will participate in a seminar in Senegal in January 2007.
Go to: http://www.codesria.org/Links/new06/mwg_youth06.pdf

30. Humanities Research Center ­ Bulgaria Announces Summer School Program
The Humanities Research Center ­ Bulgaria, together with the Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Chairs of Sociology at Sofia and Southwestern Universities, are announcing a Summer School for Young Social Scientists for June 2007. It will gather a faculty of leading Bulgarian and European experts, and will be devoted to improving knowledge in the fields of sociology, social practice, social awareness, and environmental issues. The workshop will include such topics as ethno-sociology, issues of poverty, culture in a market society, conflict resolution, social work, lobbying, and eco-design. Working visits to municipalities, ethnic minority communities, a national park/reserve, etc will be provided. Curricula is still in preparation and the Humanities Research Center ­ Bulgaria remains open to suggestions and inquiries to improve the program.
To apply, send CVs and brief descriptions of expectations to: hrc@hrc-bg.com or snikolov@hrc-bg.com.

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION

31. 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference to be Held in Guatemala
The 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) will be held on November 15-18, 2006, in Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala. The conference theme is "Towards a fairer world: Why is corruption still blocking the way?" The meeting will offer an opportunity for an honest and rigorous examination of the continuing obstacles posed by endemic corruption around the world. Government officials and civil society and business people will exchange information and ideas about the fight against corruption, assess existing strategies, and develop new approaches. Transparency International, which serves as secretariat of the IACC Council, is working with its national chapter in the country, Acción Ciudadana, and the government of Guatemala to organize the conference.
Please note: This item was mistakenly included earlier this year in DemocracyNews as having had already occurred. We apologize for the error.
Go to: http://www.transparency.org/iacc

32. TUMIKOM Publishes Third National Report on Parliamentary Efficiency in Turkey
The Turkish Association for Parliamentary Monitoring Committees (TUMIKOM) has published its Third National Report on the efficiency of the 550 parliamentarians in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The report is based on voters’ actions, and not on the evaluations of parliamentarians themselves. TUMIKOM also used legal documents to support its findings. These National Reports are meant to strengthen voter consciousness by providing voters with transparent and accurate information.
To read the National Reports, go to: www.tumikom.org

WOMEN’S ISSUES

33. Women’s Learning Partnership Continues Campaign for Women’s Right to Citizenship
An international campaign by Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) was launched in September 2006 in support of national and regional partners in Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Algeria. The campaign continues its efforts to raise awareness of and pursue amendments to nationality laws to ensure that women are entitled to the same citizenship rights as men, thus enabling them and their families to benefit from equal access to public services. On September 19, 2006, the King of Bahrain granted Bahraini citizenship to over 372 children of Bahraini mothers and non-Bahraini fathers. Five days later, the parliament of Iran passed a law that allows children with Iranian mothers and foreign fathers to apply for Iranian nationality once they reach 18 years of age. These developments are seen as positive and a step forward in the Campaign for Arab Women’s Right to Nationality, Claiming Equal Citizenship. This campaign is mentioned in the WLP’s 15th issue of eNews, which includes a letter from the president, analysis of contemporary issues, updates on activities, new publications, and a welcome to new WLP staff members. The newsletter also details the initiatives to launch the Women Leaders Intercultural Forum (WLIF) in New York and to establish the Young Women’s Learning Partnership (YWLP) as described in item number 28 above.
For more on the campaign, go to: http://www.learningpartnership.org/citizenship/
For the newsletter, go to: http://www.learningpartnership.org/news/enews/2006/iss15

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

CIVICUS ­ www.civicus.org/new/default.asp
International IDEA ­ www.idea.int
Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA) ­ www.asiademocracy.org
Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) ­ www.ipcri.org
Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) ­ www.cipe.org
Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) ­ www.achrs.org
South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center (SAHRDC) ­ www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/
FORUM-ASIA ­ www.forum-asia.org
Freedom House - www.freedomhouse.org
World Youth Movement for Democracy ­ www.ymd.youthlink.org/ymd/index.html
Arab Democracy Network (ADN) ­ groups.yahoo.com/group/ArabDemocracyNetwork
Women’s Learning Partnership ­ www.learningpartnership.org
Transparency International ­ www.transparency.org
TUMIKOM ­ www.tumikom.org/onsoru.htm

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Project 1000 is a national program created to assist underrepresented students applying to graduate school. Students may apply to up to seven of the over 88 participating Project 1000 institutions by using one application.* Participation is FREE OF CHARGE to individual students and to the participating institutions! .

SPECIAL FEATURES OF PROJECT 1000:
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) academic advisors available to assist with the graduate school application process.

• An easy-to-use electronic application available at www.asu.edu/project1000 .

• An increased opportunity of being admitted to up to seven of our participating graduate institutions by using the Project 1000 application.*

• Assistance in making a well-informed decision about where to apply and how to submit a strong application.

• Advisement on how to locate financial aid, how and when to apply for financial aid, and the differences between all of the financial aid options available.

• Free Graduate Record Examination (GRE) workshops at different locations around the country each year. Helpful tips on GRE test preparation and stress reduction are also available over the telephone and via links to our website.

• A toll-free telephone number to speak with Academic Advisors, available Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm Mountain Standard Time.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Student Eligibility - U.S. citizens or permanent residents underrepresented in U.S. Graduate Programs. We especially target: 1) Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American or other Latin American ethnic heritage; 2) African American; OR 3) Native American (including U.S. Pacific Islander).

Program Eligibility - Eligible fields within Project 1000 are those disciplines that require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or those programs that do not have an entrance exam requirement. Eligible programs include the arts and sciences, engineering, architecture and urban planning, library and information science, oceanography, public health, nursing, biomedical sciences, public policy, social work, theology, and most fields within education.

Professional programs that require standardized tests other than the GRE (e.g., business, law or medicine) do not participate in Project 1000.

HOW DOES PROJECT 1000 WORK?
Project 1000 centralizes and facilitates the graduate school application process by greatly reducing the expenses normally involved in applying to graduate school. Once you have made the decision to apply to graduate school, complete a Project 1000 electronic application and submit it along with necessary supporting documentation to our office. When the file is complete, we photocopy your materials and send them to a maximum of seven universities of your choice. For the most part, participating universities have agreed to accept these materials in place of their own and have agreed to waive their application fee. Throughout the process, the Project 1000 staff is here to answer questions, review application essays, and to provide you with names and phone numbers of Project 1000 contact people at the participating universities.

YOU'VE DECIDED - GRADUATE SCHOOL IS FOR YOU! NOW YOU NEED TO . . .
• Call Project 1000.

• Decide which field of study you are interested in and determine if you would like to pursue a Master's or Doctoral degree in that area.

• Discuss your desire to attend graduate school with professors and graduate students who are working in your particular field of interest.

• Carefully research your field of study by visiting the university and departmental websites of the institutions you may be interested in attending. Don't forget to investigate the various financial aid options offered by both the institution and the department for the program you want to pursue .

• Select three people, preferably professors in your field of study, who would be willing to write strong letters of recommendation on your behalf.

• Contact the Educational Testing Service (the people who create and administer the GRE) and request a GRE Registration Bulletin so you can register to take the exam as soon as possible. Call (609) 771-7670 in the Princeton, New Jersey area or visit www.gre.org for more information. GRE registration materials may also be available through Project 1000 or in the graduate school office at a university near you.

• Students from the island of Puerto Rico, or those who have never attended a university in the United States, may be required to take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Verify with the departments at the institutions you wish to apply to whether or not the TOEFL will be required as a condition of admission to a graduate school program. For more information on the TOEFL exam call (609) 921-9000.

• Keep in mind that the entire graduate application process, from application to acceptance, takes months. Start early to avoid possible setbacks!

For more information about Project 1000, please call:

Toll-free Nationally (including Puerto Rico and Arizona):1-800- 327-4893

* Some institutions may have additional requirements. Check with Project 1000 for more information.

International Council of Tourism Partners and Mondial Global Energy Announce new Climate Change Awards for Responsible Tourism Day

London, 9th November 2006/eTN: In the spirit of Responsible Tourism Day, the International Council of Tourism Partners a civil society travel organization and Mondial Global Energy (MGe) a tourism group committed to renewable energy solutions announced the Annual Tourism Climate Change Awards. They will be given for the company, organization or individual judged to have made the greatest contribution to providing leadership in responding to Climate Change issues in the tourism sector.

Two Awards were announced:

- A World Tourism Responsible Energy Award with a global focus
- A Mission Africa Responsible Energy Award focusing on Africa

Each Award will include a $10,000 Prize sponsored by Mondial Global Energy (MGe).

The first Awards will be given on the first World Responsible Tourism Day 2007 following a nominations process organized by eTurbo News and participating industry partners. The judging panel organized by Mondial Global Energy (MGe) will be chaired by Maurice Strong, who was Chair of the Rio Earth Summit and will include José Maria Figueres, former President of Costa Rica; Dawid de Villiers the last UNWTO Deputy Secretary General; Jonathan Tourtellot, Director of Sustainable Destinations, National Geographic Society; and Fiona Jeffrey, Managing Director, World Travel Market.

In announcing the award Alex Winch, chairman of Mondial Global Energy (MGe) said “ We are committed to raising the profile of Climate Change Solutions for the tourism sector, just as we are convinced that solutions can and will be found in the coming years•”

Chairman of ICTP Thomas Steinmetz said that we are excited to partner in this commitment to Responsible Tourism Day in an area of such critical importance.

Mondial Global Energy (MGe) MGe is a joint venture between Mondial Energy Inc. and Green Global Village.

http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000101/010144.htm

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
07 - 13 November 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 Marwan M. Kraidy

Christian Science Monitor staff writer, Jane Lampman, describes how the local Muslim organisations in Boston brought people together to host “their first Humanitarian Day for the Homeless”, and other instances of outreach by Muslim organisations during Ramadan and throughout the year. Although charitable giving is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, she explains, many individuals prefer to express their faith directly as well by getting involved, not only by making donations. In the words of Nataka Crayton, who served as local coordinator. "It brings you that much closer to the needy, and you see they aren't outside of us, they are us."
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, 19 October 2006)
   

1) Islamic popular culture
Marwan M. Kraidy

Washington, D.C. - Western popular culture has for decades attracted the ire of Islamic activists who accuse it of subverting values, corrupting youth, destroying families or robbing Muslims of fundamental aspects of their identity.

