World Public Says Iraq War Has Increased Global Terrorist Threat
Favors Early Withdrawal from Iraq

Questionnaire/Methodology

A new global poll finds that in 33 of 35 countries surveyed, the most common view is that the war in Iraq has increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks around the world. On average, 60 percent of the respondents have this perception, while just 12 percent think the Iraq war has decreased the likelihood of terrorist attacks; another 15 percent think it has had no effect ...

Please read more at http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/172.php?nid=&id=&pnt=172&lb=hmpg1

The Go-Between
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News Magazine
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4723320.stm

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who oversaw the post-apartheid reconciliation in his native South Africa, has now brought victims and killers from Northern Ireland's Troubles face to face. He talked about the experience to the BBC News website.

Even though we might think we're hardened to reality television, real-life, raw emotion is still quietly shocking, catching you unawares.

In Facing the Truth, where soldiers and paramilitaries face the families of victims, there are plenty of these moments, with voices catching and tears falling. It sounds like the crying you hear at funerals, not on television shows.

Hosting these encounters is Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who led South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where the victims and perpetrators of violence sought to understand one another.

After recording these televised encounters, he described the "extraordinary moments" where people faced up to the violent events that changed their lives.

...

Please read the entire article on http://.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4723320.stm.

Additions to Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace web site February 27, 2006

Have fun and be happy,
Bob Stewart

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

Upcoming Events http://www.peace.ca/upcoming.htm :

MARCH 8, 2006 - DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBAL INEQUALITY YOUTH SYMPOSIUM, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) is seeking the participation of enthusiastic and bright young Canadians enrolled in a post-secondary education program or in the initial stages of career development and non-Canadians enrolled in a degree program at a Canadian university or college in its annual Youth Symposium to be held on March 8, 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia. This year's symposium is organized around the theme of development and global inequality. We invite young Canadians enrolled in a post-secondary education program or in the early stages of their career development to become involved as panelists and/or delegates. The symposium will address the following broad themes in moderated panels of 3-4 speakers: a) Poverty and security; b) Natural resources, conflict, governance; c) Canadian development policy. Please visit the symposium website for more details about the event, submission guidelines and travel/accommodation subsidies: www.ciia.org/youthsymposium2006.htm ; Karen Lu, Program Coordinator, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 205 Richmond Street, Suite 302, Toronto, ON M5V 1V3; Tel: 416-977-9000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            416-977-9000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting Ext. 28; Fax: 416-977-7521; Email: klu@ciia.org

March 4 to April 4, 2006 - Night of A Thousand Dinners (N1KD), a Canadian innovation, is the world's largest benefit for humanitarian landmine action. Please join us - host a small event and rid the world of these dreadful things. How hard is a pot luck at home? Coffee-time after church? Lunch at the office? However you participate, we provide a Host kit so yours will be an informed gathering.
For more information and registration, please visit www.clmf.org. Every cent contributed through this campaign will be used to fund mine action projects. When wars end, the surviving soldiers take their weapons and go home. Not landmines. They stay in the ground. They don't wear out. They don't know the difference between war and peace. They don't know the difference between the footsteps of a soldier and the footsteps of a child. It's easy to lose the landmine issue in the number of natural and medical disasters that surround us. This is a man-made disaster that doesn't often get media profile but continues to impact on the most disenfranchised people in the world. However, there is one thing that truly distinguishes this issue - it can be fixed in our lifetime. Break bread together in the interest of peace. Make dinner not War. For more info: Scott Fairweather, President and CEO, Canadian Landmine Foundation, 1623 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M4T 2A1; Phone: 416 365 9461 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            416 365 9461      end_of_the_skype_highlighting x22 Fax 416 365 7019; email: scott@clmf.org ; www.clmf.org

March 13-16, 2006 - An Experiential Workshop - Working with Open Space Technology. Unity on the Mountain Retreat Center, 21 Rosedene Avenue, Hamilton, ON Canada. Working with Open Space Technology is a four- day, highly experiential workshop that will take you on a deep learning journey. You will learn simple, practical and holistic ways to facilitate meetings using Open Space Technology, to work with the sponsor to achieve maximum benefit from the meetings and to prepare yourself to facilitate. You will leave this experiential, interactive workshop equipped with practical and holistic tools and frameworks that will enable you to: Facilitate Open Space Technology (OST) meetings that are 4 hours to several days in length; Decide when to use Open Space Technology; Work with a sponsor to plan highly successful Open Space Technology meetings by ensuring the meeting has the right theme, with the right constraints ('givens'), for the right length of time; Assist the sponsor to reap maximum benefits from the results following the Open Space Technology meeting. Each workshop includes a workbook to support ongoing learning. All participants have access to support and mentorship following the training through an international network of consultants. For more info, contact Michelle Cooper, email: mcooper@integralvisions.com ; phone: 905-648-4633 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            905-648-4633      end_of_the_skype_highlighting ; web: http://www.integralvisions.com

March 13-15, 2006 - I am the Deputy Director for the Fund for the Erevna International Peace Center in Bethesda, MD, USA, a support organization for an international Peace Center being built on the Island of Cyprus. Our working meeting entitled "Elements of Peace II" is being held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC on March 13-15, 2006 and we would be honored if you'd consider joining us. I invite you to visit our website for details about our organization and upcoming program at www.feipc.org. In addition to the first day of presentations by theorists and activists alike, we will have two days following, by invitation only, of facilitated small and large group discussions to articulate the common "elements" of the peace programs presented. May I send you an information/registration brochure for our meeting? If so, please respond with your mailing address and please free as well to include the names of any other colleagues that you feel might be interested in participating as well. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Susan P. Priester, Deputy Director, Fund for the Erevna International Peace Center, 9104 Quintana Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817; 301-469-9479 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            301-469-9479      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; email Sbpp98@aol.com ; web www.feipc.org

March 22 - 23, 2006 - the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution (CICR), Civilian Peace Service Canada (CPSC) and the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies invite you to a two-day workshop, March 22-23.06 at St. Paul University in Ottawa entitled "Peacebuilding As a Profession - Developing Competencies and Curriculum for Unarmed Peacebuilding". The workshop will be following up on the Feb.7-9, 2005 CPS Consultation and be central to the course "Contemporary Peace Building - Building an Architecture of Peace" which Dr. Peter Stockdale is teaching in the Winter semester, as part of St. Paul's Conflict Studies Program (with which Nonviolent Peaceforce Canada partnered for the CPS Consultation). The March 22-23, 2006 workshop is meant to be the first in a series of consultations and workshops in which trainers, trainees, activists, administrators, organizers and students in the field of nonviolent conflict prevention and management come together for the purpose of arriving, step by step, at a consensus on what the basic qualifications for a Professional Peaceworker might be. Further, the workshop will guide us to determine what training, education and experience are required to produce a Professional Peaceworker. We aim to identify the trends and gaps with a view to professionalizing peace work. Categorically, we have no wish or intention to re-invent the wheel. It is a matter of strengthening our international network and aiding the transition from peace building as a religious calling to a secular profession. For more info: Peter Stockdale, PhD, Professor, Contemporary Peacebuilding Conflict Studies, St. Paul University and President, Global Bridge, 42 - 3019 Fairlea Crescent, Ottawa, Canada K1V ON8; emailto: globalbridge@rogers.com

March 27-31, 2006 - PEACEKEEPING, RECONSTRUCTION AND STABILITY OPERATIONS IN AFRICA 2006: Deploying Successful Support, Peacekeeping and Developmental Missions in Africa, Indaba Hotel, Fourways, South Africa. WHO YOU WILL MEET AND WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS CONFERENCE: The conference has been researched and designed for senior level professionals, key decision makers, users, providers, academics, designers and manufacturers from the military, civil industry, Government agencies, NGOs, parliamentary bodies, foreign parliaments, foreign embassies, high commissions, national research and training agencies with the following responsibilities: Ministers Deputy Ministers Secretary Generals Deputy Secretary Generals Managing Directors National Directors Serving Millitary Personnel Senior Government Officials Diplomats NGO’s Special Missions Business Development Directors Aquisition Heads Peacekeeping Operations International Organisations Regional Organisations International Financial Institutions Goverment Aid Agencies Research Centres Information Networks Humanitarian Organisations. Defence IQ provides senior military, government and industry representatives with informative conferences in an informal environment, discussing the latest plans, requirements, programmes and technologies. The emphasis we place on quality enables us to offer you consistently high level programmes resulting in a delegate profile which will ensure you get the most out of your time with is than anywhere else. IQPC’s team of researchers have first haven experience of military organisations and the defence industry and are uniquely positioned to put together our leading events, tackling the issues important to you and bringing tangible benefits to your organisation. By offering discounted rates to serving military officers, we bring together balanced audiences to share the experience and knowledge of military and research organisations and the defence industry as a whole. The high level delegates at our conferences come from over 45 different countries to attend our forums, so you can be sure of adding new names to your list of contacts at every event. For more information please visit us at www.defenceiq.com . To register, contact Hennie Oosthuizen, Managing Director, (IQPC)South Africa, 4Th Floor,West Twin Towers, Sandton City, Sandton, South Africa; Tel 27 11 669 5000; Fax 27 11 669 5067; E-Mail hennie.oosthuizen@iqpc.co.za ; Website www.iqpc.co.za

March 31 - April 1, 2006 - NOTRE DAME STUDENT PEACE CONFERENCE: "Voices of Today, Changes for Tomorrow", Hesburgh Center. The University of Notre Dame's annual Student Peace Conference will take place on March 31 and April 1, 2006. The conference is officially sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and is planned and directed entirely by undergraduate peace studies students of the University. Titled "Voices of Today, Changes for Tomorrow", the conference highlights student activism, youth leadership, and the role of youth in the peace-building process. The conference will also explore the consequences of war and conflict on your and society. The two-day conference will feature seminars, lectures, artistic performances and exhibits, and a keynote speaker. We welcome undergraduate and graduate peace visionaries of all majors to submit proposals regarding potential presentations. We encourage presentations of peace from all disciplines and perspectives. Sub-themes could focus on, but are not limited to: - Changing Nature of Warfare; - Ethnic Conflict/Resolution; - Women, Children, and Peace; - The Impact of Globalization on Peace; - Transnationalism and Peace; - Religion and Peace-Building; - Peace in a Post 9/11 Society; - International Law; - International, Cross-Cultural, or Inter-Religious Dialogue; - International Organizations and NGOs; - War and the Politics of Memory; - Changing Scholarly and Popular Conceptions of War and Peace; - Strengths and Weaknesses of Existing Peace Movements; - Role of Media in War-Making and Peacekeeping; - Peace in Contemporary Literature; - The Role of the Mediator; - Effects of Propaganda; - Economics of Peace. Online registration for the conference can be done through the Kroc Institute website at www.nd.edu/~krocinst/events/stuconf06.html . This website will also be frequently updated with the Conference agenda and other relevant information; please take advantage of it! The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is very excited to invite all of your to attend this year's conference. Travel arrangements and costs are the responsibility of the attendee, and the Kroc Institute unfortunately is not capable of offering financial support. The University of Notre Dame is located in South Bend, IN and is 90 miles east of Chicago, IL. Lodging is also the responsibility of the attendee, but we have arranged with local hotels to provide discount rates for conference attendees. Some attendees may have the option of staying on the Notre Dame campus with student hosts. Further lodging information will be provided upon your registration. For more info: Kevin Walsh, Conference Chair, and Hal Culbertson Hal.R.Culbertson.1@nd.edu

March 31-April 1, 2006 - Threat and Youth: Cultural Studies Takes On Violence and Education, (USA). As part of the ongoing effort to create and promote cultural studies work at Teachers College, Columbia University (New York), TC Students for a Cultural Studies Initiative (TCSCSI) is sponsoring a Graduate Student Conference entitled “Threat-n-Youth: Cultural Studies Responds to Violence and Education.” The goal is to bring together an international group of faculty and graduate students, along with K-12 educators and their students in an effort to address various issues of violence and education. You may submit papers that address the ongoing, general debate about how Cultural Studies can contribute to and transform education, with a special interest in visual culture, popular culture, new media, media pedagogy, race and gender studies, branding, youth culture, techno-culture, film & television, urban studies, and disability studies. Selected projects will be presented over the course of the two days. For papers submissions, contact Ms. Jessica Lee at: threatnyouth@gmail.com . For further information and registration, go to: http://www.subjectmatters.org/threatnyouth.htm

April 6-7, 2006 - Africa Canada-Forum General Meeting: The two-day ACF General Meeting will be held on April 6-7, 2006 in Ottawa, on “Adapting to Changing Winds: Affirming our actions and advocacy for Africa”. Using a dialogue format with government officials and African colleagues, Forum members will reflect on the main changes in Africa, Canada and the world over the last six years (in the areas of peace and security, democratization and governance, and the fight against poverty) and suggest avenues for the future work of the Forum and its members. For more information or to register, please contact Sylvie Perras at sperras@ccic.ca or (613)241-7007 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (613)241-7007      end_of_the_skype_highlighting ext. 321.

April 10-14, 2006 - Gender and Peacebuilding, (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). This course will provide an introduction to gender studies, and analysis of the complex relationships between gender and social constructions and between gender, race and class privileges. Participants will explore the interdependency between gender and power, focusing on theory and practices of gender roles in different societies. It will seek to explore how understanding of gendered social constructions can help in addressing gender inequalities and promote gender equity and cultures of peace. It will also study militarism, the war system and peace - as expressions of social and gender-based constructions, using examples from the Middle East, South East Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, with emphasis on the Balkans and the US. This programme has been particularly designed for senior, middle-range staff and executive officers working in the fields of gender equity, education, social work, peace building and conflict transformation, human rights, democratization, and human development. For more information go to: http://www.transcend.org/tpd/tp.shtml?x=421

May 1- June 9, 2006 - Women’s Human Rights: Building a Peaceful World in an Era of Globalization, (Toronto, Canada). The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto) brings feminist perspectives and an activist orientation to the inextricably related issues of peace, human rights and life-sustaining development. Participants will gain an understanding of the global economic, ecological, legal, cultural and political contexts of this work, as well as how to deliver human rights education and to work for women's human rights in their own country. For all the details, go to: http://www1.oise.utoronto.ca/cwse/springinst_06.htm or contact Pat Doherty at: springinst@oise.utoronto.ca

May 5 - 15, 2006 - 14th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION, St. Petersburg, Russia. Sponsored by Common Bond Institute (USA) & HARMONY Institute (RUSSIA), in cooperation with the International Humanistic Psychology Association. NOW MORE THAN EVER -- a time that calls for new thinking, new vision, new understanding, and new ways of relating in an increasingly interdependent global community. For info: www.cbiworld.org . JOIN over 50 presenters and hundreds of participants from across the world for another dynamic program and multicultural community experience. A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY / MULTI-CULTURAL CONFERENCE that has received support from Former President Clinton, Former President Yeltsin, St. Petersburg Governor Jakovlev, endorsed by over 80 leading-edge organizations and universities internationally, and part of the Hague Appeal for Peace Civil Society Calendar. - OPEN TO ALL INTENT and FOCUS: The ICR Conference offers an open forum for many perspectives and approaches, exploring conflict transformation within diverse contexts, including: arts/creativity, cross-cultural/ethnic, ecology/environment, economics/business, education, gender, global/regional conflict, health/healing arts, human rights, organizational/community, psychotherapy, and transpersonal/spiritual. Focus is on all aspects of conflict, from the intrapersonal - to the interpersonal - to relationships between groups, organizations, cultures, and societies - and ultimately between us and other species. Many opportunities are provided for intensive dialogues on theory and perceptions of conflict and transformation, sharing programs and curriculums, practical skills training, networking and collaboration, and a powerful intentional community experience. In addition to the variety of topics addressed are emphases on dynamics of "The Other," Terrorism, Trauma, and issues in regions of conflict. For information, proposal and registration forms, CONTACT: COMMON BOND INSTITUTE (USA), Steve Olweean, Coordinator, 12170 S. Pine Ayr Drive, Climax, Michigan 49034. Ph/Fax: 269-665-9393; E-mail: SOlweean@aol.com . Full details available at WEB SITE: www.cbiworld.org

May 12 - 13, 2006 - The International Education for Peace Institute (Canada) in Collaboration with the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) Presents a 2-Day Seminar on: Peaceable Families: Creating Peaceful Families in Culturally Diverse Communities (CR147). Throughout history, the family has operated as the world in miniature; as the arena for individual and social development; and as the workshop of civilization. The family is the most suitable setting for our psychological, social, moral, and spiritual development. It is also the most suitable environment in which the next generations of children grow and form their views about themselves, the world, and the purpose and meaning of life. One of the main challenges throughout the world today is how to create healthy and conflict-free families in communities that are increasingly diverse and burdened with mounting challenges and conflict-producing demands. The seminar is designed to benefit a wide-range of participants: Couples who wish to enrich their families; Government officials, civic leaders and policy makers with primary responsibility for the protection and development of the family; Social workers, health professionals, school counselors, police and emergency service workers, and social institutions involved in helping children, youth, and families; Business and financial institutions; and Academics, researchers, and university students in family-related fields. The seminar will cover five main issues: The nature and dynamics of healthy families; The challenge and the opportunity of gender equality; The unique nature of family conflicts and how to resolve them peacefully; The impact of social change and cultural diversity on marital and familial relationships; and The principles and skills of parenting in a multi-ethnic, global society.
Place: JIBC New Westminster, Canada. Registration Fee: Individuals, $195 + GST; Students, $100 + GST. Registration form: www.jibc.bc.ca/studentServices/main/AcademicServices/HowToApplyAndRegister.htm# . To Register - By Phone: Greater Vancouver 604.528.5590 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            604.528.5590      end_of_the_skype_highlighting (Outside Greater Vancouver only 1.877.528.5591 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1.877.528.5591      end_of_the_skype_highlighting); By Fax: 604.528.5653; By Mail or in Person: 715 McBride Blvd. New Westminster, BC, Canada V3L 5T4. More info: Stacey Makortoff, Academic Program Coordinator, EFP-International (Canada), 101-1001 W. Broadway, Suite 900, Vancouver, B.C., V6H 4E4, Canada; Tel: +1-604-639-7910 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            +1-604-639-7910      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; E-Mail: smakortoff@efpinternational.org ; Web: www.efpinternational.org

June 7 – 10, 2006 - Interaction 2006 – Cultivating Peace: Dialogue, Dispute Resolution and Democracy; 10th biennial national conference; Winnipeg Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 7-10, 2006. Democracy, at its heart, reflects a fundamental principle of dispute resolution: everyone affected by a decision must have a voice in its making. Interaction 2006 -- Cultivating Peace: Dialogue, Dispute Resolution and Democracy will examine the links between constructively resolving interpersonal disputes and creating meaningful democracy. Interaction 2006 -- Canada's largest conflict resolution conference -- will bring together participants from across the country to explore constructive ways to communicate about issues that divide us. Join with dispute resolution educators and practitioners, experts from the emerging field of dialogue and deliberative decision-making and interested members of the public to learn about ways that democracy can be strengthened through constructive conflict resolution. Interaction conferences routinely draw between 500-900 participants from across Canada to share their learnings in the fast-growing field of conflict resolution. Conference sessions include a focus on: schools, families, workplaces, courts, neighbourhoods, healthcare settings, government and media. For more information: Conflict Resolution Network Canada/Réseau pour la résolution de conflits Canada, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G6; Phone: (519) 885-0880 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (519) 885-0880      end_of_the_skype_highlighting Fax: (519) 885-0806; Toll Free: (877) 885-0440 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (877) 885-0440      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; E-mail crnetwork@crnetwork.ca ; web site http://www.crnetwork.ca/conference/vision.asp

June 21 – 25, 2006 - The 5th Annual International Conference on Globalisation for the Common Good: East Asia and Pacific Island Communities - The Quest for Identity, Justice and Peace, at Chaminade University of Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii. In a world of ever changing and rising uncertainty, progress and poverty, divisions and inequality and more — no matter where we live — the pertinent and challenging question to be probed and pondered by all of us is this: How can the debate on global issues become more inclusive and better informed? How can people everywhere, regardless of their creed, race, religion and gender, form a better understanding of what connects and divides nations, societies and cultures in today's world? How can we build a world that is just, free and prosperous? To address these issues and more, The Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative, was launched in Oxford in 2002. Since then, our Common Good Journey has taken us to St. Petersburg (Russia), Dubai (UAE), and Kericho (Kenya). (For details please see: http://www.commongood.info/conferences.html ). For 2006 we will journey to Hawaii, USA, where our conference will be held at Chaminade University of Honolulu. For Hawaii 2006 details please see: http://www.commongood.info/conference2006.html . Please apply early to ensure accommodation at conference venue at Chaminade. The conference team at Chaminade has been working very hard to put the whole programme together and have also created a great dedicated conference web site. Please see: http://acad.chaminade.edu/dept/humanities/commongood . For the Tentative Calendar of Events please see: http://acad.chaminade.edu/dept/humanities/commongood/index_Page957.htm . For Registration and costs please see: http://acad.chaminade.edu/dept/humanities/commongood/index_Page610.htm Please note: for those coming from out side of Hawaii, Plan A and Plan B (for accompanying guests), are fully inclusive. From airport pick-up to airport drop-off, room and board, conference academic activities, social/cultural activities, conference registration, tour of the Island of Oahu, conference package/conference papers(one per family) and the Gala Dinner at the "world class" John Dominus Restaurant, etc; are all covered. Moreover, the proceedings of the conference will be published by late 2006 in a prestigious journal format by Chaminade University for a wide distribution and will be sent to each registered participant as part of registration. There are special packages for participants from Hawaii, please refer to the web site for details. I thank Chaminade University for making all this possible within such a budget. Please do not hesitate to contact me or Dr. David Coleman with any queries that you might have. For all non-academic and admin related questions please contact our Conference Secretary: Ms.Cassandra Sakamoto, Chaminade University of Honolulu, 3140 Waialae Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96816, USA, phone: (808)735-4827 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (808)735-4827      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, fax: (808) 739-8328, email: Cassandra Sakamoto csakamot@chaminade.edu ; Web Site: http://commongood.info