But hostility towards Western popular culture is not restricted to those who claim to speak in the name of Islam. Activists elsewhere have campaigned against what they perceive to be foreign encroachments on their cultures: whether Hindu activists protesting beauty pageants, Parisian intellectuals criticising the celebration of all-American Halloween in France, or Italian activists launching the “slow food” movement, the fear of a soulless, consumption-driven global culture overwhelming local mores and traditions is widely shared. In the post-September 11 world, however, Islam and the Middle East have been at the centre of this debate.

Though Islam and global, essentially Western, popular culture are often depicted as antagonistic, a fascinating new phenomenon is sweeping the Islamic world, demonstrating the capacity of local tradition not only to adapt, but also to take advantage of global popular culture styles. This is the phenomenon that I call “Islamic pop”. Boy bands in Malaysia, Islamic videos in London, an “Islamically-correct” reality television show in Dubai, and the widespread adaptation of Western game shows for the Arab television-sweeps of the month of Ramadan are all vivid examples of this intriguing trend. These examples occur in different nations, use different languages, employ different media and address different audiences. What they have in common, however, is the promise that Muslim and Western worldviews—taking into account the tremendous internal diversity of each—are not incompatible.

The wave of reality television production that has hit the Arab world in the last few years has triggered strong condemnation for going against traditional Islamic values. In response, some Gulf-based channels have produced reality shows that are actively compatible with Islam. The most interesting is probably Green Light, produced in Dubai for Dubai television, the official broadcaster of the Emirate that is fast-forwarding itself to the gaudy avant-garde of modernity. Unlike other reality television shows focused on competition for fame and personal gain, Green Light highlighted that most Islamic of values: charity. Contestants had to find creative ways to raise money for orphans, Palestinian refugees and poor school students. Understandably, the show eschewed the controversy that befell its predecessors.

In London, a young British Muslim of Azeri origin has created the Islamic music video genre, known in the Middle East as “video clip”. Sami Yusuf’s videos are soothing Islamic nasheeds, or chants, where stunning images from throughout the Muslim world show Islam’s global scope, or where the singer expresses his love for, and gratitude to, his mother. For those who believe that globalisation threatens Islamic values, Yusuf offers an alternative kind of globalisation. His songs and videos articulate a way to be both “modern” and Muslim. That this charismatic and soft-spoken singer can achieve rock-star fame speaks to the resonance that Islamic pop has had among globally dispersed Muslims, especially the young.

In Malaysia, the boy-band Raihan is still widely popular in its second decade of existence. This Malaysian nasheed band is on the cusp of releasing its 12th album. Since the 1996 release of their first album Puji Pujian, the singers have become household names in Malaysia and much of the Muslim world. Their motto “pray hard, work smart” expresses a new, fresh way of being Muslim that has proven to have wide appeal. Raihan is now a globally known band whose tours take it to all continents.

Reality television, music videos and pop bands are all part of global popular culture, a phenomenon that is often seen as a threat to various national and local cultures and religious groups. Green Light, Sami Yusuf, and Raihan are examples of compatibility, rather than hostility, between public expressions of Muslim faith and global popular culture, Islamising global popular culture even as they globalise Islamic beliefs.

###

* Marwan M. Kraidy is director of the Arab Media in Public Life (AMPLE) project at the American University in Washington, D.C., and the author of Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 7 November 2006, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

2) ~YOUTH VIEWS~ The future of Kosovo
Fait Muedini

Buffalo, NY - On October 29th, 2006, a referendum was held in Serbia to vote on a new constitution. Roughly 51 percent of the 6.6 million Serbs in Serbia came out to vote (just above the 50 percent needed) with a majority voting for the new constitution which, among other things, claims Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia. As Serbia works to negotiate European Union membership, the issue of predominantly-Muslim Albanian Kosovo and the results of this referendum are of unique importance.

Kosovo, despite the relatively small minority of Serbs still living there, is thought of by Serbs as traditionally Serbian because in the Middle Ages the Serbian capital was located at Pristina in what is now Kosovo itself still the home of important Serbian Orthodox monasteries. In 1389, Serbia effectively lost Kosovo, when Serbian forces were defeated by the expanding Ottoman Empire, ushering in hundreds of years of Muslim Ottoman rule. Over time, Muslim Albanians moved in large numbers to the province, while Christian Serbs were forced out by Ottoman oppression. Serbia did not fully regain the province until 1912, during the Balkan wars, but Serbs have never resettled there in substantial numbers.

With the demise of Yugoslavia, Kosovo’s Albanians began pushing for independence and the movement turned violent in 1995, resulting in four years of increasingly deadly low-level conflict. In 1999, Europe and the US, fearing a resumption of wide-scale war in the Balkans, and disturbed by news of Serbian massacres of Kosovar Albanians, asked Serbia to allow NATO to station peacekeepers in the territory, and when it refused, NATO began a bombing campaign. The brief Kosovo war forced Serbia to effectively relinquish control of the province, though no final legal agreement was made at the time. Since the war, Kosovo has been effectively governed as a protectorate of the EU and the UN, at great expense to the EU, which provides the bulk of the peace-keeping forces in the country.

Yet in this election, ethnic Albanians, who today make up roughly 90 percent of the population in Kosovo, were not able to vote. Despite a history of Albanians boycotting Serbian elections, many believe that had they had the opportunity to participate, it would have easily tilted the balance of the referendum in the opposite direction.

The results of this referendum, according to many analysts, will not have an effect on the continuing talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian officials on final status issue, which aim to come to an agreement on the territory’s political status in the upcoming months.

Instead of trying to keep Kosovo as part of Serbia and in the process risking conflict between Serbians and Kosovar Albanians -- not to mention destabilising the entire region -- Serbia should grant Kosovo independence and focus on a more realistic demand: the protection of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. Belgrade is worried that the minorities in Kosovo will eventually be forced to leave the moment independence occurs. Additionally, the EU has made it clear that beginning negotiations on Serbian entry into the EU hinge on Serbia’s willingness to pursue the final status talks with Kosovo in good faith.

In a related BBC article published on March 10, 2006, Agim Ceku, leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1999, “pledged to protect the rights of Kosovo’s minority Serb community.” But Serbian leaders, who accuse Ceku of committing war crimes, are not willing to take his statements at face value.

In order to calm fears that minorities will be persecuted or treated like second-class citizens, serious efforts must continue by Kosovo’s leaders and citizens alike to protect the rights of non-Albanian minorities in their midst. This means equal opportunities for employment, education, and tolerance of different faiths and ethnicities in a democratic Kosovo.

As efforts to create an independent Kosovo are strongly moving forward, both the Kosovo government and civil society must continue to step up and take greater initiative to create programmes and projects to foster ethnic and religious understanding in order to quell the fears of Serbian and other minorities. Dialogue must begin with the promotion of reconciliation in churches and mosques, discussion of what a liberal and democratic Kosovo should look like, followed by programmes within the education system that promote respect for a diversity of cultures and beliefs.

The government of Kosovo should make it clear that all forms of ethnic and religious discrimination will be punished. As in many neighbouring countries in the Balkans, Kosovar teachers should be required to participate in ethnic and religious dialogue training. Schools should also implement interfaith and interethnic activities such as sport and art programmes. The new independent Kosovo should include strong legal protection laws of Albanians, Serbs, Roma, Muslims and Christians alike. With such work on interethnic and interfaith dialogue, Kosovo can be an excellent example of a majority Muslim country in Europe respecting the rights and faiths of non-Muslims, a role model for other ethnically and religiously divided countries in Europe and elsewhere.

###

* Fait Muedini is a PhD student and Presidential Fellow at the State University New York-Buffalo department of Political Science. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 7 November 2006, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission has been granted for republication.

3) Changing the present and dreaming the future
Tariq Ramadan

London — It is my perception that we have continued the process of interfaith dialogue among ourselves without taking into account the reality of our present world. Our world has changed tremendously, especially during the last 10 years. We are going from one crisis to another: social, civilizational and cultural.

As we represent the faiths of the people, we have to deal with this reality and we have to face up to our responsibilities in dealing with these crises. If we are speaking about hopes, we have to start by being realistic and face up to the responsibility. If we want something to happen, we should try and change not only the way we are dealing with each other but also the way we are dealing with the world we are living in. When we speak about hopes and dreams, there is the Prophet’s peace upon all who are dreaming the future and transforming the present. It should not be the other way around. By dreaming the present you are not helping me to deal with my problems. Therefore, dream the future, change the present and this is the way we have to deal with our values, with our teachings.

If I, as a Muslim man, try to share my views with fellow citizens of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or indigenous spiritual traditions, I, and others like me, are very often perceived as naive people, dreamers, far from reality. Is this true? If many perceive us like that, elementary psychology is telling us that we have to ask ourselves if there is any truth in this perception. I think there is. Our discourse is sometimes far removed from the reality of people’s lives. We speak about love but as soon as we seek to promote love in this world, it becomes difficult. To love is difficult. We speak about peace, but to get peace, inner peace and collective peace, that is difficult. We speak about the importance of family. But people want concrete answers on how to build a family in this world, today, within this reality of social and psychological crises. We are living in a world where we need to give answers.

We are not secure and we do not feel secure. In the United States, there is a great deal of fear after 9/11. In Israel, Palestine, India and other parts of the world, fear is everywhere. It is not only a state of mind which we are witnessing. Fear is also used by politicians and by religious people, people of faith. If we are true and understand the meaning of faith, we will have to deal with fear. Then we can begin to understand that we live in a world where emotions are promoted, and emotions have nothing to do with spirituality —— in fact they are its opposite.

Emotions are superficial reactions. Not superficial in a bad way, but the first reaction surfacing when something happens. Spirituality is something different. It is about effort, about something that you experience deep in your heart. Spirituality is the way to master your emotions, not to be, or to submit yourself to, your own emotions. It is of vital importance to talk about our spiritual teachings. What do they tell us of mastering emotions?

Why is it so important to go beyond our emotions? Because they put us in a position where we perceive “us” versus “them” and where we have to defend our identity. That mindset is perverse, it is vicious in the world that we are living in to see each other as separate, always protecting myself from you and you protecting yourself from me. It makes dialogue quite impossible.

Spirituality has nothing to do with naivety. Spirituality has nothing to do with dreaming. It has to do with a critical mind enabling us to make an effort, a spiritual effort to maintain a distance from our emotions and to try to understand the world. It means to learn to listen, and it is not easy to listen when we are emotional.

I was in Sarajevo a few weeks ago and there, ten years after the war, an Eastern European was asking a Western European: “Let me ask you one thing: after what happened and us being Muslims, how can I trust you?”

This question of trust is essential. How are we committed to promote this mutual trust? We must network at the local level to understand this global strategy and ideology of fear, and we must create spaces for mutual trust.