June 22-25, 2006 - The Global Leadership Forum, Leadership for Human Development: Public Sector, Socially Responsible Corporations, Educational and Non-Governmental Organisations Working Together. The International Partnership, Service-Learning and Leadership, New York; The Academy for Educational Development, Washington DC; The Siberian Academy of Public Administration, Novosibirsk, Russia; The Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil; The Eminönü Municipality in Istanbul invite participation and presentations at the The 8th Global Leadership Forum: ISTANBUL - The Challenges of Leadership: 1. Leadership and Public Policy, nationally and internationally; 2. Leadership and new initiatives in the private sector; 3. Leadership in academic institutions, NGOs, and capacity building; 4. Leadership, management and corporate social responsibility. Keynote Speakers: Dr. Linda Chisholm, Founder and Past President, the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership. New York. Dr. Leo Bruno, former Vice-President of Samsung Brazil, Director Center for Leadership Development, Dom Cabral Foundation. Brazil. Registration BEFORE March 1st: US$790 including 5 nights at a 4 star hotel, breakfast and lunch everyday during the conference and a tour of Istanbul. $890 after March 1. For registration: http://www.ipsl.org/organization/June06GLF.html or contact Nevin Brown, President, IPSL, in New York: nbrown@ipsl.org . For presentations, please send 100 word abstracts and 50 word biographical note before April 1, 2006 to Prof. Adel Safty in Istanbul at globalleaders@gmail.com . For information, contact. Arzu Akar at thegloballeadershipforum@gmail.com

June to August, 2006 - The Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT) is pleased to announce the Summer Institute on Peacebuilding & Conflict Resolution (IPCR). IPCR is an intensive 3-week residential program intended to build the capacity of current and future professionals in a variety of fields to make a critical difference in furthering peaceful relations in the world. The course is offered in two locations as follows:
- Santa Cruz, Bolivia: June 10 ­ July 1, 2006
- Jakarta, Indonesia: July 22 ­ August 12, 2006
We are currently accepting applications for English speaking professionals, graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in peace and conflict resolution, international affairs, political science, Latin American studies, Asian studies, anthropology, development and related fields. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in announcing this program to your students and colleagues by posting the enclosed announcement to your listserves and other relevant fora, forwarding it to potentially interested faculty and students, and announcing the program in classes. Please let me know if you would be interested in receiving our BROCHURES about the program, and I would be happy to send you some immediately. For more info: Nike Carstarphen, Ph.D., Senior Partner, Alliance for Conflict Transformation, PO Box 9117, Alexandria, VA 22304; Phone: (1) 703-461-3650 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (1) 703-461-3650      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; Email: ipcr@conflicttransformation.org ; Web: http://www.conflicttransformation.org

July 10-14, 2006 - 14th Annual Center for Peaceable Schools Summer Institute - I=WE Supporting Leadership for Peaceable Schools and Communities, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. Join us at the 14th annual summer institute! Hear keynotes, attend workshops, participate in community meetings, and learn how to: Expand and deepen your knowledge of collaborative leadership; Develop and improve classroom and community tools; Strengthen relationships in your schools and communities; Move past isolation toward collaboration. Contact the Center for Peaceable Schools for more information. CALL: 617.349.8669 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            617.349.8669      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; EMAIL: peace@lesley.edu ; VISIT: www.lesley.edu/info/peace

July 11-16, 2006 - Global Peace and Security in Community Colleges and the Communities They Serve, (Washington DC, USA). The United States Institute of Peace announces a summer seminar designed for community college faculty and administrators to give them an opportunity to carefully examine the nature of international peace and security and how community colleges can relate this to their students and local communities. Presenters will include leading authorities in the study of global peace and conflict, as well as from the field of community college education. The application process is competitive and the Institute will contribute to travel, lodging, and incidental expenses (Deadline: March 25). For all the details and to apply, go to: http://www.usip.org/ed/seminars/ccfs.html

July 16 - 21, 2006 - Advanced Training on International Humanitarian Law. Organizers: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard (HPCR), Cambridge, Massachusetts. "International Humanitarian Law and Current Conflicts: New Challenges and Dilemmas" provides an opportunity for participants to acquire and refine the necessary professional skills to address humanitarian challenges through the framework of IHL. This course will offer operational training and comprehensive instruction on IHL, combined with expert presentations and discussions of challenges to the law in recent conflicts. Core instruction will be provided by ICRC and HPCR experts, with additional presentations by guest speakers. The course of study will encompass lectures, small working groups, simulations and policy discussions. Selected topics will include: - Introduction to IHL and its Implementation; - Civilians and Combatants; - Occupation and Peacebuilding; and - Conduct of Hostilities. Participants will also consider recent challenges in the field of IHL through a series of case studies. The advanced training is addressed to mid-career professionals concerned with the role of IHL in the work of governments, international organizations and humanitarian non-governmental organizations operating in conflict zones. Participants are expected to have prior professional exposure to the application or theory of international humanitarian law, and the organizers welcome inquiries from members of the UN, NGO, diplomatic, academic, media and military communities. Applications, due by April 7, may be submitted online via the event website: http://www.ihlresearch.org/ihl/seminar/application_information.php . For more information about program structure and costs, please visit our website at or http://www.ihlresearch.org/ihl/seminar or contact ihlseminar@hsph.harvard.edu

July 30-August 6, 2006 - San Jose, Costa Rica. International Institute on Peace Education 2006 “Toward a Planetary Ethic: Shared and Individual Responsibility”. **APPLICATIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE on the WEB at www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/IIPE. **To request an application sent to you by email contact: peace-ed@tc.edu . The 2006 International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) is being co-organized by the Peace Education Center of Teachers College Columbia University (New York) and the UN Mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica). IIPE, founded in 1982 by Betty Reardon and faculty colleagues at Teachers College, has been held annually in different parts of the world. It is an intensive multicultural and cooperative learning opportunity in which participants learn from and with each other about substantive peace issues and interactive teaching approaches. The IIPE is also an opportunity for networking and community building among those who educate and work for a culture of peace in the host region and around the world. IIPE 2006 will explore the theme of “Toward a Planetary Ethic: Shared and Individual Responsibility,” recognizing that the global community has reached key areas of consensus regarding the challenges we are facing, the shared ethical frameworks of values, norms and principles for meeting them, and in particular the contributions that education should fulfill. For more background information on this year’s theme please visit the IIPE website at: www.tc.edu/PeaceEd . Please send all inquiries to the address listed below: Peace Education Center, Box 171, Teachers College Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA; email peace-ed@tc.edu

December 31, 2006 – January 4, 2007 - EDUCATION FOR PEACE: EDUCATION FOR LIFE, Peace Education in Israel and Palestine, An International Conference, Antalya, Turkey. Prof. Gavriel Saloman and Prof. Mohammed Dajani, Conference Co-Chairmen. IPCRI will be convening an Israeli-Palestinian-International Conference on “Education for Peace – Education for Life”. The Conference will bring together peace educators, curricula writers, encounter facilitators, peace studies practitioners, conflict resolution practitioners, mediators, and activists from academia, research sector, governmental and community organizations and others from Israel, Palestine and beyond. The conference will be a tremendous opportunity for dialogue, debate and visioning with collaboration and cooperation between the body of theory and practice. The conference will be meeting grounds for dialogue and mutual learning from the field of peace education from the viewpoint of academia and from the field of practioners. The conference will raise critical issues and acquire new insights into the profound peace education developments in Israel, Palestine and around the world. Furthermore, the Conference will provide an excellent opportunity to build connections across multi-disciplinary sectors. Main Themes for the Conference: Moving from a Culture of hate to a culture of peace; Resources for peace educators; Peace education curricula - research and development; Coping with existing curricula in Israel and Palestine; Does Peace Education really work – a review of research and evaluations; Using media in peace education; Using the arts in peace education; Virtual Peace education - using the internet in peace education; Peace education in the informal educational arena – youth centers, youth movements, clubs, etc.; Institutionalizing peace education – confronting the formal education systems. For more information: Gershon Baskin, Ph.D. and Hanna Siniora; Co-CEOs, IPCRI, ISRAEL/PALESTINE CENTER FOR RESEARCH & INFORMATION, P.O. Box 9321, Jerusalem 91092; Tel: 972-2-676-9460 Fax: 972-2-676-8011; Mobile: 052-381-715; email gershon@ipcri.org ; http://www.ipcri.org ; http://www.place4peace.com

Problem Identification Topics http://www.peace.ca/problem.htm :
Uninspiring and Shocking Quotes http://www.peace.ca/uninspiringquotes.htm :

Who's Who (World Level) http://www.peace.ca/whoswho.htm :
Earth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE) - Founded in 1992, EPE is a global network of educators who aim to promote the recognition of the reciprocal relationship between ecological degradation and the violation of human rights on a local, national and global level. In their own words, this relationship is defined by the organizing principle underlying EPE’s educational approach: contextual sustainability. Thus, it assumes that the earth is the primary context and essential foundation of all social activity and that ecological sustainability is key to achieving a culture of peace. In return, respect for human rights characterizes the social context essential to ecological sustainability. This month EPE launched Transitions, a monthly E-Newsletter which welcomes contributions. To learn more about EPE, go to: http://www.globalepe.org/services.html . To submit your contributions, you should contact the editor, Anita L. Wenden at: wldyc@cunyvm.cuny.edu

Global Peace Production.com was established as a result of the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Bali, Indonesia in 2002. I was in paradise one moment and in the next instance, my world was blown apart. It changed my life from that moment on; forever. I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. I volunteered at the local hospital's Crisis Center to assist in the tragedy and my experience has been instrumental in forcing me to look at my responsibility in shifting from an armchair theorist – looking from a comfortable distance at the reality of our times – to actively doing something to empower myself and to seek methods and tools that will help the most marginalized society affected by these atrocities – youth. We have Co-Created a global movement to shift peace consciousness, through a Global Peace Actionists Code that is so simple, everyone can do it. We are also in development of a documentary film "One Voice at a Time" who's message is that of "HOPE". Hope for the future, for our children, for us, for the planet. We are inviting our children, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, colleagues and politicians of all races and color to join in co-creating our vision. Welcome to the Movement. www.globalpeaceproduction.com . For more information: Carmen Everall, C.E.O., Global Peace Production, www.globalpeaceproduction.com , email: carmen@globalpeaceproduction.com , 1-604-949-1764 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1-604-949-1764      end_of_the_skype_highlighting (t).

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

Armed Conflicts Report 2005 - Project Ploughshares, Canada, has reported annually on armed conflicts since 1987. Project Ploughshares' Armed Conflicts Report thoroughly details the state of wars around the world. Going beyond the wars on the evening news, the report describes lesser-known conflicts, as well as the issues that surround current and recently ended conflicts. It also includes maps depicting causes and consequences of armed conflict. If you are interested: http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-TitlePageRev.htm#Preface

Getting It Right, Doing It Right: Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration. This UNIFEM handbook is aimed at those planning and executing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). It contains reflections and lessons learned, case studies from Liberia and Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, and practical guidance in the form of a model standard operating procedure. This Report is available in English, French and Arabic.

The Human Security Report 2005, put out by the Liu Institute for Global Studies at the University of B.C., shows a significant decline in numbers of armed conflicts and number of states involved in armed conflicts over the past ten years: www.humansecurityreport.info . In fact, the world endured 32 armed conflicts in 26 states during 2004, but both figures were the lowest since 1987. These figures correspond with an increase in multilateral efforts at peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. (Project Ploughshares Armed Conflict Report 2005) Despite the persistence of political, communal, and criminal violence across the globe, there is evidence that international efforts to reduce, end, and prevent armed conflicts are bearing fruit. Your contributions are a part of these efforts! No thank you could be enough. We know we are making a difference!

Peacebuilding Commission at the United Nations: The United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council passed resolutions on December 20, 2005 creating a Peacebuilding Commission. The Commission is an inter-governmental body tasked with focusing international attention and resources on post-conflict peace-building and preventing the slide into conflict in post-conflict contexts. For more information, see the Reform the UN site at http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php/issues/1735?theme=alt4. The site features an overview, as well as links to all relevant UN documents, government statements and civil society analysis.

www.PeaceCommunicator.com - This website offers a free booklet that viewers can download to show 23 peaceful messages, written by fourth graders from our school. Drivers are pleasantly surprised to receive a bright-eyed child flashing a sign saying, "You make a difference" or "Have a great day!" Our intention is to spread these messages with as many people as possible. Please help us get the word out so even more people start sharing positive messages. We will add a link to your website in exchange. Thanks, Scott Ertl, School Counselor, Marvin Ward Elementary School, 3775 Fraternity Church Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27127; (336) 774-4676 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (336) 774-4676      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; http://www.PeaceCommunicator.com ; email SErtl@wsfcs.k12.nc.us

" Promoting the Common Good", the book co-authored by Rev.Dr. Marcus Braybrooke and Kamran Mofid, is now available in the US and Canada www.commongood.info . Promoting the Common Good: Bringing Economics and Theology Together Again, by Kamran Mofid, PhD and Marcus Braybrooke, Foreword by Richard Harries, Afterword by Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh. According to this provocative critique of globalization, modern economics has become dehumanized and no longer serves the needs of society. Bringing together their expertise, an economist and a theologian reintroduce what has been lacking in the processes of economics and globalization: a moral and spiritual context. Fundamental issues covered include equity and efficiency, production and consumption, economic and spiritual well-being, economic growth and social justice, free and fair trade, and profit maximization and sustainability. Written in a clear, engaging style for both the general reader and the academic, this daring work demonstrates how the most timely issues of economics can be understood by anyone. Marcus Braybrooke is an Anglican priest, a peace counselor, the president of the World Congress of Faiths, a patron of the International Interfaith Centre in Oxford, a cofounder of the Three Faiths Forum in London, and the author of 1,000 World Prayers, Faith and Interfaith in a Global Age, and What We Can Learn from Islam. Kamran Mofid teaches economics, business studies, international business, and political science. He is the author of The Economic Consequences of the Gulf War and Globalisation for the Common Good. Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, is the author of God Outside the Box: Why Spiritual People Object to Christianity and After the Evil: Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust. Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh is the chairman and spiritual successor of the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha in Birmingham, England, and is internationally known for his contributions in the field of education, the Sikh heritage, and inter-religious endeavours. Price: $17.95; Category: Academic: Religion & Theology, Academic: Economics; Pages: 144; Book Type: Paper; Size: 5 1/4 x 8 1/2; ISBN: 0856832316

Below are 5 NEW books, hot off the press, written by Canadian authors and available to you through Conflict Resolution Bookstore. These featured books (and over one hundred others) are available on-line at our secure site http://www@crnetwork.ca/bookstore/index.asp Order online today or fax back the below form to 519-885-0806 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            519-885-0806      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Order all five books below by March 31, 2006 and we will waive ALL shipping costs!

Worldview Skills Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out $24.95 by Jessie Sutherland (Publisher: Worldview Strategies). In this book, Jessie Sutherland, proposes a new and workable way of transforming cycles of deep-rooted conflict into those of reconciliation. Drawing on extensive experience in working with indigenous and non-indigenous groups, Sutherland proposes a practical series of "worldview skills" to challenge individuals and groups to re-think their world view and to gain insight into different cultural pathways to reconciliation.

Rules of Engagement for Communicating at Work $29.95 by Kathleen Redmond (Publisher: Engagement Publishing). With candor and great insight, Rules of Engagement for Communicating at Work offers positive, insightful and practical alternatives to behaviours that damage communication, impact performance and fracture relationships in today's workplace. This no-nonsense, shoot from the hip handbook is an expert guide for managers who want to improve productivity, employee morale and retention, and bottom line efficiencies. It's all about making communication work... at work.

Preparing for Mediation: A Dispute Resolution Guide $24.95 by Deborah Lynn Zutter (Publisher: Trafford Publishing). Written by an experienced lawyer and mediator, this user-friendly book is a great resource for both lawyers and parties who are using mediation or collaborative practice. This author's valuable tips, overviews and checklists de-mystify the dispute resolution process and help participants with everything from choosing the appropriate method to participating effectively throughout the process.

Turning Conflict into Profit $29.95 by Larry Axelrod & Rowland Johnson (Publisher: The University of Alberta Press) Written in plain language, with real-life examples, Turning Conflict into Profit offers a practical and rewarding roadmap through conflict. Drawing on principles of psychology and sociology. Larry Axelrod and Roy Johnson have developed a new alternative for workplace conflict resolution. Turning Conflict into Profit explains how "leaning into conflict" not only defuses workplace tensions but releases blocked energy into positive channels of development.

Family Mediating and Collaborative Practice Handbook $90.00 by Barbara Landau, Lorne Wolfson, Niki Landau (Publisher: Lexis Nexis Butterworths). This comprehensive text clearly describes the goals, theory, and the procedures followed in both mediation and "collaborative law" - a new model for non-adversarial dispute resolution that has evolved since the last edition was published in 2000. It covers all of the material necessary to inform clients about these services, the up-to-date research, and communcation skills needed to carry out a professional practice. The appendices offer precedent material for all steps in the mediation and collaborative law process as well as screening tools, training standards of professional conduct.
To order: FAX TO Conflict Resolution Network Canada Bookstore, 519-885-0806 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            519-885-0806      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or order over the telephone by calling toll free 1-877-885-0440 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1-877-885-0440      end_of_the_skype_highlighting OR order on-line at http://www.crnetwork.ca/bookstore . Conflict Resolution Network Canada, Réseau pour la résolution de conflits Canada Conrad Grebel University College University of Waterloo Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6; Phone: (519) 885-0880 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (519) 885-0880      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; Fax: (519) 885-0806; Web site: www.crnetwork.ca

The "Resolving Conflict Creatively" series in a Box Set is currently being used by over 850 schools and community groups worldwide. Video Librarian Magazine said the following: "This series does an excellent job of demonstrating the effectiveness of negotiation and mediation in resolving conflict . . . The first two volumes would be very beneficial in an interpersonal communications curriculum for high school, college students, or out of school adult learners, while the final two-parter would probably be most helpful for those whose responsibilities lie in government, law enforcement and the juvenile justice system." We hope you'll consider purchasing these acclaimed educational resources for your institution. These titles are also sold separately:
Resolving Conflict Creatively in the School Community "Negotiation" & "Mediation" - two half hour videos (or DVD) with Teacher's Manual & Handouts http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/rcc2.html
Resolving Conflict Creatively in the Multicultural Community "Inter-Cultural Mediation" - 24 min. video (or DVD) with Teacher's Manual & Handouts http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/rcc3.html
Resolving Conflict Creatively between Victims & Youth Offenders " Diversion " & " Transformation " - two hours on two videos (or DVD) with Discussion Guide http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/rcc4.html
"Healing Circles", an effective tool in Anti-Bullying Programs, is now available as a separate video or DVD with Discussion Guide. http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/hc.html
For prices, reviews, order forms, video clips and an independent evaluation survey please visit our website < http://www.triune.ca > or contact us. Triune Arts, 111 Wildwood Crescent, Toronto, Ontario M4L 2K9; Fax: 416.686.0468; E-mail: triune@sprint.ca

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

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

From the Dalai Lama’s 2005 message:
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risks.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson
3. Follow the Three 'Rs"
- Respect for self
- Respect for others, and
- Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rule so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you have made a mistake take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Remember that silence at times is the best answer.
10. Open arms to change but don't let go off your values.
11. Live a good, honorable life then when you get older and think back you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreement with loved ones, deal only with the current situation and don't bring up the past.
13. Share your knowledge, it is a way to achieve immortality.
14. Be gentle with the earth.
15. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
16. Remember that the best relationship is the one in which your love for each other exceeds the need for each other.
17. Judge your success by what you have to give up in order to get it.
18. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

See the following new reports posted on our web site:
Learn about 2 University students crossing Canada with a personal statement for Peace in May 2006: http://www.peace.ca/peacebike.htm

Questions? contact Bob Stewart at stewartr at peace.ca

“Plan Crimson: War on Canada: Secret War Plans and the Malady of American Militarism” How History Allows Insight into the Malady of American Militarism

By Floyd Rudmin
Psychology Dept.
University of Tromsø
Norway
Email: frudmin @vpsyk.uit.no

Abridged version published by CounterPunch, vol.13. no.1, January 1-15, pp.1, 4-6.
Posted Feb. 17, 2006 at http://www.counterpunch.org/rudmin02172006.html as

Between WWI and WWII, the United States developed and approved as official national policy three major war plans: a) War Plan ORANGE against Japan, b) War Plan GREEN against Mexico, and c) War Plan RED against the UK.1 But there were other war plans as well. Special Plan VIOLET was approved by the Joint Board of the Army and Navy in 1925 for interventions in Latin America and the Carribean "to forestall action by other countries including the League of Nations."2 There was a War Plan WHITE initiated in 1920 for suppressing internal insurrection by US citizens, but it was not developed or approved.3 These war plans were all declassified in 1974 and can be purchased from the US National Archives. Germany was color coded black, but there never was a War Plan BLACK.4

Please read the entire article at http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/RudminAmericanMilitarism.pdf

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Special Issue of Political Psychology: Emotion in Politics

The last several years have witnessed a burst of interest among
psychologists in the topic of emotion. No longer thought to wreak havoc
on human rationality, emotions are increasingly recognized as making a
positive contribution to the human condition. Psychological research
indicates that emotions are implicated in all aspects of cognition and
behavior, including attention, perception, and memory, as well as
attitude change, reasoning, and decision-making, and interpersonal and
intergroup relations.

Emotions have also been studied as physiological processes, and have
contributed to elucidating the brain mechanisms that underlie cognition
and behavior. Scholars have recently begun to explore the role of
emotion in political life, including its impact on the nature of the
candidate appraisal process, the strategic use of emotions by campaigns,
and the role of discrete emotions in the formation of policy attitudes.

The goal of this special issue is to further explore the causes and
consequences of emotional processes in the political realm, and to
provide a selective integration of work on the topic. Political
Psychology is therefore inviting and soliciting manuscripts for a
special issue on Emotion in Politics. Submissions, irrespective of
subfield, should adopt a political psychological approach. All
manuscripts will be peer reviewed by a minimum of three experts in the
field. Acceptance of all papers is conditional on satisfactory reviews.

All manuscripts should be submitted to the editors following the
submission instructions for regular manuscripts. (See:
http://www.sunysb.edu/polsci/polpsych/Guidelines.html) Authors should
note that the submission is intended for consideration in the special
issue.

The deadline for submission is October 31, 2006.

--The ISPP Central Office, on behalf of
The Editors of Political Psychology

Dear AMARC member,

MARCH 8, the International Women's Day is coming soon!
Join us in the international radio broadcasting on the International Women's Day.

There are many ways to collaborate to the March 8 broadcast. For more information visit: www.win.amarc.org or sent an e-mail to sophie toupin at sophie@amarc.org

* *Send us already produced or original audio material* (deadline
for submissions is February 27th). To transfer your programmes by
SFTP contact me.

* *Re-broadcast programs on your radio station* via the Internet on
this special day. Programmes from all over the world and in
different languages will be available on the AMARC Women's
International Network (WIN) web site soon!

* Celebrate the International Women's Day with us by listening to
the different programmes!

* Help *organize* the event in your region: translate, phone, fax,
design...

* Conduct *training* at a local level for newcomers to your radio.

Story ideas

* Factors which tend to perpetuate women's discrimination (economic,
social, political, etc.);
* Impact of economic globalization on women (feminization of
poverty, sweatshops, Export processing zones (EPZs), trafficking
in women, etc.);
* Gender discrimination toward migrants, refugees, asylum seekers
and displaced persons;
* Violence against women (domestic, sexual and psychological
violence, etc. );
* Discrimination toward indigenous women;
* Recognition of women's rights (reproductive rights, etc.);
* Women's empowerment and emancipation;
* Impact of Mass Media in perpetuating gender stereotype;
* The Feminists movements;
* Women and community radio.

General Guidelines for Submission

Here are the General Guidelines for Submissions (deadline is february 27).

Don't forget to vist our website at www.win.amarc.org and send your Submission form.

Need more information? Contact Sophie at sophie.toupin@amarc.org or call : 514-982-0351

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

*DEADLINE for contributions is February 27
*

Length

Pre-produced contributions should not exceed 20 minutes. Those sending longer contributions should contact Sophie at sophie@amarc.org

Format

Material can be sent in any format (Minidisc, DAT, CD, cassette or as an audio file per e-mail in mp3, wave or ogg format)

We encourage producers to use and experiment with different genres and styles for their contributions: documentary, panel discussion, drama, interview, talk-shows, etc.

Language

Contributions are admitted in any language. Please include a brief content description in English, French or Spanish

Sending contributions

Contributions should be clearly marked and accompanied by a short introduction, either as text or as part of the piece, briefly explaining its content. Programs should end with music. The title, duration and language of the piece(s) should also be specified in writing. Also include the name(s) of the producer(s), radio station with contact details.

Thanks for your contribution
Sophie Toupin
AMARC International Secretariat

Roots of Violence Found in Disrespect
By Jane Lampman
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Full HTML version of this story with photos, graphics, and related links

Perplexing violence overseas and in America seems to have a common thread - the yearning for respect. In the ongoing controversy over the Danish caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, people on both sides agree that the strongest spark for the protests in the Muslim world is the message the cartoons send of disrespect for Islam and its followers.

In several cities in the United States, police report a disturbing pattern of rising violence - including homicides - linked to disputes in which people say they were "disrespected." "We're seeing a very angry population," one police chief recently told The New York Times.

Respect is one of the most widely shared yearnings among human beings, and it touches the emotional core of people in profound ways. Respect given can be powerful and transformative. The results of respect withheld can be painful or even explosive. At a time when civility seems to be diminishing, some see the power of mutual respect as a way to break through cultural stereotypes and religious prejudices.

"Cultures are rubbing against each other more than ever before in history," says Akbar Ahmed, professor of Islamic studies at American University in Washington. "We need to be sensitive to ... respect, honor, dignity, and how they are viewed in different societies."

The prime ministers of Turkey and Spain, nations at the crossroads of East and West, have proposed a major initiative of structured dialogue to explore differing values and what Islamic and Western societies consider sacred.

"We have to have a deeper conversation about why Western democracies came to this place of tolerance of offensive language; and what we can do, not in the realm of the law, but of decency, to be more aware of what each other's [hot] buttons are," says Marc Gopin, director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University in Arlington, Va.

Rabbi Gopin has engaged in discussions among enemies in the Middle East. Because of his belief in the "power of gestures of respect," he visited Damascus last year at some risk to himself as a Jew, and faced tough questions about America and Israel from more than 300 Syrians. The 90-minute session was televised nationally.

While people give lip service to the idea that everyone is created in the image of God or that everyone has human rights, he says, they often act as if others aren't human beings.

"So when you cut through that and demonstrate enormous respect for a person who is an enemy, it's a shock. It brings that deeper truth, buried under suspicion and hatred, to the surface, and evokes honesty from the other parties," he adds. "Respect can have remarkable effects."

The controversy is also spurring deeper discussion on international rights.

Muslim leaders from 57 countries are pressing for the new UN human rights body to take steps to prevent the defamation of religions and prophets. That will likely raise issues of where Muslim countries stand on questions of religious freedom and persecution - and practices of disrespect in their societies. The Iranian president's recent questioning of the Holocaust is one provocative example.

Yet finger-pointing is not the way out of what many see as an increasingly dangerous state.

"We are losing a lot of the Muslim world. We must have Muslim allies on our side," says Dr. Ahmed. "This is possible through the language of respect." He says symbolic gestures by US officials could help defuse the situation, such as ambassadors in various Muslim countries visiting mosques, as President Bush did right after Sept. 11.

Please read the entire article at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0223/p14s01-lire.html .

Step Back George, Step Up People of Faith
(http://www.riverhouseepress.com/WordPress/2006/02/23/step-back-george-step-up-people-of-faith/)

The headlines tell only part of the story: a venerable mosque bombed in Samarra, Muslims and Christians slaughtering each other in Nigeria, raids on Christians in Egypt. Few Westerners hear what is said in the Muslim world. Example? In early February, a popular TV program in Abu Dhabi, that most moderate of Islamic states, ran a segment about a small-fry Italian politician who, reacting to the Danish cartoon controversy, called on the pope for a new crusade. The title of the segment: “A New Crusade?” This show aired on US Arabic channels and presumably many other Islamic countries. The messages from rapidly growing extremist groups on the streets are much more inflammatory.

Just as many in the West believe there is threat from the Muslim world, large numbers of Muslims believe a vast threat to their beliefs and their way of life exists from the West. Fearful people on all sides easily find disturbing gestures from the other side and hold these up as indicators of the future. We are at a grave pass. What to do?

First, recognize the nature of the problem. This is not a short-term battle with a few crazy terrorists. It is a long-term struggle for the hearts and minds of millions of people who for centuries have experienced humiliation. The Muslim world has suffered setback after setback, politically, economically, educationally, technologically.

Whereas Western nations have for several hundred years been governed by leaders widely considered to be credible representatives of the people, most Muslim countries were colonized and remain in the grip of elites who have managed to retain imperial powers. The Muslim majority in most countries despise their own corrupt and oppressive leaders only slightly less than they resent the West for its arrogance, its decadence, and its willingness to support oppressive Muslim governments.

Second, recognize the strategy of extremist Islam, a growing but still minority faction. The real audience of the 911 attacks was not America, it was the struggling, weary, angry but passive Muslim masses. Remember, bin Laden was on the fringes and he knew it. So he borrowed a strategy that guided communist revolutionaries for decades: drive apathetic moderates into your own extremist arms by provoking enemy attack. There could have been no man in the world more happy than Osama bin Laden on the day George Bush launched the Iraq invasion.

Like a crafty matador goading a tiring bull, bin Laden continues to bait. After many months of silence, he issued in January 2006 a new round of threats – timed with perfection precision to be released a few days before Bush addressed Congress. Such occasional redflag threats keep Bush on the offensive. The result is several years now of American cooperation in recruiting new supporters for radical Islam. The Pentagon’s own numbers show that month by month the insurgents in Iraq have grown in numbers, and all signs suggest a similar shift towards radical Islam elsewhere in the world.

The only solution is to respond to the needs and perceptions of the Muslim masses. They are the real battlefield. It is for their hearts and minds we must design our strategies and spend our trillions. Not, pray God, on useless propaganda, but in meaningful investment in jobs, education, health care, and human rights.

And here is a critical reality: We cannot accomplish this through governments alone. The West assumes the priority of the nation-state as the building block of human reality. We can barely imagine a serious response to large scale human problems undertaken through means other than government. The UN follows this simplistic assumption.

The truth is that the notion of the nation-state as the primary unit for organizing large-scale human identity and activity is a recent arrival in human history, a phenomenon of the last ten generations or so. The last decade has seen a vast resurgence of other units of organization, notably religion and ethnic identity.

For millions of people in the Muslim world struggling to make sense of where to cast their loyalties, then, George Bush symbolizes not only an arrogant, aggressive, and heavily armed marauder. He also represents a way of organizing human society that does not fit reality as they know it. At this point, even the most enlightened move on his part would be incapable of moving us out of the crisis the world faces. He is the president of a nation-state, and as such does not hold the credentials for credible leadership.

Needed: political and economic outreach, massively augmented by religious and civil society relationship-building. The Bush’s, the EU’s, and the UN’s of the world have to stay involved in this crisis. But they must recognize their limitations. They must make room for prominent - and independent-minded - roles from the civil sector side, in particular for religious leaders. People of faith, step forward please. The future of our children depends on you to meet this challenge.

By Ron Kraybill
Professor, Conflict Transformation Program
Eastern Mennonite University
February 24, 2006
Copyright 2006 by Ron Kraybill. Originally posted on Paxblog (www.RiverhouseEpress.com/WordPress) a blog by the author on peacebuilding and alternative approaches to national security, found at www.RiverhouseEpress.com (http://www.riverhouseepress.com/WordPress/wp-admin/www.RiverhouseEpress.com). Blog content may be printed or reposted but must contain this credit paragraph.

Call for Papers: Feminism and War

The Women's Studies Program at Syracuse University invites proposals for papers to be presented at a national conference on the contested and complex relationship between feminism and war. We would like to post this call for papers to your website/listserve. Please contact me with details if this is possible.

Thanks,
Susann

Contact Information:
Susann DeMocker-Shedd
e-mail: sademock @ syr.edu

URL: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/contact/index.php
and
http://womens-studies.syr.edu

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

hiermit möchten wir auf die heutige szenische Lesung von KINJEKETILE
von Ebrahim Hussein durch das Theaterensemble abok aufmerksam machen (heute Donnerstag, 23. Februar 2006 um 19.00 Uhr in der Berliner Werkstatt der Kulturen, Wissmannstr. 32, U-Bahn Hermannstr.).

Kinjektile Ngwale, legendäres spirituelles Oberhaupt des Maji-Maji Krieges gegen die Kolonialherrschaft in Deutsch-Ostafrika (heute: Burundi, Ruanda, Tanzania) weihte im Juli 1905 hunderttausende von Männern mit heiligem Maji (Suaheli: Wasser) um sie im Kampf gegen die "Deutschen Schutztruppen" zu schützen.

Über 20 ostafrikanische Völker vereinigten sich daraufhin zum kollektiven Widerstand. In dem darauf folgenden Maji-Maji-Krieg (1905-07) starben über 300.000 Afrikanerinnen und Afrikaner.

Der tanzanische Theaterautor Ebrahim Hussein hat in seinem Stück *Kinjeketile* dem Widerstand ein Denkmal gesetzt.

Künstlerische Leitung: Philippa Ebéné (www.abok.info)

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

Ausserdem möchten wir noch einmal an unsere nächste Filmvorführung am kommenden Sonntag, den 26. Februar um 17.15 Uhr im Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe erinnern. Gezeigt wird der kamerunische Kultfilm "Quartier Mozart" von Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Frz. m. engl. Untertiteln).

„Quartier Mozart“ spielt über einen Zeitraum von 48 Stunden im gleichnamigen Arbeiterviertel von Yaounde, Kamerun. Erzählt wird die Geschichte eines Mädchens, das durch die hiesige Zauberin „Maman Thekla“ in den Körper eines jungen Mannes, „Montype“, schlüpft, um die tatsächlich stattfindende „sexuelle Politik“ des Viertels aufzudecken. Maman Thekla verwandelt sich ebenfalls – und zwar in „Panka“, einen bekannten kamerunschen Comic-Helden, der die Fähigkeit besitzt per Handschlag den Penis eines anderen Mannes verschwinden zu lassen.

Mit viel Witz und einem interessanten „Musikvideo“-Stil schafft Bekolo eine Welt mitreißender Verspieltheit – ein Film im Jargon der „Quartiers“, geistreich, innovativ und provokant.

Am: Sonntag, den 26. Februar 2006
Beginn: 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Vorbestellung: 030/283 46 03 (Mo-Sa ab 14.30 Uhr/So ab 10.30 Uhr)
Eintritt: 5 Euro

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.

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity
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February 21, 2006

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. Art exhibition promotes pride in unity by Spencer Osberg
Spencer Osberg, a Canadian journalist living in Beirut, describes the book and exhibit, “Lebanon A to Z, A Middle Eastern Mosaic," in which Lebanese children can find “a little of themselves and their culture, and other things they never knew about other people who live in the same country.” This initiative aims to build unity by making children proud of the diverse cultures and traditions that make their country unique.
(Source: The Daily Star, February 8, 2006)
**********

ARTICLE 1
Who will compromise first?
Yossi Alpher

Tel Aviv - The Palestinian parliamentary elections that produced a Hamas majority have introduced an international role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is seemingly without precedent. The vacuum created by the refusal on the part of both Israel and Hamas to negotiate with one another on matters of crucial importance is the main feature of this situation, but not the only factor encouraging or perhaps mandating an international role.

Thus far the United States, the European Union and Egypt have all lined up behind a set of tough and logical conditions that Hamas must fulfil if a government it forms is to receive their recognition and assistance. Egypt's General Omar Suleiman, minister of intelligence and President Husni Mubarak's point man on the Palestinian issue, reiterated those conditions last week: recognition of Israel, total cessation of terrorist activity and
acceptance of all the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO.

The Olmert government in Israel is generally pleased with this show of unity and determination, which in fact is also reflected in the position taken by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). But Israelis are also beginning to speak out more openly about the negative role Washington played in creating the current impasse--by pressuring for Palestinian elections regardless of the danger that Hamas would win them. Accordingly, there is also concern in Jerusalem that the Bush government, which has given its blessings to the recent enfranchisement of militant Islamists in Iraq and
Lebanon, might eventually drop some of its conditions and engage Hamas, ostensibly for the sake of regional stability and the American-sponsored cause of representative democracy at all costs.

This was clearly the premise that informed Hamas Deputy Political Bureau Chief Mousa Abu Marzook's rather extraordinary op-ed piece in the Washington Post last week. In language carefully attuned to American values, Abu Marzook appealed to Americans to accept the Hamas victory: "In recognising Judeo-Christian traditions, Muslims nobly vie for and have the greatest incentive and stake in preserving the Holy Land for all three Abrahamic faiths. A new breed of Islamic leadership is ready to put into practice faith-based principles in a setting of tolerance and unity." Never mind that Hamas claims the Land of Israel/Palestine as exclusive Islamic ground (waqf); that its charter is an exercise in anti-Semitism; and that Muslims are torching Danish legations because of some cartoons: "faith-based principles" sound good to Bush's Christian evangelical supporters.

One factor that might conceivably impel the West and Egypt to soften their terms could be signs of a more active Iranian and Syrian role in supporting Hamas, and in particular the offer of financial aid to replace western funds. Already Saudi Arabia and Qatar are transferring funds to the PA without conditions, and there are indications that some of the Gulf emirates are prepared to grant financial aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government as well. Further, additional potential interlocutors between Hamas and Israel are being mentioned: moderate Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey could, it is suggested by some Palestinians, better work with Hamas to find ways to adapt its positions to political realities.

It now appears that the task of forming a new Palestinian government will take many weeks, if not months. It will be characterised by endless attempts at compromise: fudging Hamas' rejection of its own extremist positions regarding the use of force and acceptance of Israel's existence; introducing non-Hamas Palestinians into the next government in key positions that shield Hamas from the necessity of moderating its views and/or negotiating with Israel; finding creative ways to keep the Palestinian Authority afloat financially without giving international donor funds directly to Hamas-controlled ministries.

Israel, which itself has an interest in maintaining both the ceasefire and PA financial stability, and which will be heavily preoccupied in the coming two months with its own elections, will be hard put to maintain close coordination with Egypt and the West on all these issues. Like it or not, we may eventually have to be flexible too, if only to maintain a semblance of unity with our friends and allies and at least a modicum of coexistence with our Palestinian neighbours.

###
* Yossi Alpher is co-editor of the bitterlemons family of internet publications. He is former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, and a former senior adviser to PM Ehud
Barak.
Source: bitterlemons.org, February 6, 2006
Visit the website at www.bitterlemons-international.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 2
Letters from Denmark
Mona Eltahawy

New York, New York - The war on the people of Denmark must stop. It is one thing to be offended by the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September and it is quite another to hold all Danes responsible for them.

For years, Muslims have complained that they are held collectively to blame for the violent actions of a few, particularly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I am by no means striking equivalence between those attacks and the publication of the cartoons but the vilification of an entire people because of the actions of a few is indeed similar. It is hypocritical for Muslim not to acknowledge that.

News that Denmark had urged its citizens to leave Indonesia on Saturday, warning of "clear and present danger" from Muslim extremists seeking revenge for the cartoons is just the latest shocking chapter in this escalating crisis.

Denmark has withdrawn its diplomats from Indonesia and Iran because of security threats. Those departures followed that of Danish embassy staff in Syria who left on Friday because they felt the security provided by Syrian authorities was inadequate. Who can blame them after their embassy was torched by a mob just a few days earlier?

At the Winter Olympics in Italy, plainclothes guards accompanied the Danish team at the opening ceremony on Friday.

The threats made against Danes are an embarrassment and a shame that must be utterly condemned by the Muslim world.

We Muslims often call on the rest of the world to respect us and to understand the things we hold sacred. Are we prepared to offer that same respect in return and to open a dialogue with the men and women of Denmark who are watching in horror as events unfold beyond their reach or control?

After I wrote an article calling on Muslims not to overreact and appeared on two Danish news shows, I heard from many such Danes who wrote to share their views with me. I thank them for their frankness and I urge you to hear their words so that we can start to move beyond this escalating crisis that hurts us all.

Jacob, a 32-year-old man who described himself in his first email to me as a “very concerned Dane”, told me of his shock at the violent reaction to the cartoons in the Muslim world but also how he had used the events of the past few weeks to look more closely at issues and to learn.

“I've learned a lot more about Islam, the Danes, freedom of speech, the cost of freedom of speech, the political situation in many Arab countries, but most of all I have learned a lot about myself,” Jacob said.

“I've been through most human feelings, I think. I've been furious, worried, afraid, surprised, hurt and touched almost to tears and now I'm actually kind of hopeful. I've taken a lesson, and come out on the other side a more knowledgeable and definitely more tolerant person,” he said.

Since those first emails to me, Jacob has kept me updated on the vigorous debates taking place in his country and has kindly translated into English the essays of a man he calls his hero – Syrian-born Naser Khader, the first immigrant member of the Danish parliament.

Naser has launched a group of moderate Muslim in Denmark to speak out against the exploitation of the cartoon issue by radical Muslims. The group is just the latest example of Muslims living in the West who realise they must speak out and stake a place for themselves in the debates raging in the various countries in which they live so that the radicals are not the only ones who speak for Muslims.

Jacob also told me about a group of young people in his neighbourhood in Copenhagen which recently launched an online initiative called anotherdenmark.org which gives Danes the opportunity to post messages to the Muslim world.

The website includes a letter in Danish, Arabic, and English that explains “There is another Denmark, which hopes for and believes in respect and tolerance between religions and different groups of people”.

“As a Dane I have no responsibility for what a single and privately owned Danish newspaper chooses to publish. Even so, I strongly condemn the actions of Jyllands-Posten that have offended Muslims around the world, and I understand the need for an apology from the newspaper,” said the letter signed by the website’s founders.

I urge readers to visit the site and read the letter for themselves. Since its launch on Thursday, almost 11,000 people had left messages.

Kristine Nedergaard Larsen from Aalborg wrote: "I just want to say sorry for the cartoons, but also that it is not okay that some attack the Danish embassies, we need to respect one another and that is something we both need to think about.”

The Copenhagen Post reported that another site, forsoningnu.dk (reconciliation now), gathered 36,000 electronic signatures in its first four days of existence.

That website's designer, Hans Hüttel, organised an electronic petition that criticised the cartoons for showing “a serious lack of tact and sensitivity”. However, the campaign encouraged people to “make a distinction between opinions expressed by a Danish newspaper and the opinions of the Danish people as a whole”, the Copenhagen Post said.

I will end with one more message from AnotherDenmark.

Henrik J. Møller from Tønder wrote: "Greetings from Denmark. If we want a world in peace we must respect each other’s cultures and religions. We must also speak against those who do not do that."

Are we as Muslims ready to do the same?

###
Mona Eltahawy is a New-York based, Egyptian journalist.
Source: Asharq Alawsat, February 14, 2006
Visit the website at www.asharqalawsat.com/english
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 3
As far as I remember Denmark is very tolerant
Wimar Witoelar

Jakarta - Danish television called me, asking if I could comment on the cartoon commotion. Apparently the Danish Embassy is evacuating its staff in Jakarta. I said "No, I cannot." So many people have said so much, and what I would say would be no different. All the things about Denmark expressed by people who do not know Denmark, and all the things about Muslims expressed by people who do not know Muslims. I know Muslims, I know Denmark, and I really have no desire to say anything.

All I can say is Jeg Elsker Danmark, I love Denmark. Those words I remember from my childhood days. And I do remember that I loved that country and its people, back when I was eight to 11 years old. I remember the gentle hills around Gileleje and the sea dunes, the wonderful springtime at Hellerup and Helsingor, and of course Tivoli Park in Copenhagen.

The people who were always smiling, Mikkel Stensballe who played football at Kobenhavns Boldklub, Jutte Hoy-Petersen who was so pretty and sent me things through my university days, Fru Tachau the lovely lady who took care of us and our apartment at Trondhjemsgade. And yes, Princess Margrethe who took bicycle rides with us at Langelinie on Sundays.