When we do that, we are changing the present and dreaming the future.

###

* Tariq Ramadan is a professor of Islamic Studies and senior research fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University and at Lokahi Foundation,London. He is also President of the European think—tank, European Muslim Network (EMN), in Brussels. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org. The full text can be found at www.tariqramadan.com.

Source: 31 October 2006, www.tariqramadan.com
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

4) Balancing realism and reform on the Arab periphery
Jeremy M. Sharp

Washington, D.C. - In an ironic turn of events, Yemen's September 20 presidential and local elections garnered extensive favourable coverage by the normally critical Al-Jazeera, while they received only scant attention from the U.S. government, heretofore eager to highlight any sign of reform in Arab states. Why did U.S. officials refrain from highlighting what many foreign observers have praised as successful elections? Possible explanations include a return to traditional priorities in which security interests supersede democracy promotion, a calculated U.S. effort to promote Arab reform more quietly, or simply an oversight due to other distractions.

Yemen, a resource-poor Arab country situated at a healthy distance from the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is a crucible of sorts for U.S. attempts to strike a balance between reform and other goals. US-Yemeni bilateral security and intelligence cooperation has been, and remains, the top U.S. priority. Since the 2000 Al-Qaeda attack on the USS Cole, the United States has helped Yemen build its coast guard to patrol the Bab al-Mandab and to meet an Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist threat that recent events demonstrate to be very real. On September 19, the day before the elections, Yemeni security forces thwarted two terrorist attacks against oil installations in the north-eastern region of Maarib and on the Gulf of Aden coast at Dhabba.

In Yemen, the United States also faces the challenges of mixing encouragement and criticism of Arab regimes' liberalisation efforts and of deciding how to deal with Islamists. This is also true in Morocco and parts of the Gulf, where U.S. officials are quietly urging liberalisation. U.S. policy toward engaging certain Islamist movements is left somewhat vague - perhaps deliberately so - but there are efforts being made to maintain contacts with moderate, non-violent Islamist factions. In Yemen members of the Islah party (a coalition of old guard Muslim Brotherhood members, Salafists, and tribes) appear to welcome dialogue on reform and have participated, along with other Yemeni political parties, in programmes sponsored by the US-based National Democratic Institute. Still, U.S. officials exercise caution, as the leader of the Salafist strain of Islah, Sheikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, is a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" for the U.S. Treasury Department because of his alleged role in providing financial support to Al-Qaeda operations and recruitment.

The Yemeni presidential election was about more than just esoteric notions of political reform; it was about the real issue of presidential succession. As in Egypt, where speculation abounds over the grooming of Gamal Mubarak for succession, there is widespread concern among Yemen's opposition parties over the prospect of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son Ahmed, 37, inheriting the reins of power. This fear was among the main motivations that brought Yemen's diverse opposition parties - socialists, Islamists, and Baathists - together in this year's elections. In a recent Washington Post interview, opposition presidential candidate Faisal bin Shamlan (who received 21 percent of the vote) remarked that "we subordinated our ideological agendas to the one thing we all had in common, which was a realisation that political reform was a necessity if we were to save democracy in Yemen and stop the country's descent into endemic corruption."

President Saleh's victory surprised no one; he is a populist leader who appeals to the everyman, and the ruling party's overwhelming resource advantage helped him considerably. Despite opposition allegations of fraud, foreign observers released preliminary conclusions that the election was relatively free and fair with the typical shortcomings seen in developing nations: there were breaches in voting secrecy, under-age voters, and a number of inaccuracies in the voting registry. U.S. government officials were clearly encouraged by the relatively smooth election, believing that process is important despite imperfections.

The key policy question now is whether the Yemeni government will derive any tangible benefits from holding the election. In November 2005, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) suspended Yemen's eligibility for assistance under its Threshold Program, concluding that after Yemen was named as a potential aid candidate in fiscal year 2004, corruption in the country had increased. Yemen can reapply in November of this year.

Despite the upcoming MCC decision, Yemen remains largely absent in public U.S. policy discussions regarding democratisation. Regime-manipulated political reform is but one malady in a long list of Yemen's socio-economic problems. The country is still recovering from civil war and reunification, and it has enormous social challenges including endemic poverty, high rates of illiteracy and water depletion. Yet, in a sense, the general lack of U.S. attention to Yemen in itself creates opportunities. Unlike U.S. relations with more strategically important countries such as Egypt, US-Yemeni relations are not under a microscope, giving policymakers on the ground flexibility and freedom to experiment.

###

* Jeremy M. Sharp is a Middle East policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Arab Reform Bulletin, Vol. 4, Issue 8, October 2006, www.carnegieendowment.org
Copyright (c) 2006 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Copyright permission has been obtained for publication. Please reference the original source.

5) Muslims put faith into action for Ramadan
Jane Lampman

Roxbury, Massachusetts – Two rows of tables, stretching the length of the gymnasium, are neatly stacked with brand-new items: warm sweatshirts and caps in several colours, thick socks, bright yellow ponchos to ward off the weather, and hygiene kits stocked with towels, toothpaste and a toothbrush, soap, and a comb. There are bags of food, bottles of water, and, for the children, backpacks and toys.

Young Muslims in matching T-shirts stand ready to help those coming through the line to pick the right size or colour. Downstairs in the Tobin Community Center, another cadre of volunteers, including medical students, give health screenings and answer questions about dental care.

“People were determined to do it - no event has brought people together like this one. It brings you that much closer to the needy, and you see they aren't outside of us, they are us.”

During their holy month of Ramadan, local Muslim organisations in Boston have joined together to host their first Humanitarian Day for the Homeless.

The charitable event is already a five-year tradition in Los Angeles, where it began under the auspices of the ILM Foundation and Islamic Relief, an international relief and development agency based in Buena Park, California. This year it spread to 14 U.S. cities, where last weekend an estimated 18,000 homeless and needy Americans of all faiths were served.

Charitable giving is one of the "five pillars of Islam", with Muslims expected to donate 2.5 percent of their income annually. But it's clear from the enthusiastic turnout of more than 250 volunteers in Roxbury - from Girl Scout troops to students from MIT and Harvard - that expressing their faith directly is particularly appealing.

"This is faith in action," says Ibrahim Kanan, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Muslim Student Association. For Fahmeen Kahn, finance major at Suffolk University in Boston, "it's an opportunity to give back to the community. Also, Islam teaches that you should want for other people what you want for yourself."

As a side benefit, it has helped to unify the Boston-area Muslim community, though planning for it began only this summer.

"People were determined to do it - no event has brought people together like this one," says Nataka Crayton, of the Islamic Multi-Service Organisation, who served as local coordinator. "It brings you that much closer to the needy, and you see they aren't outside of us, they are us."

For the 780 people who made their way to the community centre on Saturday, it was a welcome event. Isabel Cabrera, originally from the Dominican Republic, brought her 6-month-old son, Jayden. Along with information from health tests and other items, she left with a sturdy baby-care kit.

James G.P. Magee, a friendly disabled man who recently got his own apartment, says he had been homeless for seven years. "I slept through the big snowstorm out on Boston Common, when people died there," he recalls. "But I believe in my God, and He kept telling me, 'Don't give up.' "

Though it's not easy for him to speak, Mr. Magee is eager to tell his story. "Do you know what the G.P. stands for?" he asks. "God's Property - that's me. He gave me the strength to get through."

One of the volunteers carries a bag for Magee as he moves along the line of tables.

While Muslim organisations do the planning and organising for the event, a few local businesses in each city donate food. Islamic Relief provides T-shirts for the volunteers, a banner for each city, training and counselling throughout the process, and matching grants to help with costs.

Humanitarian Day can also be an interfaith project. Baptists participated in Louisiana, Catholics in both Chicago and Newark, N.J. And nationally, the 24,000 hygiene kits were provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), which has a long history of emergency preparedness. The church also has a "fast offering", where members donate money they would have spent on food.

Islamic Relief and the LDS church have, in fact, developed a partnership over the past three years, working together on the Asian tsunami, Pakistan earthquake, hurricane Katrina, the more recent Indonesian earthquake, and the Lebanon crisis.

"We've worked with the Mormon church to send over 195 tons of aid to Lebanon, distributing it through the Hariri Foundation and the UN Works and Relief Agency," says Mostafa Mahboob, Islamic Relief spokesman. "They give supplies, and we pay for all the shipping. In other parts of the world, we also have our own people on the ground to handle projects. We've probably worked together on [efforts worth] $20 million."

Islamic Relief has spent $2 million on Katrina's aftermath and still has full-time staff in the Gulf coast region. The church contributed to their Katrina effort by providing hygiene kits and cleaning kits - buckets, brushes, gloves, masks, and bleach to help people clean up their homes, says Mr. Mahboob.

The relief and development agency, which originated in Great Britain, has survived the scrutiny of U.S. law enforcement officials, who closed down three other Muslim charities for suspected ties to terrorist groups.

"We are very open and transparent; our financial records are online," Mahboob explains. They have established systems to keep track of monies and have for three years won the highest rating, four stars, from Charity Navigator. Benefiting somewhat, perhaps, from the closing-down of other Islamic charities, Islamic Relief had its biggest year of U.S. donations in 2005 - receiving more than $45 million.

While most religions emphasise charitable giving, it's a priority for Muslims. "Anyone who studies Islam sees that charity is the second-most important thing to prayer," says Clareen Menzies, Islamic Relief's national coordinator for Humanitarian Day. "It's a big part of our religion, especially during Ramadan, and it's important to have direct contact with people who need help."

Ramadan is the ninth month on the Muslim lunar calendar. It's when Muslims worldwide fast during daylight hours. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of the faith, it's considered a special time of worship, contemplation, and seeking forgiveness.

"Fasting stops your rhythm of consuming, and you begin to think better," says Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, of Masjid for the Praising of Allah, an African-American mosque in Roxbury that is the oldest in the city and a supporter of today's event.

For many involved in Humanitarian Day activities, the experience spurs a desire to do much more than an annual event. Nazia Naqvi, of the Muslim American Society in Chicago, coordinated distribution at seven sites in that city. "We need to do more, because the homeless population continues to be ignored," she says. "If organisations [from different faiths] could come together, we could accomplish a lot."

Ms. Menzies says interest is so great they've had to turn away volunteers in Los Angeles. She plans brainstorming sessions to consider how to build on this year's national experience.

In Boston, they were hoping for a bigger turnout. They passed out cards announcing the event to shelters and social service agencies, but for many homeless, getting around the city isn't easy.