Near Gileleje, the northern coast of Sjaelland, 1955.

The Danes were always nice to each other and nice to us, Muslims and Indonesians and whoever, people from places of which they knew nothing. But they knew love, and we knew love. We had love in my family and we had love for and from our neighbours and our schoolmates and even our schoolteachers.

I have never really been to Jutland (Jylland to you now, its original Danish term), only passed by. I don't know if they are so very different from the Danes in Sjaelland or Fyn or anywhere else. Danes were always gentle, tolerant, minded their own business. They don't print cartoons to make people angry and hide behind lame excuses of freedom of speech.

Danes are so kind and compassionate, or they were when I was a child. So how come this newspaper in Jylland came up with the idea of publishing cartoons just for the sake of irritating people? Like the naughty kids on the other side of the tracks who used to throw little stones at poor people and see how mad they got. Have those naughty kids grown up to be nasty newspaper editors?

I don't think the cartoonists are that guilty. They make their living trying to be funny. They will draw anything to make people laugh and make themselves a bit of money. But the editors should have had better sense. They publish newspapers to inform and to enlighten, not to demean and to endanger.

And why does the Danish government not take its rightful place as the captain of the ship and guide it through the wide open seas? Maybe the people in Jylland have no idea what it is like in other parts of the world, where people are oppressed and persecuted and bombed, and happen to have different religions.

I am sure these Danes do not know what they are doing, so for heaven's sake, somebody tell them please. If you want to test freedom of speech, try it on yourselves.

Have the Danes changed, or is this just another case of a few bad apples? If so, please sort them out, and return the beauty that is Denmark. In the words of Hans Christian Andersen:

You land where I was born, and where my home is,
From where my roots derive, my world extends,
Where language is as soft as Mother's voice is,
And with my heartbeats like sweet music blends.
You windswept Danish strand,
For swans to build their nest in,
Green island home on earth, for heart to rest in,
'Tis you I love -- Denmark, my native land!

Somebody should tell the Danes they are a beautiful people. Do not get entangled in the posturing that causes so much malevolence. Such a shame to see Denmark provoked by powers who seek to build world tensions. I do not want to be the one to tell them. I love Denmark, I used to think I was partly Danish inside, childhood memories never go away. But now I wonder. Are you pushing me away, driving me back to find something evil in my heritage?

Sorry, my Danish friends, you are not succeeding in making me hate you. I love you and I always will. But I now am so ashamed of my Danish friends. So ignorant, so insensitive, and now so defensive. Please, come back.

###
* Wimar Witoelar is a political commentator.
Source: Jakarta Post, February 15, 2006
Visit the website at www.thejakartapost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 4
~YOUTH VIEWS~ Free speech needn’t mean a lack of respect
Nancy El-Gindy

Cairo - Last September, 12 controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were published in a Danish newspaper called Jyllands-Posten. Of the more offensive, one cartoon depicted the Prophet wearing a turban with a bomb inside, inscribed with the Qur’anic text “there is no god but one God, and Muhammad is his Prophet”; another symbolically depicted him as the devil by placing horns on his head, and another showed his eyes covered by a black rectangle, like a criminal suspect, holding a large sword in a threatening posture, and flanked by two women, who are completely veiled except for their eyes.

According to an article in the Brussels Journal Online, the editors asked artists “to draw the pictures to test whether there was freedom of expression in Denmark after a Danish author had complained that no-one was willing to illustrate his Muhammad book.”

The publication of these cartoons was offensive enough, and worthy of condemnation, but this comment reveals that the editors knew full well that their publication would provoke a strong reaction. In other words, it was nothing less than a deliberate provocation.

Muslims from all over Europe and the Middle East were naturally angered and ambassadors from eleven Muslim countries sent the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a letter demanding he make sure that Jyllands-Posten apologises. Rasmussen, however, “refused to discuss the matter,” stated the Brussels Journal, “since Denmark recognises freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

Adding fuel to the fire, first several Norwegian papers, and then French and German papers, decided to re-publish the cartoons in support of the Danish newspaper and freedom of expression. The cartoonists have received death threats, boycotts of Danish products have been organised (to the tune of $55 million dollars in lost sales according to the New York Times since the beginning of the protests), and protests erupted in Denmark and the Middle East. Protesters have now died in Afghanistan, shot as they attacked Norwegian peacekeepers. Death threats and violence are certainly unacceptable, but Westerners should understand that it is not merely the way they depicted the Prophet, but that they depicted the Prophet in the first place that has angered so many, because depictions of the Prophet are considered blasphemy in Islamic culture.

These editors chose provocation over responsible journalism. While freedom of expression is and must be sacrosanct, simply because one has the ability and right does not mean one should exercise that right in offensive ways. Freedom of expression is protected because modern democracies depend on the free exchange of ideas, and because it is a basic human right. But “testing the waters” for its own sake is totally unacceptable when the experiment results in a personal attack on every believer of Islam in the world.

The newspaper and the cartoonists no doubt justify their actions by arguing that “in our culture this is not offensive,” but that reasoning is insufficient. Freedom necessarily must have its limits, though it is best if those limits are ones we place on ourselves. Exercising freedom of expression to offend undermines the very reason freedom of expression exists in the first place – communication and the exchange of ideas. Freedom is not absolute - the moral and ethical context of speech must be taken into consideration.

Some subjects are simply inappropriate for humour. Certainly, even the Jyllands-Posten would not have the gall to publish cartoons making fun of the crippled or mentally disabled. Of course they have the right to, but they would not because it would be extremely offensive to the vast majority of its readers and serve no journalistic purpose. Sometimes the line between what is offensive for its own sake and what is merely controversial is thin and debatable, but absolute freedom of expression raises as many philosophical and ethical problems as it solves.

Indeed, can too much freedom be destructive? What should our ethics be with regard to communicating in this modern, inter-connected world, with so many cultures and so many religions, not all of which share the same beliefs? Why are some issues and topics are debatable, while others are crossed off the list and we censor ourselves?

Society is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and what is wrong. However, some aspects of life are simply so sensitive and private that even when we have strong opinions or could make a good joke about something, we keep our thoughts to ourselves rather than risk hurting others by voicing them.

This does not imply that one’s freedom is being constrained. Rather, our self-restraint is an ethical and moral gesture, not something we do because we must. It is something we are all capable of and do every day in order to show our respect for one another and to keep society on an even keel, even if that means we must sometimes make compromises. So why should we do otherwise with those of other faiths and from other cultures?

###
* Nancy El-Gindy is a student at the American University in Cairo and a former
participant in the Soliya Arab-American online dialogue program.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), February 21, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 5
Art exhibition promotes pride in unity
Spencer Osberg

Beirut - "D" is for diversity, "W" is for war. With such innocent honesty, a new illustrated book and exhibit - "Lebanon A to Z, A Middle Eastern Mosaic" - navigates the alphabet through the people, cultures, traditions and histories that are this country.

"We're trying to show kids there's so much to be proud of here," said Jill Boutros, one of the three American-born authors. "Unity is our strength, diversity our treasure."

With the present political climate of sectarian tensions consuming the country, one might think this sort of talk is utopian ad absurdum, but Boutros is unfazed by the criticism.

"These illusions should exist when you're 8 or 10," she said, noting the aim of the project is to lay the foundations for a harmonious future in those Lebanese who are not already too embittered to change. "By starting with kids, we're trying to work with a generation that will give Lebanon the benefit of the doubt again."

What has resulted is both an exhibit of artworks that children can visit and a book of the artwork with accompanying text. In researching "Lebanon A to Z," Boutros said she and the other authors approached people from across Lebanon's diverse religious and ethnic spectrum to see how they would like to have themselves portrayed. For example, under the "D" for diversity, there are caricatures and stories representing Druze, Maronite Christian, Shia Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Sunni Muslim and Armenian communities.

Elefie Chadice, 11, said she enjoyed her tour through the exhibit "because it talks about my country." She noted her favourite picture was "G" for Gebran. "I always heard about him, and I know he's an important Lebanese."

Other children at the exhibit also seemed to find a little of themselves and their culture, and other things they never knew about other people who live in the same country.

Boutros said it's important to build these connections when children are young so that crossing sectarian divisions later in life will be easier for them.

"We want all people to relate to something in this," said Boutros.

The exhibit is open until the end of February, Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Planet Discovery, near the Starco Building in Solidare.

For school reservations, telephone 01/980650/660 ext: 2649 or 2650.

###
* Spencer Osberg is a Canadian journalist living on Beirut.
Source: The Daily Star, February 8, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

******

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PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Contract work for 3 days/week for a period of 12 months

Summary of Job Description

Under the authority of the Secretary General, the Project Development Officer will use their experience and expertise as a consultant in the field of fundraising to work with partners, donors and AMARC staff and elected representatives in order to develop projects and fundraising initiatives that will sustain and enhance AMARC services to members and AMARC support to the development of the international community radio movement. In doing so, he/she will facilitate the execution of the Strategic Plan as well as the objectives decided by the International Board of Directors of AMARC

Specific Tasks

Research funding possibilities for AMARC from existing and new partners and donors;
Supports and participates in the development of a fundraising strategy for AMARC;
Investigate and propose core funding possibilities for AMARC International;
Researches funds for the AMARC 9 Global Conference and other objectives for 2006;
Negotiate funding opportunities and write funding proposals in consultation with the Secretary General, the regional bodies of AMARC and the elected representatives;

Qualifications

At least 3 years experience in the field of project development at the international level;
Knowledge of the international NGO environment, development, human rights and ideally of the community radio movement
Awareness of challenges facing community media worldwide
Excellent English, plus competence in French, Spanish and/or Portuguese.
Good writing skills.

Conditions

12 months initial contract on a basis of 3 days per week.
Honoraries or salary conditions to be discussed.

Send CV and cover letter to amarc@amarc.org

RESPONSABLE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT DE PROJETS
Contrat de travail de 3 jours/semaine pour une période de 12 mois

Description de tâches

Sous l'autorité du secrétaire général, l'officier de développement de projet mettra à profit son expertise comme consultant dans le domaine de levée de fonds en collaboration avec des partenaires, donateurs et le personnel de l'AMARC et autres représentants. Ceci de façon à permettre le développement de projets et de mettre de l'avant des idées nouvelles en matière de levée de fonds afin de soutenir et de rehausser les services de l'AMARC et le soutien de l'AMARC au développement du mouvement international de radio communautaire. Ce faisant, il / elle facilitera l'exécution du plan stratégique de même que l'atteinte des objectifs visés par le bureau international de direction de l'AMARC.

Tâches spécifiques

Rechercher des possibilités de fonds pour l'AMARC parmi d'anciens et nouveaux partenaires et donateurs ;
Supporter et prendre part au développement de la stratégie de levée de fonds de l'AMARC ;
Rechercher et proposer des possibilités de sources de fonds pour l'AMARC international ;
Rechercher des fonds pour la Conférence globale d'AMARC 9 et autres objectifs pour 2006 ;
Négocier des opportunités de recherche de fonds et préparer des propositions de recherche de fonds en collaboration avec le secrétaire général, les membres de l'AMARC et les représentants élus ;

Qualifications

Au moins 3 ans d'expérience dans le domaine des projets de développement de niveau international ;
Connaître l'environnement international des ONG, le développement et les droits humains et, idéalement, le mouvement de la radio communautaire ;
Être conscient des défis que doit relever la presse communautaire mondiale ;
Posséder un anglais excellent, avoir des connaissances en français, espagnol et/ou portugais ;
Bonne aptitude à l'écriture.

Conditions

Contrat initial de 12 mois sur une base de 3 jours par semaine.
Honoraires ou salaire à discuter.

Faire parvenir CV et lettre de couverture à amarc@amarc.org

IPRA UPDATE
February 19, 2006

Hello to all volunteers, organizations and individuals interested in the upcoming International Peace Research Association’s 21st Biennial Conference in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 29-July 3--IPRA2006. This international gathering of peace researchers, educators and communities marks but the second time in its 42 year history that IPRA has met in North America.

With the Biennial Conference fast approaching, an IPRA update is past due. The delays in communication have been prompted by the necessity to regroup, evaluate IPRA’s financial options, and focus on arranging the structural details of the Plenary and Commission sessions. November’s David Suzuki event was successful in terms of attendance and raising awareness about IPRA – it was less successful in the financial realm, running at a loss of roughly $500. This debit raised concerns as to whether it would be desirable or even possible to go forward with the Speakers Series and perhaps the conference itself.

Thanks to the help of some of the international leaders of IPRA, and the IPRA Foundation, the Speakers Series and the conference will proceed. For those of you in Calgary and environs, Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire will be speaking at 7:30 March 10 at MacEwan Hall on the University of Calgary campus. Dallaire, as former commander of peacekeeping forces in Rwanda is a genuine Canadian hero. He has agreed to speak on our theme, “Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace”, with a focus on the UN’s role in developing future paths to peace. Following his address he will make himself available for a book signing. Tickets are $35 plus taxes/surcharges and are currently on sale via Ticketmaster: http://www.ticketmaster.ca . It is anticipated that this event will sell out quickly, hence the advisability of purchasing tickets promptly in order to guarantee seats.

Many high-profile speakers have confirmed their attendance, including:

Stephen Lewis: appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as his Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Mr. Lewis, has served as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) from 1995-1999, and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Dr. Vandana Shiva: physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of many books. In India, she has established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and farmers' rights. Vandana Shiva directs the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy. Her most recent books are “Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge” and “Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply” She was featured in the documentary “The Corporation”

Johan Galtung: Norwegian professor, working at the Transcend Institute. He is seen as the pioneer of peace and conflict research and founded PRIO – the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo. He is also one of the authors of an influential account of news values, the factors which determine coverage given to a particular topic in the news media.

Sister Mary Soledad L. Perpinan ("Sister Sol."): Secretary-General of the Asia Pacific Peace Research Association and President and CEO of the Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women. Her work with victims of the international sex trade is widely respected. You can get a preview of her wisdom on a video prepared by Dr. Tim Pyrch of the University of Calgary, documenting parts of her visit to Calgary last March at http://www.commons.ucalgary.ca/sistersol.

We are currently working out the details and are excited about the possible attendance of Martin Luther King III, President and CEO of the King Center, and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization that his father co-founded in 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin III's dedication to creating and implementing strategic nonviolent action to rid the world of social, political and economic injustice has propelled him to the forefront as one of America’s most ardent advocates for the poor, the oppressed and the disillusioned.

These are but a few of the insightful people who will be addressing the conference. We expect confirmation from a number of other prominent individuals who have made, and continue to make, remarkable efforts towards peace is anticipated as they continue to indicate their interest.

Additional presenters of renown will be featured in what should prove to be exciting and engaging Plenary Sessions. The themes of the Plenaries are as follows:

Aboriginal Canadians on Peace
Peace and the Environment
Peace Journalism
”Professionalism” in Violence Prevention and Peace Building
Peace Research and Action: Regional Trends in the 21st Century.
Security with a Human Face
Sustainable Peace Building Architecture

The deadline for the Call for Papers passed on February 15th. Hundreds have submitted proposals to participate in the Commission Sessions.

The fees for the conference have been reduced to make it affordable for as many as possible. Early Bird rates, for those who register before April 15, have been adjusted to: $225 for IPRA members; $275 for non-members; $100 for students; and $110 to attend a single day of the conference. Registrations are now being accepted. The registration package and a preliminary conference schedule are available on our website, http://www.ipra2006.com/.

A new element has been added to the IPRA2006 website: Pieces of Peace. An invitation is extended to individuals, groups and organizations to contribute to a web page dedicated to sharing ideas, poetry, artwork, and essays about peace in all its dimensions. This location is designed as a space and opportunity to all who wish to share their Piece of Peace on the world wide web. The website is currently being updated in order to accommodate this new venture. The link should appear within the next few days.

There is still a great deal of work that needs to be done, but this is the challenge which the local Calgary volunteers have been patiently, or otherwise, waiting to accept. With the logistics organized and registrations starting to come in, the task now is to publicize the conference and work on adding the “extras” that make a conference unique and memorable. The process of working through the financial logistics of being able to host the world class leaders who plan to attend IPRA2006 has still to be faced. Any suggestions or connections to financial sponsors who would be willing to assist us in meeting our goals are sorely needed.

Thank you for your patience and for your excitement about IPRA 2006. We hope to see you in Calgary this June. A call for volunteers to our Calgary core will follow this email in due course. In the meantime the urgency of suggestions regarding sponsorship plus all other inquiries may be addressed to myself:

Anna Brassard
Chair, Organizing Committee
IPRA - Calgary 2006
E-mails: anna@ipra2006.com or aebrassa@ucalgary.ca

AfricAvenir News, 19th February 2006

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Im Rahmen der Filmreihe „African Perspectives“ laden AfricAvenir International, die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) und der South African Club Berlin am Sonntag, den 26. Februar, um 17.15 Uhr zur Filmvorführung von Jean-Pierre Bekolos ‚Quartier Mozart’ in das Berliner Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein.

Am: Sonntag, den 26. Februar 2006
Beginn: 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Vorbestellung: 030/283 46 03 (Mo-Sa ab 14.30 Uhr/So ab 10.30 Uhr)
Eintritt: 5 Euro

Kurzinhalt
„Quartier Mozart“ spielt über einen Zeitraum von 48 Stunden im gleichnamigen Arbeiterviertel von Yaounde, Kamerun. Erzählt wird die Geschichte eines Mädchens, das durch die hiesige Zauberin „Maman Thekla“ in den Körper eines jungen Mannes, „Montype“, schlüpft, um die tatsächlich stattfindende „sexuelle Politik“ des Viertels aufzudecken.

Maman Thekla verwandelt sich ebenfalls – und zwar in „Panka“, einen bekannten kamerunschen Comicheld, der die Kraft hat per Handschlag den Penis eines anderen Mannes verschwinden zu lassen.

Mit viel Witz und einem interessanten „Musikvideo“-Stil schafft Bekolo eine Welt mitreißender Verspieltheit – ein Film im Jargon der „Quartiers“, geistreich, innovativ und provokant.

Regisseur
Jean-Pierre Bekolo wurde 1966 in Yaounde, Kamerun, geboren, studierte Physik in Yaounde und später Film in Frankreich. Er ist Autor, Regisseur, Produzent und Professor für Film an den US-Amerikanischen Universitäten Virginia Tech (1998), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001) und Duke University (2003).

Auszeichnungen/Preise
1993 Nominated for the British Film Awards (neben Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs)
1992 Cannes Film Festival Prix Afrique en Création.
1992 Locarno Film Festival Prix Swissair - Prix Carte Jeunes
1992 Montréal World Film Festival Mention Spéciale du Jury

http://africavenir.com/news/2006/02/321/african-perspectives-quartier-mozart

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

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.

The Rotary Foundation is now accepting applications for the Rotary World Peace Fellowship.

Successful candidates would pursue a master's degree in international studies, sustainable development, peace, and conflict resolution at one of the seven Rotary Center university partners: University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA; Duke University, Durham, USA; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA; International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan; University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Universidad Del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Applicants must be committed to peace and have proven experience in
their field. Please see our website for fellowship program and application
information:

http://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/amb_scho/centers/scholars/index.html

The deadline to receive applications is 1 July 2006.

The Peace Education Center at Teachers College Columbia University Presents:

Friday, February 24th, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Room 535 Grace Dodge

Please join us for a dialogue with a visiting delegation of Syrian law scholars. The delegation is currently visiting the United States exploring the possibilities for strengthening the rule of law and the enforcement and realization of human rights in Syria.

Given the current situation in the region and the current global debate on Syria, this should be a timely discussion on law, human rights and peace in the Middle East.

The delegation includes:

· Dr. Najem AHMAD
Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Damascus University, 2000-present

· Dr. Majed AL HAMWI
Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, Damascus University, 1984-present

· Dr. Fouad DIB
Dean, Faculty of Law, Damascus University, 1995-present
Member, Syrian Parliament, Head, Legislative Committee, 1977-1981

· Dr. Imad KATTAN
Professor, Faculty of Law, Damascus University, 2000-present

Teachers College is located at 120th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam. When entering the college please inquire at the security desk for directions to the conference room. No RSVP required.

If you have additional questions please contact the Peace Education Center at peace-ed@tc.edu.
Peace Education Center, Teachers College Columbia University
www.tc.edu/PeaceEd

Dear Friends!
Please see Linda Hartling's kind message further down, where she shares with us her notes on the presentation by Aaron Lazare on apology!

Dearest Friends,

I attended a talk on "apology" by Aaron Lazare last night. As you know, he did some early work on humiliation, so I've had an interest in his perspective.

Here are a few points that I thought you might find interesting, with my editorial comments:

1. An apology not only heal relationships, it can also enhance relationships (e.g., connection, disconnection, reconnection/better
connection)
2. Women offer more apologies, are better at apologizing, sometimes apologize unnecessarily (perhaps a woman should have contributed to the
book??)
3. When apologies work, they restore balance in the relationship.
4. An apology is a gift we give somebody.
5. An apology restores the dignity and the self-respect of the offended person.
6. An apology is not an act, but a negotiation (relational).
7. It is never too late to offer and apology, but it can be too soon....sometimes the offended person needs time to express his/her anger.
8. Ways of apologizing are highly defined by the culture.
9. Components of a good apology:
>> Acknowledge the violation
>> Communicate remorse, shame, forebearance
>> Offer an explanation
>> Make reparations.
9. When the needs of the other person (offended person) are met, forgiveness is spontaneous.

I think apologizing is an important, but underdeveloped relational skill that is often neglected. The US government could use some instruction on this topic.
Hugs to all,
Linda

Wed., February 15th,
Pendleton 212, 7:30 pm

Go to this link for a review of On Apology from the Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2005/06/12/doctor_studies_power_of_im_sorr

Sponsors: Religious and Spiritual Life, Hillel and Peace and Justice Studies
Co-sponsors: Africana Studies, Counseling Services, Cultural Advising Network, Harambee House, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Medical Professions Advisory Commitee, Newman Catholic Ministry, Office of Continuing Education, Office of the Dean of students, Office of Multicultural Programnning and Services, Office of Residential Life, Slater International Center, Wellesley Centers for Women.