So at the end of the day, volunteers packed up the remaining items to transport them directly to community shelters. "Some volunteers also gave packages to homeless individuals on the street," says volunteer Shaza Fadel. "So, thankfully to God, we served almost 2,000 low-income and homeless individuals in the Boston area."

###

* Jane Lampman is a staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.

Source: Christian Science Monitor, 19 October 2006, www.csmonitor.com
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. For reprint permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com

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Terence O'Rourke, former advisor to the White House, 8 November, 2006, asked about the chances for improvement of the current political situation:

"The Second Coming of Christ couldn't save this country right now. We have to recognize that we have to make a complete reversal in our vision, our values and our commitments."

Heidi & Guy Burgess kindly wrote (on 28/09/2006):

Hi, folks --

We wanted to check in and tell you we are still here and working, albeit slowly, on improving Beyond Intractability. The Hewlett funding for BI has now run out, but we are able to continue maintaining it and even adding to it slowly, nevertheless. We are working intently on fundraising for future efforts, focused especially on spin-off online training programs for particular constituency groups. We are also are asking users to make a small donation to help us maintain the site, and while this hasn't generated huge amounts of money, it has generated a little bit. The following announcement is one that we just sent out to our general mailing list, but we wanted to make sure you got it too. We hope you'll check out the site and recommend it to your colleagues. The more use we get, the more likely it is that we'll be able to get more funding (we hope and think).

I hope all of you are doing well. We miss our annual meetings and hope we'll get to see most of you somewhere sometime soon!

Best,

Heidi and Guy

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

We wanted to tell you give you an update on the many free resources
currently available from BeyondIntractability.org -- the website of the
Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project. This system, which focuses
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pages of material written with the help of more than 250 experts. If you haven't checked us out recently, please give us a visit -- we are adding new materials all the time.

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10. Special Editions focused on a variety of topics, including: post-
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These, and many other, resources are available from the Beyond
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links to the items listed above:
http://www.beyondintractability.org/index-brochure2.jsp

While everything is freely available, we are asking users who can afford it
to make a small donation to defray the cost of system operation. Now
that the Hewlett Foundation (which funded the creation of Beyond
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on the highlighted home page):
http://www.beyondintractability.org/open-source.jsp

We'd also really appreciate any help you could give us in publicizing the
system's availability (by forwarding this e-mail to potentially interested
colleagues and students, for example) or sending us suggestions of
people and organizations who we should contact.

==============================
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess
Co-Directors, Conflict Research Consortium
Campus Box 580, University of Colorado
Room A222, ARC Bldg. 3100 Marine Street
Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154
burgess@colorado.edu
http://conflict.colorado.edu
==============================

Kosmos is proud to announce...
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Reporters Without Borders have just announced that the U.S. ranks 53rd amongst all states in freedom of the press. Are you concerned? In a democracy citizens are expected to make or support important national and international decisions. What if we do not have the facts on which to shape our opinions and make our decisions? Read more in Kosmos.

Are we educating our youth to deal with the challenges of a globalized world? Most of us think that radical transformations are needed in our educational systems in the 21st century. Read about several innovative approaches that are beginning to work.

Many are calling the present post-post modern world the Information Society. Others say that the more appropriate term is the Network Society. Let's start thinking together about the enormous capacities technology has brought enabling us to network in every dimension of life to build our new civilization and world community.

Art as a transformer of consciousness fills the pages of Kosmos. Dana Lynne Andersen's and Ginger Gilmour's aesthetic offerings grace the Kosmos Gallery with beauty that is bound to touch your soul.

We chose to focus on media, education, and networks after much thought about how to bring about cultural change in our globalized world. As an integral journal we are concerned with individual transformation, cultural transformation and transformation of our governance, legal and economic systems. This issue begins with the cultural perspective.

Coming Soon...
The next issue of Kosmos will open a dynamic discussion on the changing nature of power and the many dimensions of creating inclusive global governance and sustainable economic systems.

Please watch for the next announcement inviting you to participate in this developing conversation.

Nancy Roof, President, Kosmos Associates Inc. is currently engaged in this dialogue as a participant in Mikhail Gorbachev's World Political Forum on Building the New Political Architecture. Her major contribution is bringing an integral approach to the proceedings. Kosmos Advisory Board member Richard Falk, Princeton University, also brings his expertise in international law to the group. The Forum has gathered a small group of Ambassadors, Foreign Ministers, United Nations leaders and Academics to work together to create ideas to be shared with policy makers and the general public on global governance systems that will reflect the current state of the new world and the accelerating growth of global civil society. www.theworldpoliticalforum.org

Nancy Roof has just accepted the Integral Review invitation to be a member of the Advisory Board. www.integral-review.org. She has also been named to Council of the Wise, Integrative Spirituality. www.integrativespirituality.org

Please visit our updated website: www.kosmosjournal.org where you will find an automated store to subscribe through credit card or checks. You can now easily purchase back issues and donate to the Kosmos mission.

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Dear Reader,

Although it is often said that fate is a good provider, sometimes it is dates that coincide with very positive effect. World Philosophy Day - celebrated each year on the third Thursday in November - falls this year on the same day as the International Day for Tolerance, 16 November. It thus presents an excellent opportunity both to organize events all over the world in celebration of philosophical reflection and to encourage everyone to welcome different ideas and ways of thinking.

In 2002, when UNESCO first celebrated Philosophy Day, the idea behind the initiative was to encourage people in different parts of the world to share their particular philosophy with others and to open up their ways of thinking to new ideas, while fostering public debate among intellectuals and civil society on the challenges now facing our societies.

· Last year, Philosophy Day became World Philosophy Day with its inclusion on the UN list of international days. Special celebrations took place in Chile to honour the event. This year, the flagship event will take place in the country that first put forward this initiative - Morocco.

From 15 to 17 November 2006, in Rabat, there will be a lecture on "Philosophy and the modern world", and there will be several round tables discussing a variety of topics. In the course of the Day, other events such as a Philosophy Café, a book fair and art exhibition will be organized alongside the round tables, as well as an Interregional Philosophical Dialogue: Asia and the Arab World.

Countries in all regions of the world will be organizing events in celebration of World Philosophy Day: Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, U.S.A., Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.

At UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, two international seminars will be held in the week beginning 13 November. Topics for discussion will be "A century with Levinas: Levinas-Blanchot, thinking difference" and "Philosophy as a cultural, educational practice". That same week, also at UNESCO, there will be an exhibition of Philippe Maurice's paintings, and a dramatic "Installation" by the Collectif fragmentaliste entitled "From the Fragment to the Series".

For a more detailed look at the World Philosophy Day programme, click on www.unesco.org/shs/philosophy/2006

In celebration of International Day for Tolerance, the 2006 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence will be awarded at a ceremony to take place at 6 p.m. in Room I at UNESCO House in Paris.

Thanks to the generosity of writer, diplomat and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Madanjeet Singh, this Prize was established to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandi. The Prize is presented every two years to individuals or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements in the promotion of tolerance and non-violence.

Two years ago, in 2004, the Prize was awarded to Bangladeshi writer and journalist, Taslima Nasreen, and the 2006 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize will be awarded to Veerasingham Anandasangaree from Sri Lanka. He is President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). A tireless defender of democracy and peaceful conflict resolution, Veerasingham Anandasangaree has helped improve knowledge of the Tamul cause, through dialogue, through the promotion of non-violent solutions in Sri Lanka and by taking a stand against terrorism.

Other events planned for the month of November 2006

From 30 October to 3 November: Ethics Teachers Training Course, Bucharest, Romania.
1 and 2 November: Conference organized by Sweden's National Liaison Committee for MOST on Management of Social Transformations, in partnership with the Swedish European Social Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden.
From 1 to 4 November: The 11th World Sport for All Congress, Havana, Cuba.
9 and 10 November: 6th Meeting of the Inter-Agency Committee on Bioethics. UNESCO, Paris.
9 and 10 November: Meeting of the International Jury for the 2006 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education. UNESCO, Paris.
16 November: Workshop on "Education for Peace in a Gender Perspective", Harare, Zimbabwe.
From 16 to 18 November: Seminar "Crises of the Nation-State. Alternative Thinking", Paris 7-University - Denis Diderot, Paris, France.
From 16 to 25 November: University of Montreal UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environment - annual workshop on "Redevelopment in peripheral urban areas", Mahdia, Tunisia.
17 and 18 November: Conference "Interregional Philosophical Dialogues: Asia and the Arab world - encounters with modernity". Rabat, Morocco.
From 20 to 22 November: 13th session of the International Bioethics Committee. UNESCO, Paris.
21 and 22 November: National Workshop on Social Sciences and Country Development: "Issues and Experiences", Putrajaya, Malaysia.
25 November: 21st Century Talks: What future is there for humankind? What future for the planet? UNESCO, Paris.
27 and 28 November: Regional meeting of experts on Ethics Teaching. Muscat, Oman.
29 and 30 November: Conference "Towards a multi-age society: the cultural dimension of ageing policies". Brussels, Belgium.

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Petra van Vucht Tijssen, Webmaster: p.van-vucht-tijssen@unesco.org
UNESCO Social and Human Sciences Sector website: www.unesco.org/shs

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Madame, Monsieur,

Si l'on dit souvent que le hasard fait bien les choses, il arrive parfois que les calendriers aussi. Cette année, la Journée mondiale de la philosophie, célébrée chaque 3e jeudi du mois de novembre, coïncide avec la Journée internationale de la tolérance, célébrée le 16 novembre... Et quelle meilleure manière de rappeler que les événements organisés, partout dans le monde, pour honorer la réflexion philosophique, constituent autant d'occasions d'encourager les individus à accueillir des idées et des modes de pensée différents ?

En instituant cette Journée en 2002, l'UNESCO a en effet souhaité encourager les peuples à partager leur héritage philosophique et à ouvrir leur réflexion quotidienne à de nouvelles idées, tout en suscitant un débat public entre les intellectuels et la société civile sur les défis auxquels nos sociétés sont aujourd'hui confrontées.

· L'an dernier, l'inscription de la Journée de la philosophie au calendrier des Journées mondiales avait donné lieu à événement « spécial » au Chili. En 2006, c'est dans le pays à l'origine même de cette proclamation qu'aura lieu l'événement « phare » de cette célébration. : le Royaume du Maroc.

Du 15 au 17 novembre, à Rabat, une conférence magistrale abordera le thème « La philosophie et la condition du monde moderne », et plusieurs tables rondes se pencheront sur des sujets divers. D'autres événements se tiendront en marge des tables rondes de la Journée, tels un Café philosophique, un salon du Livre, une exposition d'Art vivant, et un « Dialogue philosophique interrégional : Asie - Monde arabe ».

Plusieurs manifestations sont, par ailleurs, organisées à travers le monde et notamment dans les pays suivants : Bénin ; Burundi ; Cameroun ; Canada ; Colombie ; Congo ; Etats-Unis ; Éthiopie ; Fidji ; Finlande ; Ghana ; Kenya ; Mali ; Mexique ; Namibie ; Népal ; Nigeria ; Sénégal ; Sri Lanka ; Tanzanie ; Panama ; Philippines ; République dominicaine ; Suisse ; Viet Nam et Zimbabwe .

Au siège de l'UNESCO, à Paris, deux colloques internationaux se tiendront entre les 13 et 18 novembre et auront pour thèmes : « Un siècle avec Levinas: Levinas-Blanchot, penser la différence » et « La philosophie comme pratique éducative et culturelle : une nouvelle citoyenneté » . La Maison de l'UNESCO accueillera également une exposition de peintures de Philippe Maurice du 13 au 16 novembre, ainsi qu'une installation par le Collectif fragmentaliste intitulée « Du fragment à la série », du 14 au 16 novembre.

Pour consulter le programme détaillé de la célébration de la Journée mondiale de la Philosophie, merci de consulter le site www.unesco.org/shs/philosophy/2006/fr

A l'occasion de la Journée internationale de la tolérance, le jeudi 16 novembre prochain, le Prix UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh pour la promotion de la tolérance et la non-violence sera remis au lauréat de l'édition 2006, lors d'une cérémonie qui se déroulera à 18 heures, dans la Salle 1 de la Maison de l'UNESCO, à Paris.

Créé à l'occasion du 125e anniversaire de la naissance du Mahatma Gandhi - grâce à la générosité de l'écrivain et diplomate indien Madanjeet Singh, Ambassadeur de bonne volonté de l'UNESCO - , ce prix est décerné tous les deux ans pour récompenser des réalisations exceptionnelles, de personnes ou d'institutions, qui ont contribué à promouvoir la tolérance et la non-violence.

Après l'écrivain et journaliste bangladeshi Taslima Nasreen, en 2004, le Prix UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh honore, cette année, le Sri-lankais Veerasingham Anandasangaree, président du Front Uni de Libération Tamoule (FULT). Infatigable défenseur de la démocratie et de la résolution pacifique des conflits, il a contribué à mieux faire connaître, dans un esprit de dialogue, la cause des Tamouls, en tentant de promouvoir des solutions non-violentes au Sri Lanka et en s'élevant contre le terrorisme.

Les autres événements de ce mois de novembre 2006 :

Du 30 octobre au 3 novembre : Formation des professeurs d'éthique. Bucarest Roumanie.
1er et 2 novembre : conférence organisée par le Comité suédois du programme MOST sur la gestion des transformations sociales, en partenariat avec la « Swedish European Social Foundation ». Stockholm, Suède.
Du 1er au 4 novembre : 11e édition du Congrès mondial du Sport pour Tous. La Havane, Cuba.
9 et 10 novembre : 6e réunion du Comité interagences de bioéthique. UNESCO, Paris, France.
9 et 10 novembre : Réunion du jury international du Prix de l'UNESCO d'éducation aux droits de l'homme 2006. UNESCO, Paris, France.
16 novembre : Atelier sur l'éducation à la Paix dans une perspective de genres. Harare, Zimbabwe.
Du 16 au 18 novembre : Colloque « Crises de l'Etat-nation. Pensées alternatives », Université Paris 7 - Denis Diderot, Paris, France.
Du 16 au 25 novembre : Atelier annuel de la chaire « Paysage et environnement » de Montréal (Canada) consacré à la réutilisation des carrières en zones périurbaines. Mahdia, Tunisie.
17 et 18 novembre : Conférence interrégionale sur « Dialogues philosophiques interrégionaux Asie - Monde arabe : rencontres de l'Asie et de la région arabe avec la modernité », Rabat, Maroc.
Du 20 au 22 novembre : 13e session du Comité International de Bioéthique. UNESCO, Paris, France.
21 et 22 novembre : Atelier national sur les sciences sociales et les expériences et problèmes du développement du pays, Putrajaya, Malaysie.
25 novembre : nouvelle séance des Entretiens du XXIe siècle sur le thème: "Quel avenir pour l'espèce humaine? Quel futur pour la planète?", UNESCO, Paris, France.
27 et 28 novembre : Réunion régionale d'experts sur l'enseignement de l'éthique. Muscat, Oman.
29 et 30 novembre : Conférence «Vers une société multiâges : la dimension culturelle des politiques du vieillissement ». Bruxelles, Belgique.

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----- Agenda -----

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----- Contacts -----

John Crowley, chef, SHS/EO/CIP : j.crowley@unesco.org
Cathy Bruno-Capvert, rédactrice en chef, SHS Regards : c.bruno-capvert@unesco.org
Irakli Khodeli, assistant presse : i.khodeli@unesco.org
Petra van Vucht Tijssen, webmaster : p.van-vucht-tijssen@unesco.org
Site web du Secteur des sciences sociales et humaines de l'UNESCO : www.unesco.org/shs

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Señora, señor:

Aunque se dice a menudo que el destino es un buen cómplice, a veces el propio calendario también lo es. Este año, el Día Mundial de la Filosofía, que se celebra el tercer jueves del mes de noviembre, coincide con el Día Internacional de la Tolerancia, que se celebra el 16 de noviembre. Es por tanto una excelente oportunidad para la organización de eventos sobre la reflexión filosófica en todo el mundo y para alentar a las personas a acoger ideas y modos de pensamiento diferentes.

En 2002, año en que la UNESCO instituyó por primera vez el Día Mundial de la Filosofía, la idea inicial fue incentivar a los pueblos de todo el mundo a compartir su herencia filosófica y a abrir una reflexión renovada hacia nuevos pensamientos, suscitando un debate público entre los intelectuales y la sociedad civil sobre los desafíos que afrontan hoy día nuestras sociedades.

El año pasado, la inclusión del Día Mundial de la Filosofía en el calendario de las Jornadas mundiales de las Naciones Unidas, dio lugar a celebraciones especiales en Chile para conmemorar el acontecimiento. Este año, las principales celebraciones tendrán lugar en Marruecos, el país que lanzó dicha iniciativa.

Del 15 al 17 de noviembre, tendrá lugar en Rabat, la conferencia "La filosofía y el mundo moderno", que incluirá varias mesas redondas que tratarán una variedad de temas. En el decurso de las jornadas, otros acontecimientos como un "Diálogo Filosófico Interregional: Asia y el Mundo Árabe", un Café filosófico, una salón del Libro y una exposición de arte se organizarán en paralelo con las mesas redondas.

Varios países de todo el mundo organizarán eventos para celebrar el Día Mundial de la Filosofía: Benín, Burundi, Camerún, Canadá, Colombia, Congo, República Dominicana, Etiopía, Fiji, Finlandia, Ghana, Kenia, Malí, México, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Panamá, Filipinas, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Suiza, Tanzania, Estados Unidos, Viet Nam y Zimbabwe.

Dos coloquios internacionales tendrán lugar entre el 13 y el 18 de noviembre en la Sede de la UNESCO, en París. Los temas para la discusión serán: "Un siglo con Levinas: Levinas-Blanchot, pensar la diferencia" y "La filosofía como práctica educativa y cultural: una nueva ciudadanía". La Sede de la UNESCO acogerá igualmente una exposición de pinturas de Philippe Maurice del 13 al 16 de noviembre, y una instalación por el Collectif Fragmentaliste titulada "Del fragmento a la serie" del 14 al 16 de noviembre.

Para más información sobre el programa del Día Mundial de la Filosofía: www.unesco.org/shs/philosophy/2006 (en inglés)

En cuanto a la celebración del Día Internacional de la Tolerancia (16 de noviembre), se otorgará el Premio UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh para la Promoción de Tolerancia y la no Violencia de 2006, en una ceremonia que tendrá lugar en la Sede de la UNESCO en París (Sala I, a las 18.00).

Gracias a la generosidad del escritor, diplomático y Embajador de buena voluntad de la UNESCO, Madanjeet Singh, este Premio se estableció para conmemorar el 125º aniversario del nacimiento de Mahatma Gandhi. El Premio se otorga cada dos años a individuos o instituciones en reconocimiento a logros excepcionales en el campo de la promoción de la tolerancia y la no violencia.

Hace dos años, en el 2004, el Premio se otorgó a la periodista y escritora bangladeshí, Taslima Nasreen. Este año el Premio UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh se otorgará a Veerasingham Anandasangaree de Sri Lanka, Presidente del Frente Unido de Liberación Tamil (TULF). Incansable defensor de la democracia y la resolución pacífica de conflictos, Veerasingham Anandasangaree ha contribuido a mejorar el conocimiento de la causa a Tamil, a través del diálogo, promoviendo soluciones no violentas en Sri Lanka y militando contra el terrorismo.

Otros acontecimientos previstos para el mes de noviembre de 2006:

Del 30 de octubre al 4 de noviembre: Curso de formación para profesores de ética. Bucarest, Rumania.
1 y 2 de noviembre: Conferencia organizada por el Comité sueco del Programa MOST sobre Gestión de las Transformaciones Sociales, en cooperación con la Fundación Social Sueca-Europea, Estocolmo, Suecia.
Del 1 al 4 de noviembre: 11° Congreso Mundial "Deporte para todos", La Habana, Cuba.
Del 9 al 10 de noviembre: 6° Reunión del Comité Intergubernamental de Bioética. UNESCO, París.
Del 9 al 10 de noviembre: Reunión del Jurado Internacional del Premio UNESCO de Educación para los Derechos Humanos 2006. UNESCO, París.
16 de noviembre: Taller sobre "Educación por la Paz desde la perspectiva de género", Harare, Zimbabwe.
Del 16 al 18 de noviembre: Seminario "Crisis del Estado-Nación. Ideas alternativas", París 7-Universidad - Denis Diderot, París, Francia.
Del 16 al 25 de noviembre: Taller anual de la Cátedra UNESCO de Paisaje y Medio Ambiente de la Universidad de Montreal sobre "Reutilización de las zonas urbanas periféricas", Mahdia, Túnez.
Del 17 al 18 de noviembre: Conferencia "Diálogo Filosófico Interregional: Asia y el Mundo Árabe", Rabat, Marruecos.
Del 20 al 22 de noviembre: 13° sesión del Comité Internacional de Bioética. UNESCO, París.
Del 21 al 22 de noviembre: Taller nacional sobre ciencias sociales, experiencias y problemas de desarrollo en el país, Putrajaya, Malasia.
25 de noviembre: 21° sesión de las Charlas del siglo XXI: "¿Qué futuro tiene la humanidad? ¿Qué futuro tiene el planeta?" UNESCO, París.
27 y 28 de noviembre: Reunión regional de expertos sobre enseñanza de ética. Muscat, Oman.
29 y 30 de noviembre: Conferencia "Hacia una sociedad de "multiedades": la dimensión cultural de las políticas que hacen frente al envejecimiento". Bruselas, Bélgica.