Dr. Aaron Lazare is the author of On Apology, an exploration and analysis of the power of apology, not just for individuals but also for groups and
nations -- for example, Abraham Lincoln's apology for slavery and the U.S. government's apology to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. In its review, Publishers Weekly wrote, "Lazare succeeds in showing that a true apology is among the most graceful and profound of all human exchanges. When it is sincere, it is not an end but a new beginning." Lazare will discuss why people apologize, why some apologies heal while others fail (and even offend) and the differences between public and private apologies. "It is a behavior that requires of both parties an attitude of honesty, generosity, humility, commitment and courage," Lazare writes. He has lectured extensively on the relevance of apology in law, conflict resolution and mediation, globalization, sociolinguisitics, theology, philosophy, ethics and medicine. Lazare is chancellor and dean and professor of psychiatry, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and senior psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"All true apologies are an offering that is intended to restore the dignity and self- respect of the offended party."

Friends,

Many people have requested the written copy of my essay on the cartoon controversy. Here it is below. Feel free to reproduce and circulate widely.

The essay was broadcast February 13th on Chicago Public Radio's "848" program. To listen to the audio file, paste the following link into your Internet browser: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/audio_library/848_rafeb06.asp

Next, scroll down the page to February 13th and click on "A Common Life Together." This will bring you to the portion of the program during which I read the essay.

Peace,
Eboo

Eboo Patel
Executive Director
The Interfaith Youth Core
1111 N. Wells Suite 501
Chicago, IL 60610
P 01 312 573 8941
F 01 312 573 1542
eboo@ifyc.org
www.ifyc.org

Publics in Western Countries Disapprove of Muhammad Cartoons
But Right to Publish Widely Defended

Please read more at http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/171.php?nid=&id=&pnt=171&lb=hmpg2

Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve
by Jim Collins

E-book

Boards of directors typically believe that transforming a company from merely good to truly great requires a larger-than-life personality--an egocentric chief to lead the corporate charge. Think "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap or Lee Iacocca. In fact, that's not the case, says author and leadership expert Jim Collins. The essential ingredient for taking a company to greatness is having a "Level 5" leader at the helm--an executive in whom extreme personal humility blends paradoxically with intense professional will. Collins paints a compelling and counterintuitive portrait of the skills and personality traits necessary for effective leadership.

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity
(CGNews-PiH)
February 14, 2006

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Muslim world. Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication, free of charge.

* If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and Common Ground News Service, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

* To subscribe, send an email to subscribe-cgnewspih@sfcg.org with “subscribe” in the subject line.

**********

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

4. ~YOUTH VIEWS~
A holy alliance: the relationship of religion and politics in Senegal by Ndiaga Diouf
Ndiaga Diouf, a consultant and trainer for Radio Gune, discusses how religion and politics come together under democracy in Senegal. Citing positive examples of how these two parties work together, such as the role of religious leaders in fighting against AIDS, Diouf demonstrates that “there are possibilities for cooperation and partnership between the worlds of religion and politics that are not harmful, and that functional civil societies can exist that are not mirror images of Western ones.”
(Source: Common Ground News Service, February 14, 2006)

5. Islam and the West: can interfaith dialogue perform a miracle? By Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Associate Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University’s School of International Service, raises some of the many criticisms of interfaith dialogue. Acknowledging that dialogue does in fact face some obstacles, he also reminds us of the very real impact it can have: “Thousands of stories of hope and transformation have been documented by people who have attended these interfaith meetings, and in many cases such individuals have acted in their own personal sphere to change the images and negative stereotypes which exist about Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”
(Source: Common Ground News Service, February 14, 2006)

**********

ARTICLE 1
The heart of the matter
Leena El-Ali

Washington, D.C. - Over the past two and a half weeks, the world’s attention has once again been sharply focused on the relationship between the Muslim world and the West. Some view the now-famous cartoons depicting the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, as gravely insulting, while others view them as merely satirical, as caricatures are meant to be.

Whether the Danish editor who commissioned these cartoons did so to make a point about self-censorship of the press in his country out of fear of Muslim reaction or not, these depictions, once published, were bound to be met with outrage. The republication of these cartoons in several European papers, in defence of free speech, has only served to stir emotions and counter-emotions so strong that the heart of the matter is in danger of being lost.

It is worth pausing for a moment here to remark that all major U.S. newspapers chose not to show the drawings in question, arguing that the story could be told well enough without offending the religious sensibilities of Muslims, as did the vast majority of U.S. network television stations. As a program director at a conflict transformation organisation which believes in ‘understanding the differences’ rather than forcing homogeneity, I salute this decision to respect others’ sensibilities.

Tempting as it might be to wring one’s hands in despair at the seemingly ever-widening chasm between Muslims and (non-Muslim) Westerners, we have a moral responsibility to snap out of it and get to the bottom of what is really going on – and then act upon this comprehension. This is not so much a confrontation between Islam and the West as it is an uncomfortable intersection between a world where ‘traditional’ values remain of paramount importance, and one where the values of a modern, ‘individualist’ society reign supreme.

From a traditional perspective, movements like the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment may have brought about much that is good, but they also brought rejection of sacred ideas and, generally speaking, dismissal of all that is not generated by man alone. Modern individualism, on the other hand, deems itself to have been liberated from these "shackles," though from a traditional point of view it merely took on a different set of prejudices.

Eighteen years ago, most Arab and Muslim countries banned Martin Scorsese’s film, The Last Temptation of Christ, because the traditional values of these societies would not allow Christ, a revered figure in Islam, to be shown in a disrespectful light. More recently, Lebanon’s Christian authorities – part of the broader traditional landscape - banned The Da Vinci Code from the country despite its fictional status. Thus this is not an Islam-West clash, but a close encounter between traditionalism and non-traditionalism of the most uncomfortable kind.

To be clear, this is not intended to mean that Muslims do not care about individualist values as such, that traditionalism is inherently violent, or that Westerners reject outright all deference to religious symbols. But it is a fact that barely fifty years ago, before the West made its final break with the past in the post-Darwinian and Vatican II ambience of the decades following World War II, most of what is not tolerated in the East today would, by and large, not have been tolerated in the West either.

Yet there is undoubtedly a second dimension to what is unfolding before us at present. To many Muslims, the publication and republication of these drawings only confirms what they have suspected all along, particularly since the invasion of Iraq: that the Western world is waging a war against Islam itself. Prior to September 11th, it was primarily the Middle East that had nurtured a sense of paranoia and been a fertile ground for conspiracy theories, driven primarily by observation of US-Israel and US-oil dynamics. Since that fateful day, however, with the ensuing invasions of Afghanistan and, particularly, Iraq, such feelings about ill-will harboured towards Islam and Muslim communities has been much more widespread throughout Asia.

A myriad of emotions have been unleashed during this affair, especially those of distress, anger, bewilderment and defiance. We must rise to the occasion: not all Muslims who are distressed are angry, and not all non-Muslim Westerners who are bewildered are defiant. Muslims and Westerners who can leave anger and defiance at the door and come together to learn about one another’s distress and bewilderment must do so.

On a civic level, we need to learn about one another’s value systems - systems that have much in common yet also differ - without judgment, so we can better understand the principles that drive us. On a political level, we need to build upon such understanding to better interact, and even collaborate, with one another.

It was heartening to see clerics in Beirut and elsewhere try so hard to calm protesters in their respective cities and explain the inappropriateness of their reactions. It was equally reassuring to read and hear several prominent Western figures express their sympathy for Muslim feelings. By doing our bit as good citizens of the world on a grassroots level, we can help put things in perspective and make the likes of such voices of reason and compassion better-heard by a more ready-to-listen audience.

###
* Leena El-Ali directs the Muslim-Western relations programme for Search for Common Ground (www.sfcg.org).
Source: Common Ground News Service, February 14, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 2
Before reconciliation with Muslims, things will get worse
David Ignatius

Washington, D.C. - Looking at the cartoons, a non-Muslim wonders how they could possibly have given such offence. How could a few juvenile, satirical drawings of the prophet Muhammad have created a global crisis? It seems inexplicable; until you think about American reactions to a word we hesitate even to write for fear of giving offence, calling it instead the "N-word."

The African-American experience reminds us that there is a rage so deep and abiding that it can be triggered by a small comment, an unintended slight, a remark perhaps meant as a joke but heard as a grievous insult. The legacy of slavery left behind that residue of anger. It created taboos that protect what Sigmund Freud described as the sacred totems of cultural identity. It established boundaries where outsiders - in this case, white people - are not allowed to venture. That's why the N-word is so powerful - it is the symbol for the suffering that a people experienced at the hands of others.

By drawing this comparison, I don't mean to condone what Muslims are doing in their violent, deadly over-reaction to a provocation by a foolish newspaper editor in Denmark. And I think the Muslim world could learn something about tolerance from African-Americans. The United States still abounds with racist images, but blacks are no longer rioting in the streets or burning down buildings. With time, people have learned to deal with their anger in less self-destructive ways - even, sometimes, to laugh about it.

This week, the African-American cartoonist Aaron McGruder is running a series in his taboo-busting strip "The Boondocks," making fun of civil rights leader Al Sharpton's protests about racism. In Monday's strip, Huey Freeman muses to his friend: "Give me news of hope, Caesar. Tell me of the leaders who dare to stand against the grave dangers faced by this world. I crave inspiration." His pal Caesar looks up from his newspaper: "Says here Al Sharpton is protesting a cartoon for using the N-word." To which Huey responds: "I'm going back to bed."

Maybe the Muslim world will someday be able to laugh off slurs against the prophet Muhammad, but not now. The wounds are too raw; the sense of victimisation is too immediate. I travel often to Muslim countries, and I am sometimes astonished at how hundreds of years of history can seem condensed into the present, so that every current injustice is magnified by the weight of every past one. I don't understand it, but then, I have to remind myself, I'm not a Muslim. I haven't lived it.

Hoping to understand this blood-knot of rage and intolerance, I called Randall Kennedy, a prominent African-American professor of law at Harvard University. He is the author of a 2002 book that explores the intense emotions aroused by the N-word, which he actually dares to spell out in the book's title. He says he's not surprised that a cartoon, like a taboo word, can become a focus for rage. For African-Americans, he explains, "there are all sorts of indignities and insults, but they're momentary and ambiguous." But when white people say the hateful word, "it crystallises something that's often hard to discern."

"When people feel they're being disrespected, they respond in all sorts of ways, including very self-destructive ways," Kennedy observes. That said, he finds the Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons unacceptable - just as he thinks people over-react to the N-word. "Are we going to bleep out Richard Pryor's album? Are we going to scratch out every reference to the word in "Huckleberry Finn"? I would say with respect that's what is happening here with the reaction to the cartoons."

Whenever I'm feeling really pessimistic about the world, I remind myself of the American civil rights movement. In the space of my lifetime, America has gone from a country of brutal racism and outright segregation to a place where black folks and white folks pretty much get along. We haven't abolished racism, but by working honestly at the problem, we've made real progress. Along the way, we experienced rage and violence: Our cities burned; our nation sometimes felt at war with itself. But we passed through that dark period into a brighter one.

I want to believe that Muslims and the West are now in that kind of transition. We're in the rage phase - the part of the story where black folks are torching cities, white governors are sending in the National Guard, and the problems seem insoluble. But if people keep their heads, we will eventually pass from this crazy moment into a different one where a genuine reconciliation is possible. Let's face it: We are living the clash of civilisations, and it's likely that things won't get much better until they get a bit worse.

###
*David Ignatius is a Washington-based journalist who has worked for such publications as the Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune.
Source: Daily Star, February 11, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 3
Need for dialogue silenced amid competing voices
Ati Nurbaiti

Jakarta - Freedom of expression is surely a great thing to have. At the end of the day, this uproar over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in European newspapers should at least make millions of non-Muslims understand that Islam categorically proscribes any depiction of the Prophet, insulting or not.

But Muslims have also seen how freedom can be used as a petty excuse for getting away with the republication of the cartoons (either in solidarity with the Danish press or as a "necessary" illustration in each report), even though Muslims had expressed their anger and even though the first newspaper that had printed them, Jyllands-Posten, apologised for the offence that the 12 caricatures caused. They were first published in September.

Embarrassingly, it was European diplomats who had to remind the press of journalistic ethics, which basically state that publication of offensive material is to be avoided. The main question in the newsroom when mulling over the release of controversial material is always whether the expected excess would be worthy of the decision.

The leader of the Paris-based press organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Muslims' reactions show they had "no idea of how democracy works." And the feeling of Muslims of being "shocked", said RSF secretary-general Robert Menard, while regrettable, "is the price of being informed."

Indeed, thanks to freedom of the press and to being informed, Muslims have hopefully acquired some idea as to how democracy works. An editor in Denmark said that offended readers should understand that you do not burn flags or attack embassies when you are shocked by media content; you take them to court!

This is the same message that the Indonesian media has been trying to get across to its sometimes unpredictable public all along, whatever their religion. However, this civilised, and perhaps most relevant piece of advice, was drowned out in the continuing uproar as the cartoons got reprinted elsewhere. A newspaper closer to the Muslim heartland in Jordan also reprinted the cartoon and urged Muslim readers to consider whether it was more insulting to Islam than the video footage aired on Arab TV of innocent Westerners getting beheaded in the name of Allah.

Once the violence stops, one might see some fruitful dialogue attempting to answer that question posed by the Jordanian paper; and also on other questions.

Some might want to engage in discussions on the reason for the ban on depictions of the Prophet (Muslims are told that it is God's way of discouraging idolatry), or even a debate on the ban itself ("liberal" Muslims are known to debate almost any religious taboo).

Another more interesting dialogue would be one involving the cartoonists and editors of the Danish publication on why they deemed the images fit to print in the first place. The editors may reiterate that the caricatures were used to illustrate articles on self-censorship.

Earlier, a leading Danish writer reportedly expressed alarm at the fact that an author couldn't find any cartoonist to depict Muhammad because the illustrators feared for their lives; this was considered alarm for Denmark which supposedly upholds freedom of expression, and the newspaper took up the challenge as an exercise in free speech.

Also, maybe they had no idea of the Islamic ban on depicting the prophet -- but the editors may have also shared a nagging question among the Western non-Muslim public on why there is so much display of intolerance and cruelty against innocent people in the name of Islam if they claim Muhammad preached peace -- a question also shared by Muslims.

Yet another dialog could be held on the urgency to preserve freedom of expression, for if we attacked all Western media incapable of making wise judgments, surely the entire Muslim world would be deprived of information and a vital means to interact with others.

Such a dialogue would further need to discuss the line between religious prohibitions and freedom of expression; those who are "in defence of secularism" say the line is free to cross, while others say it is a pretty obvious no-no because though you might be an atheist, secularist or liberal, you might want to respect some clear beliefs.

The only difficulty is that when we in the media have successfully provoked the audience we might only belatedly see that we failed to calculate all of the impacts. Any attempt at a fruitful exchange coming from the decisions to print and reprint the cartoons is yet to materialise. Is the current chaos in a number of countries, involving many who jump at any excuse to engage in violence, worthy of those decisions?

Once again Muslims are being "represented" only by the violence-prone Islamists. To balance those who give both freedom of expression and Islam a bad name, we could engage in dialogues between civilisations.

###
* Ati Nurbaiti is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post.
Source: The Jakarta Post, February 3, 2006
Visit the website at www.thejakartapost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 4
~YOUTH VIEWS~
A holy alliance: the relationship of religion and politics in Senegal
Ndiaga Diouf

Dakar, Senegal -- In certain parts of the world, religion is often the source of social and political tensions. The consequences are often dramatic: hundreds or thousands of people lose their lives. It’s the opposite of what is presently happening in Senegal, a country with great poverty, but with a functioning democracy nonetheless. With Muslims comprising 95% of the population, politics cannot ignore the presence of so many devout Muslims and today, an informal alliance exists between politician and religious leaders, whereby each party looks after the interests of the other. Religious leaders are playing an important part in the country’s development having, for instance, contributed greatly to the fight against AIDS, so much so that Senegal has one of the lowest incidences of AIDS mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. For Westerners who wonder whether democracy and overt religiosity are compatible, it may well be worth taking a closer look at Senegal.

The intertwining of religion and politics in Senegal is long-standing, and certain observers consider it to have begun with the country’s French, colonial administrators. The various governments in power since independence in 1960 have maintained it, to such an extent that today there is even an oft-repeated saying to describe the state of affairs here: “The marabouts [religious scholars and leaders with strong social standing in West Africa] manage the people, and the politicians manage the machinery of the state.”

This relationship is the result of the existence of several Sufi brotherhoods in Senegal, most of which date from the late 19th century. Sufism is often referred to as ‘Islamic mysticism’, and is the name given to a tradition of ‘inwardness’ in Islam which emphasises an esoteric interpretation of doctrine to complement the more prevalent exoteric one, which tends to veer more toward the literal. The most important are the Mourides and Tidiane brotherhoods, founded by leaders whose descendants have inherited the title of Khalif, and whose families play an important part in Senegalese society. The Khalifs draw their political power from their thousands of followers, and wield great influence, both culturally and economically. For example, Serigne Salio Mbacké, a leader in the Mouride brotherhood, is known for his work in the Qur’anic instruction of children in the Diourbel region, where the famous pilgrimage site of Touba is located. Mbacké also owns thousands of acres of land, where he raises peanuts and millet.

Beyond the religious convictions of politicians, great attention at election time is paid to the views of marabouts on the candidates. In Senegal, it is frequently remembered that Serigne Abdoul Ahad MBacké, the Khalif of the Mourides at the time, threw all the weight of his organisation behind getting Abou Diouf re-elected President in 1988. At the time of the elections, there was much debate in Senegal over whether the Republic was not in fact threatened by such overt religious influence on the political process. Given the fact that the fundamental character of the state was not changed despite Diouf’s re-election showed that Senegalese people have reached a degree of maturity that shows that the process remains unadulterated, however. In general, the people are confident in the guidance of their religious leaders, but they also engage in political life in accordance with their own interests or political convictions.

Indeed, more recently, when individuals from these religious families began entering the political arena, for the most part their parties failed to make much headway, despite being well-organised and well-financed. Thus far, the Senegalese have shown a strong willingness to maintain a firm division between the worlds of religion and politics. Nevertheless, the government depends on religious leaders to provide the social framework that allows the country to remain stable, to a degree not often found in Africa. Politicians must inevitably gain the support of religious leaders to win votes, and in turn, religious leaders, who wield vast influence in the country’s rural provinces, gain because policy-makers will often return the favour, such as by seeing that certain development projects are executed in their territories. On a day-to-day level, the partnership functions well, as citizens often make recourse to the Khalifs even for relatively small issues. For example, mobile street vendors, who sell small goods in many cities, were frequently being hassled by the police, and went to the Khalif of the Mourides, who intervened with the political authorities on their behalf. Indeed, workers in many sectors do not hesitate to go to their religious leaders with work-related problems. In the end, it is something of a holy alliance that benefits everyone, in a way not so different from the give-and-take between interest groups in the more developed West. Compromises are worked out, favours exchanged and democracy, by dint of actual practice, becomes stronger – though in a uniquely Senegalese context.

Unfortunately, in the West, little is known of these developments, which show that there are possibilities for cooperation and partnership between the worlds of religion and politics that are not harmful, and that functional civil societies can exist that are not mirror images of Western ones. There might be less consternation among Western policy-makers about the possibilities of democracy in predominantly Muslim countries if there were.

###
* Ndiaga Diouf is a consultant and trainer for Radio Gune – Yi, a project of Plan International, which conducts radio journalism workshops for children in Senegal and other West African countries, who then produce and broadcast their own programmes on health, nutrition and children’s rights. He is also a part-time journalist for Info 7, a Dakar newspaper.
Source: Common Ground New Service, February 14, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 5
Islam and the West: can interfaith dialogue perform a miracle?
Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Washington, D.C. - One of the lessons or developments that emerged from the tragedy of 9/11 was the realisation among many people, especially NGOs, policy makers and educators in Western societies, that they had little knowledge of Islam and Muslims. Another was the realisation by Muslims in Europe and the USA of how secluded and enclaved their lives had been in such societies.

As a remedy for such mutual ignorance, many organisations, both public and private (including universities and NGOs), began offering introductory 101 classes on Islam and its basic practices. In many cases some of these organisations initiated face-to-face interaction with Muslim communities, especially with certain Muslim leaders or figures who were willing to converse and assume the role of representing Islam and Muslims. Unfortunately, fewer initiatives were launched in Muslims societies to deepen learning about European and American societies.

These interfaith, intercultural, or intercivilisational dialogue meetings initiated in the West have been gaining more and more support from both government and private individuals. Even ex-presidents Clinton, Carter and Rafsanjani, and Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan (who is among the champions of this dialogue), among others, have declared their interest and led some of these meetings.

What can such meetings accomplish?

For Muslims, interfaith dialogue can offer an opportunity to accurately present their faith and correct some of the basic stereotypes and misperceptions regarding its practices and principles. For example, non-Muslims will learn that Islam and Muslims have contributed greatly to human civilisation: many of the modern world’s sciences and humanities benefited from Muslims and from Islamic science and philosophy during the Middle Ages when Europe was in the dark age of its internal wars.

Other participants often express their surprise when they learn that Islam spread outside of the Middle East and into the likes of Indonesia, India and Malaysia through persuasion and invitation (da’awa) rather than by the sword - a widespread misconception. Even when it comes to the sensitive issue of terrorism, many discover that most Muslims are against the use of violence and the destruction of innocent life. Other benefits of these face-to-face dialogues include the re-humanising of Muslims for many Western participants. For many Muslims, they are also an opportunity to strengthen interaction with other members of society and with local communities.

The interfaith dialogue circles help in breaking the enclave mentality of the closed communities in which many Muslims live in “self-imposed social and cultural isolation”. This isolation increases the likelihood of a violent backlash when there is a terrorist attack on a European or American city. The more bridges Muslims build with their communities, the less likely they will be attacked and accused of supporting or harbouring terrorist elements.