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Call for Abstracts

Thursday, March 29 - Friday, March 30, 2007
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

This multidisciplinary conference will address violence as a health issue including: causes, forms, consequences, and coping.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
• Violence as a Public Health Issue
• Violence against Women
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Domestic Violence
• Youth Violence
• Violence Prevention Strategies
• Epidemiological Patterns of Violence

Presentations by scholars, practitioners, students, and community members are invited.

Abstract Guidelines
• Abstracts are limited to 250 words
• New Times Roman 12-point font
• Use ALL CAPITAL letters for the abstract title only. Do not bold or italicize any of the text in the abstract.
• Include the name (last name, followed by the first name), credentials (if applicable), organization, city, state, phone number and email address of all authors
• Minimum of two educational objectives
• Brief description of project/program, include findings and implications for practice, research, or the community
• Deadline for receipt of abstracts is Friday, November 10, 2006
• Abstracts should be submitted electronically to Dr. Anne Banda at banda@uwm.edu as a Word attachment
• Acceptance letters will be sent via e-mail by December 22, 2006
• For more information, contact Anne Banda (banda@uwm.edu) or Sylvia Forbes (forbes@uwm.edu), or call (414) 229-3995.

Sponsored by Center for Cultural Diversity and Global Health, Continuing Education and Outreach Programs, College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). Additional support provided by the Cultures and Communities Program at UWM, and the UWM Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Cosponsored by the House of Peace Community Center; Injury Research Center, Medical College of Wisconsin; and the UWM Peace Studies Program.

Open House International:

Click here: http://archnet.org/calendar/item.tcl?calendar_id=47660
and here: http://www.openhouse-int.com/publishing.html

The Peace Education Center invites you to attend a special brown bag conversation with distinguished visiting international scholar:

Amada Benavides de Pérez
Peace Education & HUMAN RIGHTS in Colombia
Tuesday, November 7
5:00-6:30pm

Teachers College, Columbia University
Room 179 Grace Dodge
(525 West 120th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam)
NO RSVP REQUIRED

AMADA BENAVIDES DE PÉREZ is the Chairperson of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, Office of the High Commissioner Human Rights, Geneva, and President of Schools of Peace Foundation, Colombia. Licensed in Education, with a Master degree in International Relations, she is a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Campaign for Peace Education. She is also the former Dean of the Postgraduate Department at Escuela Superior de Administración Pública.

For further information on this and other Peace Education Center events:
www.tc.edu/PeaceEd
peace-ed@tc.edu – (212) 678-8116

Insights into the Secretary General's Report on Violence Against Women

Date: Thursday November 16, 2006
(Please note this is not our regular 2nd Thursday.)
Time: 1:00-2:30 PM
Location: Church Center of the UN
777 UN Plaza, 2nd Floor
(44th and 1st Ave.)
New York, NY 10017

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

Featured Speakers
-Heidi Lehmann, Senior Gender-Based Violence Technical Advisor, International Rescue Committee (Confirmed)
-Rachel Mayanja, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations (Invited)
-Representative of the Third Committee (Invited)
-Moderator: Leslie Wright, Chair, Subcommittee on Violence Against Women, NGO Committee on the Status of Women (Confirmed)

Background
Co-hosted by UNA-USA's Council of Organization and the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, this event will talk about the recently released Secretary General's report on violence against women, what key NGO concerns are in relation to the report, aspects of violence that NGOs see in their work, and follow up steps that the UN and NGO community can take in moving forward to prevent violence against women.

The SECOND NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM on COMBAT STRESS INJURIES:
Theory, Research, and Practice For Those Who Bore the Battle [1] :

Organized by the College of Social Work's Florida State University Traumatology Institute, Collegiate Veterans Association--Alpha Chapter (FSU), VeteransandFamilies.Org , and the National Veterans Foundation

PRIO Student Scholarships 2007
Application deadline: 15 November 2006

The International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) has three to five vacant student scholarships for master’s degree students who have completed their coursework and are in the process of writing theses.
Scholarships will be granted for a period of six to twelve months, commencing in January 2007. For successful applicants, PRIO offers a monthly stipend of NOK 3,500. Students may be in residence at their home university or at PRIO’s offices in Hausmanns gate 7 in Oslo. Students in residence at PRIO will be given access to institute facilities – library services, photocopiers, etc. Each student will be assigned a supervisor from among PRIO’s staff and encouraged to take part in the institute’s scholarly activities.

We encourage applications from students whose theses focus on themes within the fields of our research programmes. A short description of each of the research programmes at PRIO and the Centre for the Study of Civil War is included below. More information is available at our website www.prio.no.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Teaching the Sociology of Peace, War, and Military Institutions: A Curriculum Guide (4th Edition)

We invite submissions for the fourth edition of this curriculum guide, to be published by the Teaching Resource Center, American Sociological Association. The 2nd and 3rd editions, published in 1998 and 2003 respectively, were well received by social scientists in a variety of fields. A revision of the previous edition is urgently needed, in light of the events of September 11, 2001 and continued scholarship surrounding the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and other places around the world.

We welcome submissions from sociologists in diverse fields, who do not need to be members of the ASA section on Peace, War, & Social Conflicts.

The fourth edition of the curriculum guide will consist of three sections with the bulk of the material in Section II:

Section I: Essays on best practices for teaching
Section II: Syllabi and other instructional materials
Section III: Bibliographies and lists of websites

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Section I: Best practice essays. We would particularly welcome essays/reprints on:
- The impact on pedagogy of the attacks of September 11, 2001
- War in Afghanistan, Iraq or other locale
- Relationships between violence and war on the one hand, and social injustice and/or environmental damage on the other
- Field research and/or service-learning assignments
- Incorporating discussion of peace, war and social conflict into courses whose primary topic is something else (e.g. introductory sociology, or courses on deviance, the life course, medical sociology, etc. )

Section II: Syllabi, assignments, handouts and other instructional materials.
- Courses that survey peace, war, military institutions, or social conflict.
- Geographic areas where there is serious conflict (e.g. the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia)
- Terrorism
- Forms of structural violence (e.g. conflicts based in social inequality and environmental degradation)
- Analyses of policies (e.g. on law enforcement, the military-industrial complex, weapons, or weapons systems)
- The military as a social institution (e.g. inequalities in the military or the sociology of [insert military here])
- Peace movements and allied movements (e.g. civil rights, feminism, environmentalism)
- Constructive alternatives to violent conflict (e.g. non-violent protest, conflict resolution)

N.B. All syllabi should be accompanied and preceded by a 100-300 word description of your campus and the context in which the course is taught (e.g., type of school, size, level of the course, prerequisites, demographics of students, etc). Below are two examples:

Washington State University has 18,000 students. Completion of diversity courses (designated as "D" courses) is required of all undergraduates. This "Peace Rhetoric" course fulfilled this "D" requirement, and consisted primarily of sophomores and juniors. This served as a model course since it was awarded with and funded by an American Diversity Mini-Grant from WSU's College of Liberal Arts. One overarching course goal was to demonstrate that a nonviolence-oriented course could serve as an excellent vehicle for teaching about diversity, which is often thought of as merely a politically correct term, through the real-world prism of human rights and historical to contemporary literary records of social movements for justice (e.g., anti-slavery; civil rights, etc.). The course also emphasizes skills in visual literacy so students can analyze/critique symbolic, media, and other televisual literary forms.

***

The goal of the course, “The Sociology of Aggression, Social Conflict, and War” is to synthesize individual-level explanations of violence with the theories and research on group- and societal-level violence. Western Illinois University has just over 13,000 students and this course is considered an elective. While the course was originally designed for an upper-level undergraduate course with about 30-40 students, it can easily be adapted to either a lower-level or graduate course by adding or subtracting to the readings and assignments.

Section III: Bibliographies and lists of websites. Not mutually-exclusive categories. We give precedence to contributions that are short, i.e. 3 pages or less. Where websites are included, please (a) focus on sites that are long-lived, (b) indicate, if necessary, the organization hosting a site, and/or whether the organization is an advocacy one.

Deadline for Submissions: December 15, 2006

Submission format:
Please send an electronic document as an e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word format, readable for an IBM computer
Materials are expected to be already checked for spelling and grammar
10 to 12 inch Times New Roman font
Margins should be one inch, top and bottom, left and right
Keep in mind that these margins are needed for two-sided copying and binding
Accepted materials may require editorial modification especially with unusually constructed syllabi
Single-space syllabi/course materials and bibliographies, double-space essays
Use double-spacing between paragraphs, and between sections and sub-sections
English-only but, we more than welcome submissions from outside the U.S.A.
Please send specific materials to the following:

Essays/Empirical Studies on Pedagogy of Peace, War, or the Military Institution:

Morten G. Ender, Ph.D.
Sociology Program Director
Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership
Thayer Hall 282E
United States Military Academy
West Point, NY 10996
tel: 845.938.5638
morten.ender@usma.edu
http://www.dean.usma.edu/departments/bsl/default.htm

West Point in the Making of America at: http://americanhistory.si.edu/westpoint/

Peace or War Materials:

Lynne Woehrle
Department of Behavioral Science
Mount Mary College
2900 N. Menomonee River Parkway
Milwaukee, WI 53222
414-258-4810 ext413
woehrlel@mtmary.edu

Military Institutions or War Materials:

Ryan Kelty, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Department of BS&L
United States Military Academy
West Point, NY 10996
ph: 845-938-6457

ryan.kelty@usma.edu

Call for Proposals: Inter-American Summit on Conflict Resolution Education

Dear Colleagues:

Please see the call for proposals for the Inter-American Summit on Conflict Resolution Education March 14th – 17th, 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Additional information regarding the Summit will be available on the Global Issues Resource Center Web site at: www.tri-c.edu/community/girc on October 30th, 2006. Please widely circulate this call for proposals. They are due November 10th, 2006.