Despite the above benefits of interfaith dialogue, there are sharp voices (both Muslim and non-Muslim), which express doubt about its effectiveness and necessity. Some Muslim groups mistakenly view these professional, interfaith dialogues as an attempt to convert or threaten their beliefs, and have therefore launched attacks against them as ’kufr’ or non-belief. Others have argued that interfaith dialogue cannot fix structural problems in the relationship between Islam and Western governments. The main cause of tension between Muslims and the West is not necessarily one of communication as implied by those who repeat the phrase “we do not need to love them or become friends with them...”.

The problem rather relates to Western policies with regard to Palestine, Iraq and the Muslim world in general. Interfaith dialogue cannot offer a remedy for any economic exploitation carried out by European and American private corporations and government-owned concerns. It can do nothing about the oil and other natural resources being extracted on a daily basis from the Muslim world. Critical voices will add that interfaith dialogue is reminiscent of a gravely ill person receiving cosmetic surgery: even if we give that person the most beautiful new face, how would that help in stopping the cancer invading that body?

Another major critique of interfaith meetings, especially those of short duration with no follow-up, is that they provide participants with the illusion of being “activist.” People do feel good after a meeting and have less need to act or do something against the structural policy of their governments. Such a shortcoming is true of those meetings that focus on learning about the basic principles and rituals of the other religion while participants are not expected to commit to further action. These processes and models obviously cannot counter terrorism and its causes, nor deter perpetrators.

Moreover, some critics of this type of interfaith effort suggest the funds spent on these interfaith meetings be donated to economic and social development projects that systematically counter poverty, especially in Muslim countries where poverty and illiteracy often attract violent strategies for change.

As someone who has researched and led many of these interfaith meetings, I must admit that there is truth to some of the above criticism. But such a critique fails to consider the fact that personal and individual change is essential to any desired larger, social and political change in any relationship. Thousands of stories of hope and transformation have been documented by people who have attended these interfaith meetings, and in many cases such individuals have acted in their own personal sphere to change the images and negative stereotypes which exist about Muslims and non-Muslims alike. In addition, efforts in interfaith dialogue are like any long-term educational investment in building a global and local culture of peace, in that its fruits will only be seen and felt by future generations which will be better-equipped to counter all forms of violence more effectively.

Making such efforts more effective requires more sincere involvement by a wider circle of Muslim and non-Muslim religious leadership; the linking of these efforts to practical and concrete outcomes; and the systematic engagement of policy-makers in these efforts.

###
* Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Associate Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University’s School of International Service in Washington, DC, and is the Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute.
Source: Common Ground News Service, February 14, 2006.
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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Common Ground News - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West, on the one hand, and the Arab and Muslim worlds, on the other. This service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.

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

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International Institute on Peace Education 2006
July 30-August 6, 2006 - San Jose, Costa Rica
“Toward a Planetary Ethic: Shared and Individual Responsibility"

**To request an application sent to you by email contact: peace-ed@tc.edu

The 2006 International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) is being co-organized by the Peace Education Center of Teachers College Columbia University (New York) and the UN Mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica).

IIPE, founded in 1982 by Betty Reardon and faculty colleagues at Teachers College, has been held annually in different parts of the world. It is an intensive multicultural and cooperative learning opportunity in which participants learn from and with each other about substantive peace issues and interactive teaching approaches. The IIPE is also an opportunity for networking and community building among those who educate and work for a culture of peace in the host region and around the world.

IIPE 2006 will explore the theme of “Toward a Planetary Ethic: Shared and Individual Responsibility,” recognizing that the global community has reached key areas of consensus regarding the challenges we are facing, the shared ethical frameworks of values, norms and principles for meeting them, and in particular the contributions that education should fulfill. For more background information on this year’s theme please visit the IIPE website at: www.tc.edu/PeaceEd

Application Process

Detailed information about the application process is available online or can be requested sent to you by email (see details above).

· Applications are to be returned to the Teachers College Peace Education Center (address below) by April 1, 2006. Applying early is strongly recommended as space is extremely limited. Criteria for acceptance are indicated in the questions posed in the application. Notices of acceptances will be sent in early April, 2006. Priority will be given to those who propose the most specific plans for follow-up implementation of the knowledge and skills learned at IIPE 2006. Applying as a team (of typically no more than 2) that will be involved in learning implementation is recommended. A priority waiting list will be established for those not initially accepted.

· The institute fee is $400, which covers all on-site costs including lodging, food, and local transportation. Accommodations will be arranged with local host families in the community of Ciudad Colon, which is very near the University. Details for processing fees, as well as additional information on accommodations, will be provided upon acceptance for participation to the IIPE.

· Airfare and travel arrangements and securing visas must be arranged and paid by participants themselves.

· Payment and registration forms will be sent upon acceptance for participation, following review of applications. All fees must be paid by May 1, 2006, approximately 90 days in advance of the Institute. A late fee of $50 will be charged for payments received after the deadline and spaces will not be kept after June 1, 2006. Cancellations must be made at least 30 days in advance, no later than June 30, 2006. Fees will not be refunded for cancellations after June 30.

· Because the IIPE is self-sustaining, all participants, including the organizers and presenters, cover their own fees. Occasionally contributions are made for assistance in the form of institute fee reductions or waivers. If you anticipate the need for assistance, we still encourage you to apply if you think your follow-up possibilities qualify you. Indicate your status and need as clearly as possible in the application form. We also even more strongly encourage you to independently seek financial support from other sources.

· As we annually receive numerous requests for financial aid we are also seeking your support for scholarship assistance. We hope you might consider making a contribution to the IIPE scholarship fund to support participants coming from currency poor countries. A scholarship donation form is available upon request or can be downloaded from the internet at: http://www.tc.edu/peaceed/iipe/register.htm#donate

We encourage all applicants to visit the IIPE website to learn more about its history and philosophy. The IIPE website is: www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/IIPE.

Best regards,
IIPE 2006 Organizing Team
Peace Education Center
Tony Jenkins
Janet Gerson
David Ragland
University for Peace
Abelardo Brenes
Brandon Canady
Eliana Carvalho
Maribel Muñoz
Dody Wibowo

Please send all inquiries to the address listed below:
Peace Education Center, Box 171
Teachers College Columbia University
New York, NY 10027 USA
peace-ed@tc.edu

War, Genocide and Memory. German Colonialism and National Identity - Sheffield/UK 09/06

Convenors: Jürgen Zimmerer/Michael Perraudin

Workshop of the Arbeitskreis Militärgeschichte e.V.
in cooperation with the Department of Germanic Studies, Department of
History and Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, University of
Sheffield, the Nordic Africa Insti-tute, Uppsala, and the European
Network of Genocide Scholars (ENOGS)
11.09.2006-13.09.2006, Sheffield/UK
Deadline: 01.03.2006

For almost sixty years, since the end of World War II, the German public
had forgotten about its colonial empire. Whereas other European powers
experienced the traumatic violence of decolonisation, Germans believed
that they had nothing to do with the colonial exploitation of large
parts of Africa, Asia or South America. They were innocent - so many
believed - of the devastations brought about by European colonialism and
could therefore engage with the new postcolonial world without the dark
shadow of a colonial past. Some observers have termed this ‘colonial
amnesia’.

Such suppression was severely shaken in 2004, when the centenary of the
genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples confronted a wide German
audience with German atrocities of a hun-dred years before. The first
German genocide, as it was called, attracted media coverage, and in
August 2004 the German government officially apologised for the
atrocities. After Germany’s attempts to come to terms with its Nazi
past, this step was seen by many international observers as a major
breakthrough in global attempts to right historic wrongs, especially
those com-mitted in a colonial context. In Germany, the official
apology, far from marking closure on a dark chapter in German history,
sparked a variety of agitated responses. Instead of acknowledging the
act as a much-needed step in the process of coming to terms with the
colonial past, conservative circles denounced the German Minister for
Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who had
delivered the apology, as a ‘traitor’. Others worried about claims for
reparations by the Herero, and the German tabloid ‘BILD’ asked on its
front page, ‘What will be the cost of the minister’s tears?’, deriding
her carefully crafted statement as being the result of female sentiment.
Wieczorek-Zeul’s courageous act had obviously touched a nerve. Whereas
some felt encouraged to bring other German colonial atrocities into the
limelight, for example the Maji-Maji war in German East Africa, the
centenary of which fell in 2005, others have attempted to rewrite
Germany’s colonial past by emphasizing the exotic aspects of Germany’s
colonial undertaking, and by disconnecting the imperial past from the
positive strands of German history. A dubious documentary on prime-time
German television, which made repeated use of colonial stereotypes,
marked - for the time being - the extreme point of this endeavour.

Nevertheless, the debate shows that Germany has finally arrived at a
postcolonial European normality, where its own historical relationship
with the world is part of a lively debate not only about the past, but
also about the future. Migration, multiculturalism and xenophobia are
only some of the topics which are substantially shaped by Germany’s
memory of the past. Colonialism was central to Wilhelminian discourse on
national identity, to the country’s understanding of itself as a world
power; and now discussion about the German empire seems to be
resurfacing as part of a German discourse of self-understanding and
self-reassurance in the aftermath of Unification.

The proposed workshop will address Germany’s biased and troubled
relationship with its colonial past over the course of two centuries. As
postcolonial studies have shown, colonial engagement neither started nor
ended with formal colonial rule. Thus we invite papers dealing with all
aspects of the encounters of Germany and Germans with imagined or real
colonial empires, from the Enlightenment to the present day. Papers
addressing the problems from a transnational or comparative perspective,
papers dealing with the landscapes of memory in the former German
colonies, and papers offering literary and other cultural-historical
perspectives are all especially welcome. Contributions from
practitioners in any relevant discipline are encouraged.

Possible topics include:

- Local Histories, Local Memories
- Heroic Discourses in the Imperial Centre
- Colonialism, Literature and Culture
- Uses and Abuses of History for Postcolonial Nation-Building
- Guilt, Responsibility and National Identity
- Shared History, Shared Memory
- Coming to Terms with a Colonial Past
- Colonialism before the Empire; colonialism after the end of Empire

Papers will be 20-25 minutes long, and will be presented and discussed
in English. To apply to deliver a paper at the conference, please send
by email an abstract of a few lines plus a brief c.v. simultaneously to
BOTH j.zimmerer@sheffield.ac.uk AND m.f.perraudin@sheffield.ac.uk

Deadline for submission: March 1st 2006.

Limited funds may be available to subsidise non-salaried participants.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Juergen Zimmerer

Department of History
University of Sheffield
387 Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2TN
UK

URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages
http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=4977

Appreciative Facilitation Hints for Round Table Moderators

© Judith Thompson, Ph.D., 2006

One important component of HDHS gatherings has been the round table process. Round tables provide a hub for presentation, inquiry and discussion around core topics that are evolving within the HDHS community and the wider network of scholars and practitioners exploring similar topics. They consist of a series of presentations followed by an open forum for questions and comments to presenters. Typically, they are about two hours long. Round tables are crucial learning laboratories in the process of theory development, and as such, they comprise the bulk of our structured interaction during our gatherings.

The role of round table moderators is both logistical and relational. On the logistical end, it is helpful if moderators make sure that all round-table participants understand the timeframe for the roundtable, and that they be prepared to share their thoughts within the allotted time. It is also advised that moderators email presenters before the conference inviting questions about the process and providing relevant details regarding time, venue and the overall roundtable process. When the round table begins, make sure that each presenter is well introduced to the group. Generally bios are available on the website prior to the annual meetings, but asking presenters to remind us of their names and their affiliation is helpful to the group and confers respect for each presenter.

On the relational side, the moderator’s role is to help create a humiliation free environment supportive of all presenters and audience members. The HDHS network incorporates people from all over the world, often from different sides of ongoing conflicts. Often they may hold differing viewpoints on how to approach complex issues. On occasion, disagreements or even conflict, can arise, particularly during the period of open inquiry and discussion that follows presentations.

In keeping with the appreciative framework embraced by our growing HDHS network, the following thoughts are offered to moderators to assist them in creating an environment of safety, non-judgment, respect and lively inquiry that fosters deep learning and human dignity at the same time. These thoughts represent one set of insights about the process. Other thoughts are welcome!

• Modeling respect and caring. The beauty of the work we are doing is that we have the opportunity to walk our talk. Contradicting humiliation and honoring dignity are dynamic relational activities. Our challenge is to become more and more mindful of our own actions and how they impact others.

Any time we are entrusted with the responsibility of facilitating a group process, it is important to remember that we can “set the tone” for the group. True to the premises of appreciative inquiry, this means that, generally speaking, our appreciation, our respect, and our care for the feelings of group members, elicits the same qualities from the group. This is not a manipulation; rather it is a concious choice to align oneself to life-affirming, dignity-affirming behaviors. Experience and our own intuitive knowing, tells us that when we treat others with respect, they respond in kind. Respect and caring show up in many ways. How we introduce people, our facial expression and tone of voice, eye contact (when culturally appropriate), ensuring equal time, and thanking people are all means for expressing respect and care.

• Paying attention. Listen deeply to each speaker with interest and focus. One thing that is sure to humiliate (and we all know this from our life experience) is to offer our voice to a group and believe that others are not listening or paying attention. Keep your mind, your heart and your physical attentiveness (via body language and eye contact) on each presenter as they are sharing. Paying attention creates a feedback loop of creative mutuality. As a relational practice, paying attention is one half of a learning exchange wherein the listeners is open to receiving and integrating new information, and the speaker, feeling connected to the listener, offers her or his knowledge with enhanced confidence, often accessing a deeper flow of wisdom or understanding in the process.

• Staying present in the midst of the unexpected. Due to the differing social and historic contexts represented at our meetings, and the complexities that often accompany these contexts, difficult emotions can arise between people, particularly if they come from areas of intractable and unresolved conflict. These are the unanticipated “curve balls” that can seem to create instability in the container that you’ve helped to foster through respect, caring and attention. Yet, conflict also means opportunity for all participants to be heard more deeply, and for the community as a whole to demonstrate its commitment to human dignity.

At times like this, the moderator can, once again, set a tone of respect and calm, assisting the group to explore the tensions in a spirit of curiosity and support rather than fear. Simple techniques like focusing on your breath can keep you in the present moment – where you need to be – rather than in reactivity or fear. This slows down your heart rate and moderators your physiological reactions, keeping you calm and more flexible to respond respectfully to the situation.

• Respectfully handling conflict. When people are in conflict, try to stay connected with both or all parties, treating them with equal respect and maintaining ease and a sense of lightness. Often your own confidence that respectful struggle can be fruitful helps put people at ease. It may be useful to encourage people to use “ questions of genuine curiosity” that aim at truly understanding another’s perspective, not judging it.

If you sense that the group is gaining valuable depth from the discussion, and dignity is being honored, you may choose to suggest that the focus remain on the particular discussion at hand, asking other’s to hold their questions and comments unless they build on the topic being explored.

Sometimes as a moderator, you have to make a judgment call if you feel that conflict dynamics are replicating patterns of historic humiliation. This can be a delicate situation where you are looking to maintain a deep appreciation for all concerned and at the same time be mindful of how unconscious humiliation patterns may be unfolding in the interchange

Maintaining a compassionate alliance to all concerned may mean interrupting the flow of the exchange and expressing appreciation for the deep feelings on all sides of the conflict, while acknowledging that the time constraints and structure of our meeting can’t do justice to addressing all of the complexities of the historic conflicts. You can then speak privately with both parties after the round table to see how they are doing and/or have a deeper conversation about the dynamics that you observed.

At other times, you may wish to call upon someone else in the room who you feel can offer a reorienting perspective, which can help the group to go deeper without restimulating hurts. You may want to ask them outright by saying, “Jorge, I wonder if you have a perspective on this that could shed new light?” Or, you may wish to interject your own “moderating” insight, which can help people regain a sense of their common bonds, even if the common bond is the fact that both sides are suffering.

• Humility, lightness and fun. Remember that you are among friends! Particularly if difficult emotions do arise, it is not your job to figure it all out. Remain transparent. You will not have all the right answers or all the right moves all the time. You are trying your best to be of service to the group. When you feel stuck, say so. “Hmm, right now I’m not really sure how to be serve the process. Does anyone have a suggestion?” We are all in this together and even though you are a moderator, sometimes being in the hot seat can feel a bit too hot! Ask others to join in. You may particularly invite someone who you feel could better handle the situation in that particular moment to offer some insight. Humility asks us to forego expectations of perfection! Sharing your own imperfections allows others to let done their own protective armor. The truth is that there are no magic formulas for complex conflict situations. The best resource we have is the fullness of our own humanity and our intention to honor each other’s dignity. Holding yourself lightly is an invitation to others to do the same. Keep a sense of humor and have fun! We are all here to learn!

Judith Thompson, Ph.D.

Tough Enough? Beyond the dominion of conventional masculinity in the politics of national security

Presentation by Charles Knight to the Women in Public Policy weekly seminar, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA, 18 October 2005 - as delivered

Author’s Note: This is a work in progress. Please do not quote without prior permission from the author. This is a new area of work and discovery for me and I very much invite friendly guidance and criticism. Please contact me at: cknight(at)comw.org or 617-547-4474 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            617-547-4474      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. I am co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute, Cambridge, MA USA. http://www.comw.org/pda/

Before I attempt to describe for you my recent adventures in gender space, I want to tell you a little about who I am in the world of national security policy. Most of my time is spent on what I would call policy assessment with an occasional chance to develop ideas for policy alternatives – hence the name of my organization – the Project on Defense Alternatives.

In the last four years most of my work has been connected to the war in Iraq and I am proud to credit the Project on Defense Alternatives with several important and very substantive critiques of that war. In detail, this work includes such activities as reconciling inconsistent government accounts of the distribution of U.S. troops deployed to hundreds of countries around the globe – this detail in service of assessing the stress of the Iraq occupation on the U.S. Army in order, in turn, to develop something meaningful to say about the sustainability of the Bush-era policies of invasion and occupation of medium-size countries.

Almost never does gender analysis come into this work. Most of what I do stays comfortably within the familiar rational discourse paradigm.
Nonetheless, I have long been troubled by what passes as rational discourse in the mainstream of national security debates. This was never more so than during the 2004 presidential campaign when it became clear to me that a discourse of 'toughness' was dominating what was at best a meager national security debate. It was then that I decided I turn much more of my professional attention to gender politics.

The toughness discourse is part of what Carol Cohn has called a "gendered system of meanings" that underlie the politics of national security. This is also a coded discourse that signals affinity with militaristic and generally conservative policy options. When effective it serves to block the advance of progressive military and foreign policies that are characteristically less reliant on military means.

Interestingly, it is not primarily conservative Republicans who work the 'toughness discourse,' but rather it is the Democrats who use it most frequently. I'll mention a few recent examples:

Al From and Bruce Reed, leaders of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, wrote in the May issue of the DLC magazine Blueprint about overcoming voters’ doubts about the Democratic Party's toughness and resolve on national security issues and about the need to "recapture the muscular, progressive internationalism of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy."
Simon Rosenberg, president of the center-left Democratic organization called the New Democratic Network wrote in September of last year: “Democrats must erode Republican’s advantage on leadership [and] match their toughness on security…”

...

Please read the entire paper here!

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

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

DEMOCRACY ALERTS/APPEALS

1. Escalating Detentions in Nepal
According to February 1 press release by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), there have been increasing numbers of mass arrests in Nepal. More than 6,500 political activists, human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, trade unionists, women rights activists, and students have been arrested and detained since February 1, 2005. FORUM-ASIA urges the government of Nepal to release immediately all arrested in connection with movements promoting human rights and democracy in the country, to stop arbitrary arrests and to repeal the restrictions on peaceful assemblies and movements. In addition, its press release demands that the government guarantee all rights of the people, stop harassment of these activists, lift all measures passed without due process, and declare a ceasefire in order to stop further violations of human rights and to bring a peaceful resolution of the armed conflict. FORUM-ASIA also strongly appeals to the Maoists to respect and commit to international human rights and humanitarian standards, not to violate basic rights and fundamental freedoms of all people in Nepal, to follow the 12-point understanding of the seven political parties signed on November 22, 2005, to declare a cease-fire to stop further violence, and to seek peaceful means to resolve the conflict.
Go to: www.forum-asia.org/news/press_releases/fa/1feb06_nepal_appeal.shtml

Another Asian regional group, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) also urges immediate intervention to secure the release of all arrested in connection with movements promoting human rights and democracy in Nepal. The AHRC Web site includes a detailed list of those arrested, and includes directions on how to get involved. It urges sending letters to the relevant authorities listed, and voicing concern for the current situation in Nepal.
Go to: www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1509/
For more information about human rights in Nepal, go to:
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=asia&c=nepal or www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50552&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL

2. The Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development Bhutan Issues Call for Justice
On January 31, 2006, S.K. Pradhan, Secretary General of Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD Bhutan), called for the punishment of those who concealed information about the conspiracy to murder R.K. Budathoki and failed to act to prevent it. R.K. Budathoki was the founding president of the Bhutan Peoples' Party (BPP), which was formed to establish human rights and democracy in Bhutan. He was murdered on September 9, 2001 during meeting convened by the BPP Secretary-General, Balaram Poudyel. According to Pradhan, the court documents pertaining to the R.K. Budathoki murder case reveal that there were several people who had the prior information and knowledge about the murder conspiracy. Pradhan was held in the Jhapa district prison for three years under fabricated charges that falsely linked him to the murder of the Bhutanese leader. After his release, Pradhan told the media that he would revive PFHRD and continue to work towards establishing democracy, freedom, and justice in Bhutan.
For more information, please contact: skpfhrd@mos.com.np
For background information on this case: www.wmd.org/democracyalerts/feb0502.html

3. The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists ( APHRA) Condemns Imprisonment of Bahraini Activists
On January 7, 2006, the Cairo-based Arab Program for Human Rights Activists (APHRA) issued a call for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of conscience detained by Bahraini authorities. APHRA received information from the Commission for Solidarity with Activists and Prisoners of Conscience, which reported several different instances of the harassment and detention of human rights activists. In one case, a group of Bahraini citizens were taken to an Interior Ministry jail after initiating a hunger strike. In another instance, on December 31, 2005, a group of activists were brought before a prosecutor where they faced false charges, such as destruction of public property and assaulting security personnel. They are expected to receive three to five years imprisonment. APHRA condemns these actions against Bahraini human rights activists and calls for their immediate release.
Go to: www.wmd.org/documents/aphra-jan7alert-feb06.doc

4. Recent Alerts from World Movement for Democracy
World Movement for Democracy recently issued two alerts: “Russian Civil Society Asks for Support and Solidarity” on January 30, 2006, and “Hundreds of Iranian Bus Drivers Arrested for Planning Strike” on February 3.
To view the alerts, go to: www.wmd.org

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

5. Nelson Mandela International Essay Competition on African Security and Development
This new competition, established jointly by The Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) in the UK and the Brenthurst Foundation, based in South Africa, with the generous support of The Nelson Mandela Foundation, aims to encourage fresh and innovative perspectives on African Security and Development. The winning entry will receive an award of GBD £1,500 and a year’s membership in RUSI, and the two runners-up will also each receive a year’s membership. All three winning entries (subject to Editorial Board approval) will be published in the RUSI Journal. Authors of any nationality are eligible, but their work must be presented in English. Essays must not be less than 3,000 words and not more than 3,500 words in length. Entries are preferred by e-mail but will be accepted on paper by post and fax (see Web site). Please do not send floppy disks. Closing date for entries to the competition is March 31, 2006.
Go to: www.rusi.org/mandelaessay

6. Call for Applications: Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program
The Digital Vision Program supports social entrepreneurs who seek to leverage technology-based solutions in the interest of humanitarian, educational, and sustainable development goals. The nine-month fellowship will bring individuals from around the world to the Stanford University Campus in California, US. Digital Vision Fellows collaborate with faculty, students, private-sector firms, NGOs, and each other. The Reuters Foundation and other program partners will award approximately a dozen full-time fellowships, covering all Stanford University fees and expenses. Living stipends may be available for fellows accepted from developing world countries. Applicants must have at least five years of full-time professional experience working with information and communications technologies, and have an in-depth knowledge of, and interest in, the latest information and communications technology applications and their implementation in the developing world. The deadline for applications is April 3, 2006.
Go to: http://rdvp.org/become

7. Conference: 6th CIVICUS World Assembly, June 21-25, 2006, Glasgow, Scotland
The 6th CIVICUS World Assembly, entitled “Acting Together for a Just World” will be held on June 21-25, 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland. The CIVICUS World Assembly is a forum for international civil society representatives to get together, exchange ideas and experiences, and build strategies for a just world. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international alliance of an estimated 1000 members in about 100 countries that has worked for over a decade to strengthen citizen action and civil society throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens' freedom of association are threatened.
Go to: www.civicusassembly.org.