Inter-American Summit on
Conflict Resolution Education
First-Time Event
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
March 14th – 17th, 2007

Global Issues Resource Center, Office of Community Continuing Education at Cuyahoga Community College and The Organization of American States will host a four-day Inter-American Summit on Conflict Resolution Education in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. This event will bring together government representatives from among the 50 states and 34 countries of the Americas and their non-governmental organization partners who have legislation or policies in place to deliver conflict resolution education at the K-12 level and in colleges of teacher education.

This first-ever Summit offers a dynamic opportunity to develop a hemispheric infrastructure throughout the Americas to advance the work in the fields of conflict resolution education and peace education. The Summit will bring together policymakers and educators representing regions across the United States and select member countries of the OAS representing North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. These national and international educators will exchange program best practices, evaluation methodology, creation of policy implementation structures, and consideration of obstacles to success. This event offers a needed opportunity for college students, college faculty, university scholars, K-12 educators, public health officials, prevention specialists, and state, local, and national policy makers in the Americas to convene in one location to learn more about the most current work being undertaken.

March 14th and 15th: the event is open nationally and internationally to anyone who wishes to attend. Presenters will share examples of best practices within their states and nations, implementation models, and evaluation results.

March 16th and 17th, 2007: featuring closed policy meetings engaging teams of state and federal government agencies and their NGOs/University Partners. Teams may work on self-selected threads – evaluation, creation of policy, and best practices in creating the structures for K-12 and Higher Education policy implementation.

A compilation of the work in the states and countries will be published for distribution to all attendees and other interested policymakers in the United States, the Americas and the Caribbean.

Keynote Speakers include:

Dr. Gonzalo Retamal (Chilean), Visiting Professor on Education in Emergencies and Post Conflict, at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. Former Senior Research Specialist, UNESCO Institute for Education and former Senior Education Officer, UNHCR. Co -Head of the Ministry of Culture for the Joint Interim Administration of United Nations in Kosovo (UNMIK). UNESCO representative in Iraq for the ‘Food for Oil’ programme. Senior Education Advisor for Humanitarian Assistance at the UNESCO International Bureau of Education in Geneva and with UNESCO in Eastern Africa. Chief of the School Education Programme of UNRWA in the Middle East.

Dr. Janet Patti (USA), Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Hunter College. Co-Director of the Leadership Center at Hunter College and Coordinator of the Education Administration and Supervision Aspiring Leaders Program. Member of the Leadership Team of the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Vice President of Affiliate Affairs of the New York State Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Faculty member of the City University of New York’s Graduate Center doctoral faculty and the School of Professional Studies faculty of Social, Emotional and Academic Education.

Summit Features:

Launching of the International Conflict Resolution Education Website
Workshops and panels led by experts, showcasing best practices in the hemisphere
Exhibits of current international resources

Who Should Attend:

College faculty, staff and students; k-12 educators and administrators; public health officials; prevention specialists; state, local and national policymakers in the Americas

Costs: There will be a registration fee for the Summit on March 14th and 15th, 2007 with special rates for presenters and college students.

Planning Committee Members
Association for Conflict Resolution
Center for Dispute Resolution, University of Maryland
European Centre for Conflict Prevention
Global Issues Resource Center, Cuyahoga Community College
Interfaith Center for Peace
Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office
Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management
Ohio Department of Education
Ohio Department of Health
Ohio Resource Network, E-Based Prevention
The Organization of American States
Temple University

Current Co-Sponsors

National Peace Foundation
United Services for Effective Parenting

Current Partners

Ohio Domestic Violence Network

Jennifer Batton
Director
Global Issues Resource Center
Cuyahoga Community College - Eastern Campus
4250 Richmond Rd.
Highland Hills, OH 44122-6195
Tel: 216-987-2231
Fax: 216-987-2133
E-mail: Jennifer.Batton @ tri-c.edu

Let your life speak.

The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to global security.

Elise M. Boulding Student Paper Awards

The Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section of the American Sociological Association invites undergraduate and graduate students to submit a paper on any topic related to the sociology of peace, war, military institutions, or social conflict for the 2007 Elise M. Boulding Student Paper Award competition.

AWARDS:Two awards are offered: one for best paper by a graduate student(s) (masters or doctoral level); and one for the best paper written by an undergraduate(s).Award winners are expected but not required to be present at the 2006 ASA meeting to present their papers. The winners will be officially introduced and presented with the award during the 2007 meeting of the Peace, War and Conflict Section at the ASA.

ELIGIBILITY:The contest is open to any student or former student (within two years) with a high quality paper discussing the sociology of peace, war, or social conflict and related issues. Papers may be multi-authored.

SPECIFICATIONS:Papers must be written within the past two years. They must be typed, double-spaced with a 12-point font. The page limit is 25 pages including tables, references, and illustrations. Each submission should include a separate cover page listing the name of author(s), contact information (including mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address), paper title, and whether the paper was written as an undergraduate or graduate student paper.No student identifying information should appear in the body of the manuscript or on any other page.All students will be notified electronically about their submission and about the final selections.

JUDGING:The Elise M. Boulding Student Paper Award Committee is made-up of a group of members of the ASA Section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict. The committee encourages papers on a broad range of subjects related to these themes. If you have questions please contact Joyce Apsel at jaa5@nyu.edu

DEADLINE:Students should send four (4) copies of their papers and a cover letter with name, affiliation, and contact information by April 15, 2007 to:

Dr. Joyce Apsel, Master Teacher of Humanities
New York University
Chair, Elise M. Boulding Student Paper Award Committee
General Studies Program
726 Broadway 6th floor
New York, NY 10003

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

Graduate Student Fellowships

The Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict of the American Sociological Association would like to announce the 2006 Peace, War and Social Conflict Graduate Student Fellowships. This fellowship was created as a result of a generous gift from a Section member who wanted to commemorate those United Nations officials, including the late High Commissioner of Human Rights, Sergio Viera de Mello, who lost their lives while working to reduce violence. The awards will be made to two graduate students in the form of fellowships that will pay their ASA and Peace, War and Social Conflict Section membership fees for one year. Fellows will be asked to contribute a research note on their own work or a brief book review on a work related to human rights for publication in the Section newsletter. Interested graduate students should send a one-page letter of application describing their interests in the sociology of peace, war and social conflict, their contact information including e-mail, phone and institutional affiliation, and a letter of nomination from one professor (sent under separate cover). If you have questions, contact Joyce Apsel at jaa5@nyu.edu

The deadline for applications is February 15, 2007. Please send applications to:

Joyce Apsel, Master Teacher of Humanities
New York University
Chair, Graduate Student Award Committee
General Studies Program
726 Broadway 6th floor
New York, NY 10003

Lee A. Smithey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Peace and Conflict Studies, Chair
Swarthmore College
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081

Telephone: (610) 690-2064
Fax: (610) 328-7754
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/SocAnth
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/peace/

World Citizens Reject Torture, BBC Global Poll Reveals
A majority of people around the world are opposed to torture even if its purpose is to elicit information that could save innocent lives from terrorism, according to a BBC World Service poll of more than 27,000 people in 25 different countries.

The poll shows that 59 percent of the world’s citizens are unwilling to compromise on the protection of human rights while 29 percent think governments should be allowed to use some degree of torture in order to combat terrorism.

Most Americans (58%) are against any use of torture. But opposition to torture in the United States is less robust than in Europe. The percentage of Americans favoring the practice in certain cases (36%) is one of the highest among the 25 countries polled.

The survey of 27,407 respondents across 25 countries was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork from May through July 2006.

Read more here.

The Annual Conference on Peace Education in Canada provides opportunities for peace educators (from all walks of life) to collaborate, learn, exchange knowledge, and to inform the national strategy for peace education in Canada. Participants in past years have included teachers, researchers, parents, military, civil servants, non-governmental organizations (national and international), academics, artists, youth, and many others. The conference includes a mixture of workshops, presentations, key-note speakers, open discussions, and a trade fair.

The fifth annual conference will be held once again at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada from November 24 through 26, 2006, with the following keynote addresses:

· Dr. Samantha Nutt, Founder and Executive Director of War Child Canada, an independent charitable organisation working across North America and around the world to assist children affected by war and to raise awareness for children's rights everywhere.

· Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt, Assistant Professor and Associate Chair of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour at McMaster University, recently awarded a one million dollar grant to develop a community-based approach to bullying, involving physicians, teachers, youth workers, police officers, policy makers and others in a community-wide effort.

· Dr. Metta Spencer, Professor Emeritus and past Coordinator of the Peace and Conflict Studies programme at University of Toronto, who has recently published Two Aspirins and a Comedy: How Television Can Enhance Health and Society about the potentials not often considered for television comedy and drama.

· Dr. Yaser Haddara, Vice-President of the Muslim Association of Canada and Professor of Engineering at McMaster University, who has been known for speaking about Islamic issues to student and interfaith groups.

The conference will also contain workshops presented by:

· UNICEF Canada
· Balkans Peace Parks Project
· Canada Department of Peace Initiative
· Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace
· The Sustainable Scale Project
· Mile in Her Shoes Campaign
as well as the following local organizations:

· Hamilton Raging Grannies
· Theatre of Liberation Community Project
· SkyDragon Community Co-Operative
· McMaster Centre for Peace Studies
· Hamilton Culture of Peace Network

Please see http://pec.pacss.ca/ for more information and to register on-line. Registration rates for the weekend are as little as $20. Organizations are welcomed to register for a display table. Please contact us at pec.2006@pacss.ca if you have any questions.

Rob Porter

--
Robert Gerald Porter, B.A.
Annual Conference on Peace Education in Canada
McMaster University
Hamilton, ON, Canada
porterrg @ mcmaster.ca

SFCG Update - October 2006

Search for Common Ground received three awards of distinction during the
month of October:
- for our media work around the world
- for our contribution to the juvenile justice system in Ukraine
- for our commitment to nurturing the human spirit at work

Images and Voices of Hope Award for Media
SFCG's media programs throughout the world were recognized with an Images and Voices of Hope Award for Transforming the Public Space Through Media, presented at the IVOH Summit early in October.
In presenting the award, IVOH Co-Founder Judy Rogers commented, "In a time of extraordinary transition, much that is old dies away; new paradigms begin to form. Media often tends to be riveted on the world that is unraveling, amplifying the despair that many are feeling. It takes a certain level of inner quiet and collective consideration to begin to make out the contours of the world ahead. Images and Voices of Hope provides the space for media professionals to reflect on their impact on humanity and consider one of the most important contributions they can make: to illuminate what gives life and hope to humanity in this emerging world."
Images and Voices of Hope is an initiative of the Institute for Advanced Appreciative Inquiry, the Brahma Kumaris Organization, and Visions of a Better World Foundation.