8. Call for Nominations: 2006 International Freedom to Publish Prize
The International Publishers’ Association (IPA) invites international organizations working in the field of freedom of expression to submit nominations for the International Freedom to Publish Prize. The prize recognizes individuals and organizations who have made notable contributions to the defense and promotion of the freedom to publish anywhere in the world. Nominations should explain why a candidate deserves the prize, and should be submitted to Lars Grahn, chairperson of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee (Lars.Grahn@nok.se) and Alexis Krikorian, IPA’s Freedom to Publish Director (krikorian@ipa-uie.org). The deadline for the submission of nominations is August 1, 2006.
Go to: www.ipa-uie.org/PRESS%20RELEASE%2016%20Dec%2005.htm

9. Vacancy: Oxfam Pan Africa Senior Policy Analyst Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The desired candidate will support Oxfam and partner-based advocacy through analysis, lobbying and campaigning throughout the African Union and its specialized organs. The ideal candidate has at least five years of public policy based advocacy within Africa and demonstrated experience of influencing African policy institutions towards public accountability and participation. Oxfam is looking for an indvidual who has effective team skills, is pro-active, tactful, and a good negotiator. Bi-lingual proficiency (English and French) is required. Submit your application and CV to orhecajobs@oxfam.org.uk by March 3, 2006.
Go to: www.oxfam.org.uk/jobs

10. Vacancy: Executive Director for Akina Mama Wa Afrika
Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is seeking an Executive Director who will oversee the relocation of its Head Office from the United Kingdom (UK) to Kampala, Uganda, and lead the organization through the next phase of its development from the new head office location. AMwA hopes that a new Executive Director will be an innovator and a key player in the African women’s movement with experience in working in a leadership and management capacity in Africa, UK, or Europe. Applicants must have a proven track record in leadership, fundraising, organizational development, management, advocacy, networking, the ability to work with a variety of stakeholders and excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Closing date for applications is Monday, March 13, 2006.
For details about how to apply, please contact the AMwA London office by contacting: amwa@akinamama.org
Go to: www.akinamam.org

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

11. Publication: “The Limits of Leadership: Elites and Societies in the Nagorny Karabakh Peace Process”
The latest issue of Conciliation Resources’ (CR) Accord series highlights the obstacles to a sustainable agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia about sovereignty over Nagorny Karabakh, an area in close proximity to oil and gas corridors from the Caspian basin to Europe. This publication explores the central challenge of bridging the gap between potential for agreement at the negotiating table and popular resistance to the compromises this entails. Featuring contributors from diverse constituencies, it presents perspectives on the peace process and analysis of the impacts of the conflict. It discusses the roles of civil society and the media, the economics of war and peace, and the challenges for further democratization. It also contains key texts and agreements, profiles of key actors, and a chronology of the peace process. The full text is available online, in English and Russian.
Go to: www.c-r.org/accord/nk/accord17

12. National Peace Council of Sri Lanka Welcomes Peace Talks and Calls for Ceasefire
In its press release on January 25, 2006, the National Peace Council (NPC) of Sri Lanka expressed its relief at the announcement that peace talks on implementing the Ceasefire Agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are to take place in Geneva in February. Since the announcement comes in the context of mounting violence and daily killings, the NPC is calling on the government and the LTTE to end the present violence. The National Peace Council of Sri Lanka is an independent conflict resolution organization dedicated to support and facilitate a negotiated solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
Go to: www.peace-srilanka.org/npc_mediastatment.html

13. Conference in Belgrade on War Crimes Against Bosniaks in Foca
On January 28, 2006, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), in cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), held a conference in Belgrade on war crimes perpetrated against Bosniaks in Foca during the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Foca ’92 conference is part of the HLC's continuing efforts to establish a model of transitional justice for the former Yugoslavia and Serbia that will establish the truth about the past, secure accountability through war crimes trials, and develop responsible institutions through a process of vetting. The conference is the second in a series of three conferences which constitute HLC’s project “Challenging War Crimes Denial in Serbia and Montenegro.” The first conference, entitled “Srebrenica ­ Beyond Reasonable Doubt,” took place on June 11, 2005, and the third conference is scheduled to be held in the second quarter of 2006.
Go to: www.wmd.org/documents/warcrimes-yug-feb06.doc
For more information on HLC, go to: www.hlc.org.yu

14. Summer Institutes on Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution to be Held in Indonesia and Bolivia
The Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT) accepts applications for its Summer Institute on Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution (IPCR). IPCR is an intensive 3-week residential program intended to build the capacity of current and future professionals in a variety of fields to make a critical difference in furthering peaceful relations in the world. The course is offered in two locations: Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on June 10 - July 1, 2006; and Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 22 - August 12, 2006. Participants will learn about such topics as: conflict analysis and assessment; conflict resolution and peacebuilding practices; cross-sectoral approaches to peacebuilding and conflict resolution (i.e., with development, human rights, etc); post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation; and more. To receive a US $250 discount, apply by March 1, 2006. Final deadline is April 1, 2006
To see the complete program description and on-line application, go to: http://conflicttransformation.org

DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

15. Report: Local Government and Human Rights: Doing Good Service
The International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) has released a new report, “Local Government and Human Rights: Doing Good Service.” The report looks at the increasingly important role played by local governments in our daily lives, from delivering health, water and sanitation to providing primary education, street lighting, and housing. The report discusses how applying human rights principles, such as non-discrimination, participation, and accountability, can help local government officials perform more effectively and with more legitimacy. The report is available to download in English and Russian, with summaries available in English, French, and Spanish.
To download the report, go to: www.ichrp.org/paper_files/124_p_01.pdf
Go to: www.ichrp.org/

ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR

16. Call for Papers and New Report Issued from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
The Winter 2006 issue of the Overseas Report features stories on Ukraine, a conference in China that attracted 2,000 entrepreneurs, the banking sector in Iraq, businesswomen in the Balkans, and other items.
Go to: www.cipe.org/pdf/whatsnew/overseas/OR_Winter_2006.pdf.

In addition, CIPE has issued a call for articles for its Economic Reform Feature Service. CIPE's main program areas include anti-corruption work, the rule of law, promoting participation of women in the economy, freedom of economic information, property rights, corporate governance, and business association organization and advocacy, but any article relevant to CIPE's mission of strengthening democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform is welcome for consideration.
For additional information or submission of articles, contact forum@cipe.org

ELECTIONS

17. Democracy in Nigeria at a Crossroads: Elections in 2007
According to a recently released Advocacy Document by the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Nigeria’s upcoming 2007 elections have the potential to be a milestone in the development of democracy in the country or to become a factor for increased instability. The elections will mark the first time that one administration will have reached its constitutionally mandated term limit and then handed over power to a successor. The 2007 polls are capable of being marred by fraud and violence, however, just as the polls in 2003 were. The CDD maintains that there is already a clear trend towards negative developments concerning the upcoming elections, and that if this does not improve, the polls could become the source of serious abuses, instability and fatalities. The aftermath of the 2003 polls demonstrated that if electoral malpractice continues, it can become a permanently destabilizing factor, as demonstrated in the ongoing political terrorism in Anambra state.
To read more about key issues, identifying opportunities for improvement, and how the international community can make a difference in the upcoming elections, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/cddreport-on-2007elections-nigeria-feb06.pdf

HUMAN RIGHTS

18. Report: Assessing the Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions
Co-published by the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, this report reviews the standards for assessing the effectiveness of national human rights institutions (NHRIs). In 2000, the ICHRP published a report entitled “Performance and Legitimacy: National Human Rights Institutions,” which examined the elements of successful institutions. The current report returns to the subject matter of “Performance and Legitimacy,” and reviews in more depth the characteristics of effective NHRIs. It then suggests how NHRIs might use quantitative, qualitative and participatory indicators to measure the impact of their activities and assess progress. This report is intended to be a practical tool for NHRIs to assess their own effectiveness in order to plan their activities and programs more efficiently.
Go to: www.ichrp.org/paper_files/125_p_01.pdf

19. Physicians for Human Rights Releases New Report on Genocide in Darfur
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) recently released “Assault on Survival: A Call for Security, Justice and Restitution,” a report that documents the obliteration of the way of life and means of survival of civilians in Darfur by the Sudanese government and its proxy militia, Janjaweed. The report focuses on Janjaweed's systematic destruction of property, slaughter of livestock, and poisoning of water supplies based on surveys and interviews of survivors in three Sudanese villages. The report further describes the critical need for restitution to the survivors of the attacks, but emphasizes that civilian protection is of paramount importance, especially as such attacks continue.
Go to: www.phrusa.org/research/sudan/pdf/sudan_report.pdf

20. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Works to Advance Human Rights in Sudan
In its press release of January 22, 2006, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) indicated that it would be working with the Sudanese Minister for Humanitarian Affairs to send a mission of Arab media professionals to visit Darfur to investigate the conflict and the humanitarian situation in the region. CIHRS is also discussing with Sudan the possibility of implementing the Moroccan model of achieving equity and reconciliation as a joint venture of CIHRS, the Moroccan Equity and Reconciliation Commission, Sudanese civil society and the government of Sudan. In addition, CIHRS held a training course for Sudanese broadcasters entitled, "Media and Building the Culture of Plurality and Democracy in Sudan,” on February 5-11, 2006 in Khartoum.
For more information about CIHRS, go to: www.cihrs.org

21. Uzbekistan Government Suspends Freedom House Human Rights Programs
According to a press release of January 13, 2006, the Civil Court of Tashkent ordered Freedom House to suspend its activities in Uzbekistan for the next six months. The Uzbek Ministry of Justice charged Freedom House with violations of Uzbek laws, including Uzbekistan's law covering NGOs. Freedom House believes this incident is a part of a broader crackdown by the Uzbek government to smother civic activism and eliminate nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). To date, about 200 domestic organizations have been forced to close down or leave the country, as have numerous international organizations, including International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Internews, BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and the Open Society Institute (OSI). Freedom House has been active in monitoring rights in Uzbekistan since independence in 1991, and has been working with human rights defenders in the country since 2002.
Go to: www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=322

22. Call for Applications: South East Asian Training Program on Human Rights
The Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development at Mahidol University in Thailand announces a call for applications for the South East Asian Advanced Program on Human Rights on May 8-19, 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. The aim of the program is to offer an overview of the international human rights system as well as an in-depth study of the human rights context in South East Asia. The program will accept 25 participants. It is primarily designed for medium and senior level government officials, national human rights institutions and academics. NGO representatives are also welcome to apply. Closing date for applications is February 20, 2006.
Go to: www.humanrights-mu.org/advanced.php

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

23. CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2006 Awards
The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Competition aims to reinforce the importance of journalists’ role in Africa and to recognize and develop journalistic talent across all disciplines. The competition is open to African professional journalists and freelancers working on the continent for media organizations that are (i) African-owned, (ii) headquartered within the continent of Africa, and (iii) distribute in Africa a printed publication and/or electronic medium broadcast which is primarily designed for, and received by, an African audience. There are prizes for 16 different categories. Each category winner will receive a state-of-the-art laptop computer with a modem and printer, and a cash prize. From the 16 category winners, the judges will award a grand prize to the journalist whose individual piece or body of work merits the title CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2006, whether it is a print, television, internet, radio or photographic entry. The deadline is March 7, 2006.
Go to: www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/africanawards/

24. Courage in Journalism Award
Administered by the International Women's Media Foundation, this award honors women working in the news media who have demonstrated extraordinary strength of character in pursuing their profession under difficult or dangerous circumstances - including physical danger, government oppression, political pressure or other intimidating obstacles. Full-time, part-time or freelance women reporters, writers, editors, photographers or producers are eligible for nomination. The nomination requirements are outlined on the International Women's Media Foundation Web site. The prize is USD $5,000 and a sculpture symbolizing freedom and courage. Up to 3 recipients will be recognized in ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles, in October/November 2006. The deadline is March 15, 2006.
Go to: www.iwmf.org/courage/nominate.php

25. Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Civil Society, March 7-9, 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa
The South African NGO Network (SANGONet) will host its second annual “ICT’s for Civil Society” Conference and Exhibition on March 7-9, 2006 at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg. The objectives of the 2006 conference will be to learn more about the day-to-day experiences of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in applying and adopting Information and Communication Technology (ICT), as well as to profile and demonstrate relevant and practical applications that can further strengthen the impact of their work. The conference will have a strong focus on free and open source issues and applications. SANGONeT invites anyone interested in participating in the event, as a speaker or participant, to contact info@sangonet.org.za.
Go to: www.sangonet.org.za/conference2006

26. BBC Broadcasts Shut Down in Tajikistan
The BBC’s services to Tajikistan on FM have been suspended by the Tajik authorities since January 11, 2006. BBC services on medium wave and short-wave to listeners in the country remain unaffected. The suspension follows a recently ratified Tajik Media Law that requires BBC to register with the Tajik Ministry of Justice and acquire a media license. Although the BBC has begun the process of registration, the deadline will prevent the BBC from completing the process. The BBC has been broadcasting in Tajikistan since 1996 on Medium Wave. In 2004 the BBC launched two 24-hour FM relays in Dushanbe and Khojand with programs in Tajik, Persian, Russian and English.
Go to: www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/01_january/18/ws.shtml

27. Internet Reporter Held Without Charge in Ethiopia
On January 30, 2006, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a press release calling for the release of journalist Frezer Negash who is being held without charge in Addis Ababa. Ethiopian security forces are reported to have detained the correspondent for the U.S.-based Web site Ethiopian Review, where she joined at least 16 other journalists in jail in Ethiopia. CPJ sources said that Ethiopian officials had recently threatened Negash over her work for the Web site, which is critical of the government. The government launched a crackdown on the press in November following protests over the disputed May elections. Fourteen detained journalists face charges of treason and genocide. Two more local journalists are serving jail sentences after being convicted of press offenses in December.
Go to: www.cpj.org/news/2006/africa/ethiopia30jan06na.html

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH

28. National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections-Partners for Democratic Development (NAYMOTE PADD) Offers News Bulletin in Liberia
NAYMOTE-PADD-Liberia has issued its latest News Bulletin for January- March, 2006. This Liberian civil society organization conducts extensive civic/voter education activities. It stresses youth outreach, conscientious voting, and non-violence. The new bulletin, called “The Partners,” offers information on the activities of NAYMOTE-PADD and how they contribute to the democratic process in Liberia.
Go to: www.wmd.org/documents/naymote-partners-feb06.pdf

POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

29. International IDEA Issues CD-ROM on Political Party Finance
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) has created a CD-ROM that features research material designed for political party experts, political foundations, students of politics, and news editors. The CD-ROM contains a matrix of political finance laws and regulations in 111 countries. It also gives access to IDEA’s database on political finance laws and regulations, a comparative resource covering regulation and enforcement; public funding provisions; bans on sources of funding; and on disclosure rules and ceilings for income and expenditure in more than 100 countries. International IDEA seeks to contribute to an informed debate on how political parties­governing and opposition alike­can become better at tasks such as communicating with their members, representing their constituencies, organizing their internal affairs and securing sustainable funding. IDEA believes that the ways that parties get access to money can influence the outcome of elections, determine the relationship between party leaders and members, affect the number of women elected, and condition the level of public trust.
To order a free copy of the CD-ROM, send an email to: publications@idea.int
To download for free, go to: www.idea.int/publications/browse/pp.cfm
Go to: www.idea.int/parties/index.cfm

30. CDI Report: Indonesian Political Parties Study Program
The Australia­based Center for Democratic Institutions (CDI) 2005 Indonesian Political Parties Program Report is now available on the CDI Web site. This is a report on the outcome of a 10-Day study tour for invited representatives from Indonesia's seven major political parties that CDI conducted in October 2005. The program was geared towards improving political governance and strengthening political processes and practice in the country. Its accomplishments include improving the skills and knowledge of the participants on building and maintaining transparent and participatory internal party structures, processes, and practices that are critical to strengthening the integrity and functioning of political parties.
Go to: www.cdi.anu.edu.au/indonesia/Indonesia_Pol_Par_Study_Prog_Oct05.htm

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION

31. TI’s Global Corruption Report 2006
Launched February 1, 2006, Transparency International (TI)’s Global Corruption Report focuses on the health sector. Topics include the risks and scale of corruption in different systems, high-level corruption in Costa Rica, counterfeit medicines in Nigeria, health care fraud in the United States, conflicts of interest in the pharmaceutical chain, and corruption in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The 5th edition of this report details how corruption deprives millions of access to essential health care and helps spawn drug­resistant strains of deadly diseases.
Go to: www.globalcorruptionreport.org

WOMEN’S ISSUES

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

• Arab Program for Human Rights Activists (APHRA) ­ www.aphra.org/
• Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) ­ www.forum-asia.org
• Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) ­ www.ahrchk.net
• Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) ­ www.cihrs.org
• Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) ­ www.cdd.org.uk/
• Center for Democratic Institutions (CDI) ­ www.cdi.anu.edu.au
• Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) ­ www.cipe.org
• CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation -- www.civicus.org/new/default.asp
• Freedom House ­ www.freedomhouse.org
• Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) ­ www.hlc.org.yu
• International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) ­ www.idea.int
• Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development Bhutan (PFHRD Bhutan)
• South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) ­ www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/
• Transparency International ­ www.transparency.org/

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

Ashraf Salama kindly informs us about this Special Issue:

MANAGING URBAN DISASTERS
In Open House International, Volume 31 No.1 March 2006
Guest Editor: Christine Wamsler, Housing Development & Management (HDM), Lund University, Sweden

The focus of the special issue on “Managing Urban Disasters” is concerned primarily with identifying and describing existing projects, experiences and best practices from Africa, Asia and Latin America, which are already working with new integrated approaches to risk reduction. These link different stakeholders and levels, and do not focus only on the technical, but also on
the social, economic and political aspects. The articles discuss questions regarding those factors that determine the vulnerability or resilience of cities, and describe concrete projects in the field of housing and urban development planning, which can reduce the disaster risk for low-income settlements. “Managing Urban Disasters” was conceived with the intention of providing a balanced selection of topics, hazards, and countries. Specific topics relate to appropriate housing design, construction materials and techniques, land use and urban development planning, policies, legislation, governance, as well as related advocacy campaigns, institutional strategies, methods and tools. Based on the understanding that emergency relief, reconstruction,
mitigation and development aid may be viewed as complementary to each other, rather than conflictual, the articles cover all the
mentioned fields.

TO ORDER A COPY OF THIS 160 PAGE
SPECIAL ISSUE, WITH MAPS, PHOTOGRAPHS
AND DIAGRAMS PLEASE E-MAIL CAROL
NICHOLSON AT:
carol.nicholson@ribaenterprises.com PRICE
PER COPY IS 20.00 GBP TO INCLUDE
POSTAGE. ALLOW 10 DAYS FOR DELIVERY

The Respect Of A Cousin
Edward Miller*

After the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's 12 caricatures of the prophet
Muhammad were republished in European newspapers, riots erupted in Damascus, Gaza, Beirut and elsewhere throughout the Muslim world. The violence is an extreme manifestation of the deep hurt felt by virtually all Muslims.

As we condemn the violence on the streets, perhaps we should take a moment
to understand the hurt in the hearts of the great majority of Muslims who
did not engage in violence.

For Muslims, the mere rendering of an image of Muhammad is sacrilege. The
portrayal of Muhammad in a pejorative fashion is to them an inconceivably
offensive desecration, on the level of what would be for us the defilement
of a Torah scroll. Because it was done in newspapers across Europe, it was a
slap in the face repeated thousands of times.

Perhaps it is a question of respect, not freedom. Freedom of expression
theoretically protects the right of a non-Jew to desecrate a Torah scroll.
Yet we would all view freedom of expression as a hollow defense to such a
vile act.