Official Recognition in Ukraine
SFCG in Ukraine has received a special award from the Juvenile Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for their contribution to the development of restorative justice programs within the juvenile justice system.
Since 2003 SFCG-Ukraine engaged in building awareness of restorative justice among the legal profession through a series of programs including:
- the development of Ukrainian language restorative justice website
- articles in professional journals
- seminars for Ukrainian judges, police and public prosecutors
- three international conferences on Restorative Justice in Kiev
- production of a training video
- international exchange study tours
- the development of 8 restorative justice centers across Ukraine
T he project inspired the Ministry of Justice to develop new legislation introducing restorative justice programs into the criminal justice system in Ukraine.

2006 International Spirit at Work Award
This award honors exemplary organizations that are deeply committed to nurturing the human spirit. The focus is on what is working and what is inspiring. It provides an opportunity for leading edge organizations to tell their stories and to be a model for other organizations that many want to emulate their practices.
"These are successful public and private organizations that have integrated high ethical standards with spiritual values and practices that inspire and honor their stakeholders," said Judi Neal, Executive Director for the Association for Spirit at Work. "These organizations are showing us a better way. They have recognized that honoring the human spirit actually results in a more sustainable and financially successful business operation."
Thirty-one companies from eleven countries have been honored by the Association for Spirit at Work, during the last four years, including The Body Shop (UK), The Times of India, Elcoteq Communications Technology GmbH (Germany), Medtronics (US), and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Search for Common Ground is one of the few non-profit organizations to receive the award.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

in diesem Newsletter möchten wir Sie auf unser November-Programm aufmerksam machen, nicht ohne noch einmal an das heute um 19.30 Uhr stattfindende Dialogforum mit Prof. Dr. Tirmiziou Diallo zum Thema "Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Wissenschaftsdialogs zwischen Europa und Afrika" (Haus der Demokratie) zu erinnern. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/839

VERANSTALTUNGEN NOVEMBER

Filmmaking Workshop with internationally acclaimed African Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo
On Saturday, 25 November 2006, AfricAvenir International e.V. invites you to an intensive one-day workshop with internationally acclaimed and award winning filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo at the Werkstatt der Kulturen in Berlin. The workshop has been conceived both for people taking first steps in filmmaking, as well as students interested in innovative and unconventional methods. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/862

Deutschlandpremiere von Jean-Pierre Bekolos “Les Saignantes”
Im Rahmen der Filmreihe “African Perspectives” laden AfricAvenir International und die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) am Sonntag, den 26. November, um 17.15 Uhr zur Deutschlandpremiere von Jean-Pierre Bekolos avantgardistischem Politthriller „Les Saignantes“ in das Berliner Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Der Film läuft im Original (französisch) mit englischen Untertiteln. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit dem Regisseur Jean-Pierre Bekolo statt. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/08/677

NEUE ONLINE PUBLIKATIONEN

Langue, libération et développement
Article par le Prince Kum’a Ndumbe III, présenté lors du Symposium à l’occasion de l’Année des Langues Africaines 2006 “Africa – a mosaic of languages” à l’Université de Vienne, 18-20 octobre 2006. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/860

De la diversité linguistique en Afrique du Sud
Par Michel Lafon. Cet article a été publié en 2005 dans: Guillaume/Séjout/Wa Kabwe Segatti: L’Afrique du Sud dix ans après - Transition accomplie? IFAS/Karthala, 2005 et aborde la question suivante: Comment transformer un facteur de division en un outil de construction nationale? http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/844

Interview von Ö1 (ORF) mit Prof. Kum’ a Ndumbe III.
Life-Interview des österreichischen Rundfunks mit Prof. Kum a Ndumbe III., anlässlich des Symposiums “Afrika - Kontinent der sprachlichen Vielfalt” in der Sendung “Von Tag zu Tag: Die vielen Gesichter Afrikas”, Donnerstag, 19. Oktober 2006, 14:05 Uhr. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/840

Tagungsbericht: „Rasse“. Historische und diskursive Perspektiven
Bericht von Noemi Yoko Molitor über die Tagung „Rasse“. Historische und diskursive Perspektiven, die am 4. – 6. November 2005, Zentrum für Literaturforschung in Berlin stattfand. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/770

WEITERE HINWEISE

Vortrag: Afrika angesichts der globalisierten Welt und die Rolle der panafrikanischen Diaspora
Am 03.11.2006 wird der internationale Koordinator des Weltrats der panafrikanischen Diaspora Prof. Kapet de Bana um 18.15 Uhr im Restaurant Calebasse einen Vortrag über "Afrika angesichts der globalisierten Welt und die Rolle der panafrikanischen Diaspora" halten. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/864

Konzert: Johnny Clegg & Savuka im Kesselhaus
Am 09. November um 21.00 Uhr tritt die legendäre südafrikanische Band Johnny Clegg und Savuka im Kesselhaus der Kulturbrauerei auf. Die Band präsentiert ihr brandneues Album “One Life”. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/861

Forumtheater - Kommunikation - Konflikte
Vom 17. - 19. November 2006 bietet Marek Spitczok von Brisinski einen Workshop zu Konfliktbearbeitung mit theatralen Methoden im Akazienhof in Berlin an. Anmeldung notwendig. http://africavenir.com/news/2006/10/768

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.

Internationaler Kongress „Politische Bildung neu denken“
16.-18. November 2006
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Österreich
Veranstalter: Zentrum für Friedensforschung und Friedenspädagogik

Unterrichtende im Bereich Politische Bildung sind ständig aufgefordert, ihre Inhalte mit aktuellen Bezügen zu verknüpfen und auf Veränderungen im gesellschaftlichen und politischen Umfeld zu reagieren. Gleichzeitig wird von Lehrenden erwartet, dass sie Entscheidungen über die Inhalte politischer Bildung, die pädagogischen Intentionen und die Gestaltung von Lernsituationen treffen. All dies geschieht in einem sich ständig komplexer vernetzenden Raum, der eine Orientierung erschwert und den individuellen Entscheidungsdruck erhöht.

Der geplante Kongress soll daher
• anhand ausgewählter Praxisfelder eine kritische Bilanz Politischer Bildung ziehen;
• speziell für Österreich den seit bald 30 Jahren bestehenden Grundsatzerlass „Politische Bildung“ neu und zeitgemäß zu interpretieren;
• aktuelle Diskussionsansätze in Teilbereichen der Politischen Bildung vorstellen;
• die europäische Dimension der Politischen Bildung stärker akzentuieren und die Europäische Union als Adressat und Arbeitsfeld bildungspolitischer Lobbyarbeit herausstreichen;
• als konkretes Beispiel die bildungspolitische Kooperation forcieren und Gelegenheit eines inhaltlichen Austausches sein.

Hauptreferate
A.o.Univ. Prof. Dr. Werner Wintersteiner (Universität Klagenfurt), Prof. Dr. Hans Peter Dürr (Träger des Alternativen Friedensnobelpreises, München), Prof. Dr. Marianne Gronemeyer (Fachhochschule Wiesbaden) und Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christoph Wulf (Freie Universität Berlin) werden im Rahmen der Hauptreferate zu Aspekten Postmoderne, Globalisierung, atomare Bedrohungsszenarien, ökologische Fragestellungen und internationale politische Rahmenbedingungen als Herausforderungen für eine zeitgemäße politische Bildung referieren. Eingehende Diskussionen zu den einzelnen Vorträgen sind vorgesehen.

Impulsreferate zu Teilbereichen der Politischen Bildung
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Herbert Dachs (Universität Salzburg), Politische Bildung in Österreich
Ao.Univ-Prof. Dr. Kurt Luger (Universität Salzburg), Kommunikation für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung (Kommunikationstechnologien in der Bildungsarbeit)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sieglinde Rosenberger (Universität Wien), Gendersensitive Bildung
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Klaus Seitz (Universität Hannover), Globales Lernen in weltbürgerlicher Gesellschaft. Zur Neuorientierung der Politischen Bildung in der postnationalen Konstellation
Prof. Dr. Johannes Esser (Fachhochschule und Universität Lüneburg), Friedenspädagogik – eine elitäre Disziplin?
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Auernheimer (Universität Köln), Interkulturelles Lernen
Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Franz Rauch (Universität Klagenfurt), Bildung und nachhaltige
Entwicklung
In ihren Beiträgen werden die ReferentInnen ihr jeweiliges Feld kurz darstellen und auf Aufgaben, Methoden und Praxiserfahrungen eingehen.

Podiumsdiskussion
Mag. Manfred Wirtitsch (bm:bwk, Abteilungsleiter der Abteilung Politische Bildung und Umweltbildung)
Mag. Walther Schütz, Leiter des Bündnis für Eine Welt, Kärnten
Dr. Franz Halbartschlager (Südwindagentur Wien)
Mag. Rosana Halbkram-Lenz (Lehrerin am Erich Fried Gymnasium Wien) u.a.
Im Rahmen der Podiumsdiskussion sollen die verschiedenen theoretischen Inputs mit den konkreten Erfahrungen von PraktikerInnen gespiegelt werden sowie Handlungs- und Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten für die Praxis der Politischen Bildung gesucht werden.

Seeds of change, die Earth-Charta
Ausstellung „Seeds of Change, The Earth Charter and Human Potential“ 16.-29. November 2006, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt
Die Tagung „Politische Bildung neu denken“ ist in die wunderschöne Ausstellung „Earth Charta
– Values and principles for a sustainable future and a tool for education on sustainable development“ eingebettet.
Die Ausstellung eignet sich für den Besuch von Erwachsenen und Jugendlichen aller Altersstufen.

Nähere Informationen
Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt
Zentrum für Friedensforschung und Friedenspädagogik
Mag. Daniela Rippitsch, Sterneckstraße 15, 9020 Klagenfurt,Tel.: +43 / (0)463 / 2700-6154,
daniela.rippitsch@uni-klu.ac.at
Mag. Dr. Bettina Gruber, Universitätsstraße 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, bettina.gruber@uni-klu.ac.at
MMag. Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle, Sterneckstraße 15, 9020 Klagenfurt
kathrin.stainer-haemmerle@uni-klu.ac.at
Teilnahmegebühr: 30 Euro / erm. 15 Euro (beinhaltet Tagungsunterlagen, Pausengetränke sowie Mittags- und Abendbuffets)
Der Kongress findet dank der freundlichen Unterstützung von Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Land Kärnten–Frauenreferat, bm:bwk, Kärntner Universitätsbund und Donau-Universität Krems statt.