Some say Muslims can't take criticism and simply don't understand freedom of
the press. In my own limited experience, that has not been the case. For the
past year I have written a column in a Muslim newspaper, Muslims Weekly, in
which I have criticized suicide bombing, the treatment of Jews under Islamic
rule, the anti-Jewish rantings of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
even Muslims Weekly's own reporting about Israel. But it was all done with
respect, an informed appreciation of the wonderful benefits that Islam
conferred upon the Jewish people, along with a willingness to look at our
own imperfections together with those of the other.

Regardless of whether or not the European press was constitutionally free to
publish the offensive images, the act was a blatant and vulgar act of
disrespect to Islam. Such insults no doubt contribute to the frightening
specter of a clash of civilizations.

What can we do as Jews to lessen the hostilities? Perhaps, just perhaps, a
little respect would help. Rather than ripping the wounds wider with
editorial musings extolling freedom of speech and condemning violent
protests, is it not time for a bit of healing?

The pages of this Jewish newspaper present a place for a small start by
showing Muslims right here that though we too have the freedom to say
anything we like, we choose to convey respect to our Muslim cousins.
Printing something positive about Muhammad best does this.

There is a space between romanticizing the past and vilifying it. There is a
time to focus on the dark side of history and a time to view the other in
the best light. There is a time to cull from our rabbinic writings the good
our sages saw in Islam and there is quite a bit of such sentiment recorded.
We Jews need to learn to be more flexible, pursuing the claims of Jews
expelled from Arab countries and criticizing anti-Jewish TV programs and
cartoons in the Muslim media, while at the same time displaying gratitude
for all the good Islam did for us. There is a time to jump over our pain and
see the humanity of the other. That time is now. Let us start:

There is a Hadith (oral tradition concerning the words and works of
Muhammad) recorded by Bukhari in the name of Amer Bin Rabiha that reads as
follows:

A funeral procession passed us and the Prophet stood up for it. We said, but
Prophet of God, this is a funeral of a Jew. The Prophet responded, rise.

One can search the writings of the ancient non-Jewish world for a more
powerful example of a public display of respect for the humanity of the Jew.
There simply is no more powerful statement than the single word uttered by
Muhammad nearly 14 centuries ago.

Some readers will bombard this newspaper with reams of material showing a
darker side to Islam, as if it were just too much for them to hear one good
thing. But it is there, it is a sacred part of their tradition, it is good
and we should hear it and respect it.

When you give respect you get it. When you take criticism, you earn the
right to give it. Perhaps this article will be republished in Muslim
newspapers, compete with its critical comments about the pain we feel in the
face of anti-Jewish cartoons and worse in Muslim media. Muslim readers may
come to understand that an article by a Jew, in a Jewish newspaper, was one
of respect, telling its audience: We know that the one mocked in newspapers
in Europe is the one who had the humanity to tell his companions to rise for
the funeral procession of a Jew.

* Edward Miller, a local attorney, is active in efforts to reconcile Jews
and Muslims.
Special To The Jewish Week

NEWSLETTER FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSE NETWORK

1) Human rights organizations are under attack in Russia
The Federal Security Service allege that the British Intelligence Service has been involved in the financing of Russian NGOs. Representatives of Russian human rights organizations say “It is most regrettable that journalists and public officials present this as though it were established fact. A lie, nevertheless, does not turn into the truth, however often repeated”. See also how the Russian authorities through bureaucratic demands aim at banning the Human Rights House`s activity.

2) -Sad to receive the Sakharov Award, says Ales Bialatski
On receiving the Norwegian Helsinki Committee`s Andrej Sakharov Award for 2006, Bialiatski says “This is a sad award because it relates to the situation in Belarus. We would rather not have awards for our efforts for human rights.” See also Bialiatski in Oslo

3) Important encouragement for Dmitriyevsky
The Russian-Chechen Information Agency is awarded with Fritt Ord´s and ZEIT- Stiftung Press Prices 2006. The price is aimed at Eastern European media and journalists who are dedicated to independent reporting and who dare to withstand self- censorship.

4) Youth organisation liquidated in Belarus
President Lukashenko latest display of power is using a new law that was implemented at the beginning of this year to liquidate youth organisations. Eivind Vad Petersson of the Norwegian Youth Council thinks the reason for the liquidation is fear for civic unrest in face of the up-coming presidential elections of March 19. See also think-tank tried closed by the authorities.

5) Google bows to Chinese authorities' censorship demands
As Google launched its Chinese portal google.cn, defenders of freedom of expression protest the self-censorship regulations Google has agreed with Chinese authorities. See also that currently there are more cyber-dissidents in prison in China than in anywhere else in the world. Shi Tao , a poet, freelance journalist is sentenced to 10 years.

6) HURINET denounces the attacks on the judiciary's independence
Uganda´s biggest and most powerful network of independent human rights organisations, denounce the government´s orchestrated attacks on the judiciary´s independence and the persistent electoral violence, now threateting to undermine the forthcoming elections´ credibility.

Our next newsletter will be an East Africa special.

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

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

More news and background on www.humanrightshouse.org

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Sent by:
Nina Luhr
Editor
Human Rights House Foundation (HRH)
Address: Menneskerettighetshuset,
Tordenskioldsgate 6b, 0160 Oslo, Norway
Tel: (+47) 22 47 92 47 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (+47) 22 47 92 47      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Direct: (+47) 22 47 92 44 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (+47) 22 47 92 44      end_of_the_skype_highlighting,
Fax: (+47) 22 47 92 01
Website: http://www.humanrightshouse.org,
http://www.menneskerettigheter.no

The Politics of World Federation. By Joseph Preston Baratta (Westport: Praeger, 2004. Vol. 1: The United Nations, U.N. Reform, Atomic Control, xiv, 298 pp. Vol. 2: From World Federalism to Global Governance, 527 pp. $150.00/set, ISBN 0-275-98066-9/set.)

Joseph Preston Baratta is an academic historian and a peace activist.

How Global Citizenship Can Heal: Supporting Thomas Friedman

© by Evelin Gerda Lindner
February 2006

Thomas Friedman (2005) has just written a fascinating book about the flattening of the World. He describes in rich detail how the globalization of technology breaks down barriers, creates unprecedented level playing fields, and gives access to people who so far were excluded.

However, there is another message out there as well: The gap between the rich and the poor increases. This means that the world does not grow flatter, on the contrary. A UN report has found that the world is more unequal today than it was 10 years ago, despite considerable economic growth in many regions (Report on the World Social Situation 2005: The Inequality Predicament, by DESA, August 2005, obtainable from https://unp.un.org/details.aspx?entry=E05RWS&change=E).

How can we reconcile these opposing descriptions of our world? Which is true?

I think both are true and Friedman’s world will help heal the gap.

My reflections derive from more than twenty years of international therapeutic experience coupled with the social psychological research on humiliation that I began in 1996. My four-year doctoral research project in social psychology was entitled, The Feeling of Being Humiliated: A Central Theme in Armed Conflicts. A Study of the Role of Humiliation in Somalia, and Rwanda/Burundi, Between the Warring Parties, and in Relation to Third Intervening Parties (Lindner, 2000, University of Oslo). My book Making Enemies Unwittingly: Humiliation and International Conflict, will be published soon (Lindner, 2006, Westport, CT: Praeger).

Globalization and egalization

Two transitions characterize current historic times. Firstly, there is rising awareness that there is one humankind inhabiting our tiny planet. Humankind is coming together into one single in-group. Anthropologists – read for example William Ury (1999) – call this the ingathering of the tribes of the earth. Various aspects of this trend have been described and analyzed by many, among them by Manuel Castells (1996), and more recently, as mentioned above, by Thomas L. Friedman (2005).

Secondly, there is an increasing awareness of human rights ideals. The first paragraph of article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, reads: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Millions hope that human rights calls will soon represent more than empty rhetoric and will render equal dignity to all citizens in this one tiny interdependent global village of ours.

Both transitions are related, however, one precedes the other and the time-lag of the second as compared to the first causes great pain. Globalization (understood here as the coming-together of humankind) has not yet merged with egalization.

I coined the term egalization to match the term globalization and at the same time differentiate from words such as equality, equity, or egalitarianism because the main point is equal dignity. The term egalization is meant to avoid claiming that everybody should become equal and that there should be no differences between people. Egality can coexist with functional hierarchy that regards all participants as possessing equal dignity; egality cannot coexist, though, with hierarchy that defines some people as lesser and others as higher beings.

Globalization is driven by technology, while egalization, though pushed by globalization, it is ultimately driven by ethical decisions. We could decide to crack down on flattening tendencies in favor of protecting the privileges of the haves and keep out the have-nots. It is an ethical decision to throw our weight behind the technology that flattens the world.

If we imagine the world as a “container” with a height and a width, globalization addresses the horizontal dimension, the shrinking width. Egalization, on the other side, concerns the vertical dimension; human rights call for a flat “container,” for all of us to dismantle the high “container” of masters at the top and underlings at the bottom. As of yet, we still live in a “high container,” or in an undignified and ramshackle global village were millions suffer. Human rights defenders work for globalization to “marry” egalization, in other words, for a dignified and decent global village for all.

How becoming a global citizen is healing for me

What I gained through building a global identity as my primary identity is personal healing and a deeper understanding of what the world needs to heal.

My personal experience of homelessness makes me identify in great sympathy with the quest for “home” and belonging and its potential to cause violent conflict. My personal life experience resembles that of many Jews who, over centuries, felt at home in their dreams of Jerusalem without ever having been there; it also resembles that of Palestinians who feel that Haifa, for example, is their home, even though they were born in a distant refugee camp and have never set foot in Haifa. I was born into a displaced family from Silesia, which is now part of Poland. Together with millions of others, they lost their homeland in 1945. My parents have lived in continuous trauma since that time. The loss of their homeland broke their hearts. During the first twenty or thirty years of my life, my identity was like a “black hole” of non-belonging. This is how I felt: “Where my family lives, we are not at home, we are rather unwelcome guests; however, there is no home to go to.”

My personal life story has unfolded in the course of several decades of international experience. From 1974-1984, I studied and worked in New Zealand, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Israel, West Africa, USA, Germany, and Norway, as a student of both psychology and of medicine, learning about the world’s cultures and languages. Eventually, I learned to handle about 12 languages to various degrees. From 1984-1987, I was a psychological counselor and clinical psychologist at the American University in Cairo, and had my own private practice in Cairo from 1987-1991. I offered counseling in English, French, German, Norwegian, and, in time, also in Egyptian-Arabic. My clients came from diverse cultural backgrounds, many from the expatriate community in Cairo – Americans, Europeans, Scandinavians, Palestinians, and citizens of other African countries – as well as from the local community, both Western-oriented, and traditionally-oriented Egyptians. Part of my work was “culture-counseling,” meaning that foreign companies working in Egypt asked me for my support in understanding Egyptian culture, Arab culture, and Islam. From 1991 to 1996, I wrote my doctoral dissertation in social medicine about quality of life, or how a “good life” is being defined in Germany as compared to Egypt. I furthermore collected experience as a politician and activist (see www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin.php). In 1996, I began with my current social psychological research. Since 2001, I dedicate my time to developing a theory of humiliation and promoting humiliation studies as a new global and transdisciplinary field – please see Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, HumanDHS, http://www.humiliationstudies.org, and Lindner (2006).

Given my background in a displaced family, I could be tempted to wish to reclaim “my homeland.” But I have chosen another path. The world has become my “homeland” and I am a “global citizen.” I do not feel the need to fight for Silesia where my parents were born, because wherever I am, I consider my home. I am at the forefront of a growing number of people who are developing a global or at least multi-local identity and become citizens of the world. My home is now what William Ury (1999) calls the global knowledge society.

Practicing to be a global citizen demonstrated to me that human beings all over the world indeed are connected in their wish for recognition, a wish that turns into feelings of humiliation when this recognition is felt to be failing. I have learned that this universal human desire for recognition and connection can make me feel at home everywhere.

Admittedly, embracing all humankind as my family has often been a painful process. Such a process is like building a ship while at sea. It meant learning to “swim” and not to “cling.” Developing a global identity meant that I transformed from being attached to lost land (Silesia) in pain, to connecting to the global knowledge society in joy. In other words, I have replaced a circumscribed piece of land (Silesia) with knowledge and with the entire planet Earth and all humanity. As a consequence, I do not wish to stir up resentment and ultimately war against Poland in order to “re-conquer” Silesia and reinstate the Silesian culture of my parents. Not only would the price be too high (war) – the world and I no longer use land as a main resource.

True, by identifying primarily with all humanity, in many ways I am betraying my parents’ Silesian culture, accepting what Judith Viorst (1987) writes about in Necessary Losses. This I do, even though I love my parents deeply, profoundly resonate with their suffering, and would be overjoyed if their cultural practices could survive. Losses hurt. I do not let go of “my culture” easily. However, this loss also enriches me. It teaches me to appreciate diversity and understand the conditions for diversity to be enriching.

I deeply resonate with Ury’s conceptualization that for many millennia (since the inception of complex agriculture around 10,000 years ago), humankind has been caught in the rather malign win-lose framing that is brought about when land is the resource that people depend on. The emerging global knowledge society today promises to bring back the more benign win-win framing that hunter-gatherers enjoyed prior to the era of agriculture, this time knowledge – not wild food – being the expandable resource that renders win-win framings.

How defining the world as one world heals the world

There are lots of disadvantages connected to defining oneself as belonging to a sub-group of humanity (as opposed to all humanity), and one of them is the trap of bias. A host of biases usually occurs in relationships between in- and out-groups.

Phenomena such as the false polarization effect, which makes us underestimate what we have in common with out-groups, are central. Solomon Ash (1907-1996) was a pioneer in studying biases such as reactive devaluation. Reactive devaluation means that any proposition for compromise that is put forward by an out-group is rejected, regardless of its contents, while the own group’s arguments are regarded by its members with sympathy, merely because they come from within the group. As a result, even the best solution is rejected: I cannot embrace your proposal, even if it is marvelous and totally I agree, because I would betray my in-group.

Another bias, the attribution error describes the human tendency to believe that our successes are ours, while our failures are due to adverse circumstances; this evaluation is turned into its opposite when others are judged. Others’ successes are perceived as due to favorable circumstances, while only their failures are theirs. As long as our out-groups do not know how negative we think about them, there is no problem. However, our world increasingly grows interdependent. When the world learns how we forgive ourselves what we do not forgive others, and how we deem us to be noble and others not, feelings of humiliation can cause violent rifts that otherwise would not be there.

In 1994, I wrote my doctoral dissertation in social medicine on the topic of quality of life. I asked Egyptians and Germans “What is a good life for you?” (Lindner, 1994, Quality of Life: A German-Egyptian Comparative Study, Hamburg: Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Hamburg). What I found was that all have in common the wish for society to be cohesive and harmonious. All desire a world in which their children can prosper and be happy. The difference was that secular distance to religion was seen as a guarantor for social cohesion by many of my German interview partners, while the Egyptian interviewees saw secular distance to religion precisely as a hindrance to a “good life.” In other words, all parties wished for society to offer a good future to their children, but they differed on the methods: religious beliefs were seen in opposing ways, either as a beneficial force that holds society together, or as a potential divider.

In the case of the “Cartoon Wars” of 2006, triggered by Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, all sides feel that their most noble beliefs are being exposed to humiliation, namely their noble vision for a world that offers a good life to their children. All participants feel deeply hurt and humiliated. All sides regard the others’ attacks as evil. Muslims imagine that the cartoons are part of a “Western” conspiracy against Islam, and in the West, many construe the situation to mean that Muslims wish to attack “our freedom.” Both sides are wrong. Both endanger world peace with views that are the result of biases such as the above-discussed false polarization effect, attribution error and reactive devaluation, which obscure that we all wish for the same, a world that is livable for future generations.

To conclude, the destructive outfall of in-group/out-group biases is that urgently needed efforts to find joint solutions to destructive conflicts and safeguard world-wide cohesion are hampered. The involved parties are incapacitated in their efforts to cooperate on finding and implementing good solutions, among others due to blindness as to the fact that we all have more in common than we think, and secondly, because urgently needed good solutions are rejected. Humankind is well advised to avoid in-group/out-group differentiations. The solution is to define all humankind as one single in-group, with no out-group. Our commonalities need to be our priority, not our differences. Diversity enriches, however, it can also divide. Diversity is enriching only when we embed it into our common identity of being one single family of humankind who faces the joint task of building a sustainable future for our next generations.

Concluding remarks

The question of “home” is profoundly relevant for the inhabitants of planet Earth. It is relevant for the identity of each citizen, for the solution of conflicts around the world, and for the kind of world that we envisage to build for our children in the future. Do we wish to build a world of domination/submission, where a few have luxurious homes and the rest has virtually nothing? Or do we want a world that provides everybody with a dignified home? Do we envisage a world of separate nations (with “enemy nations” endangering our homes)? Or do we want the entire world to be our nation that gives home to all? How should local and global aspects of identity be combined? What should we reply, when we are asked, “Where are you from?”

I have discussed these questions at great length with my dear friends on all sides of the divides of conflicts in many world regions. There are two ways out of homelessness, two ways out of being denied a dignified home: violent fight for a limited piece of land, or building a profoundly new global world of all-encompassing inclusiveness. Nobody forces us to define “homeland” in narrow ways. We are free to adopt the entire planet as our home and transform it, in the future, to house all humankind in a sustainable way. I regard such a struggle to be more benign than competition for narrowly defined pieces of land. Safety is not to be found in “owning” territory, because the concept of ownership is relational – it is dependent on its larger social context. Safety emanates only from building secure relationships among all world citizens in an all-encompassing home. The mere option of such a vision, I hope, can facilitate compromises by reducing the despair with which people hold on to every inch of land they believe is “not yours.” And it might decrease the anguish with which people cling to “my culture,” whose contents and boundaries they elevate to be the essence of their identity, a strategy that easily divides the world and introduces conflicts that an interdependent world cannot afford which needs emergency rescue for a host of global problems.

Primary identity built on sub-segments of the Earth’s land, or erected on national, ethnic or religious delineations, precludes what we need most when we wish to cooperate for building a better world: in-group trust. The maximum one can obtain with out-groups are friendly alliances. We never give the unconditional bonus of trust to out-groups – even the most friendly ones – that we give to our fellow in-group members. Pressing people into in-group/out-group delineations incapacitate the world. We need to give due priority to our commonalities, to our belonging to one single in-group of humankind, where everybody enjoys respect for equal dignity.

The world believes that Germans during World War II ought to have stood up and not stood by when Jews were transported away. 6 million people died in the Holocaust. Today, 12 million children die each year before they are 5 years old, of preventable diseases and poverty. I identify with that. Global exploitation of resources and the destructive effects of the way we use them makes our world unlivable for coming generations. I do not want to stand by. And in order to stand up, I identify with all humankind as my first priority, as my home, and relegate all “local” identities to a second plane. The global village is my home, I call it my World House (see also Immanuel Kant’s term “Welthaus”), and I wish to have as many diverse rooms in it as possible, however, only if they do not destroy the house. Currently, we live in a deplorably undignified Welthaus, where millions suffer. In order to stand up, I do my utmost to design my life as a global citizen and try to do whatever I can to protect my family. This orientation not only heals my wounds from feeling homeless, but also leads me to believe that my experiences may be helpful to others and stimulate fruitful visions for a sustainable future world.

References

Castells, Manuel (1996). The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Vol. 1: The Rise of the Network Society, Vol. 2: The Power of Identity, Vol. 3: End of Millennium). Cambridge, MA, Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Friedman, Thomas L. (2005). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Lindner, Evelin Gerda (2006). Making Enemies Unwittingly: Humiliation and International Conflict. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Ury, William (1999). Getting to Peace. Transforming Conflict at Home, at Work, and in the World. New York, NY: Viking.

Viorst, Judith (1987). Necessary Losses: The Loves, Illusions, Dependencies and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow. New York, NY: Fawcett Gold Medal.

Dear Friends!

Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies currently receives many emails asking our group to give our opinion as to what many call “The Cartoon War.” This “war” has been triggered by Danish Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. The caricatures include drawings of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.

“Some have labeled these cartoons ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’ Muslims, here [in the US] and abroad feel they are routinely and purposely humiliated,” writes Sarah Sayeed in A Joke Gone Awry (10th February 2006).

Please let me share with you my reflections that derive from more than twenty years of international therapeutic experience coupled with the social psychological research on humiliation that I began in 1996. My four-year doctoral research project was entitled, The Feeling of Being Humiliated: A Central Theme in Armed Conflicts. A Study of the Role of Humiliation in Somalia, and Rwanda/Burundi, Between the Warring Parties, and in Relation to Third Intervening Parties (Lindner, 2000, University of Oslo). My book Making Enemies Unwittingly: Humiliatoin and International Conflict, will be published soon (Lindner, 2006, Westport, CT: Praeger). Please see the publications of HumanDHS on our publications page.

The timeline unfolded as follows (quoted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4670370.stm):

30 Sept: Danish paper Jyllands-Posten publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors in Denmark complain to Danish PM
10 Jan: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons

This timeline does not end here. Violent protests have erupted all around the Muslim world since.

Please let me share with you my reflections:

"The Cartoon War" of Humiliation versus Humiliation: What Should be Done?
by Evelin Gerda Lindner

Michio Kaku (2005), renowned physicist, concludes his book on Parallel Worlds with the following paragraph:

"The generation now alive is perhaps the most important generation of humans ever to walk the Earth. Unlike previous generations, we hold in our hands the future destiny of our species, whether we soar into fulfilling our promise as a type I civilization or fall into the abyss of chaos, pollution, and war. Decisions made by us will reverberate throughout this century. How we resolve global wars, proliferating nuclear weapons, and sectarian and ethnic strife will either lay or destroy the foundations of a type I civilization. Perhaps the purpose and meaning of the current generation are to make sure that the transition to a type I civilization is a smooth one. The choice is ours. This is the legacy of the generation now alive. This is our destiny" (Michio Kaku, 2005, Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday, p. 361).

In other words, humankind is at a tipping point. We might “make it,” or not. Imagine that the current situation of planet Earth resembles the Titanic an hour before she sank. Imagine, we still have a tiny chance to save ourselves, if we find good strategies quickly and implement them wisely. In order to achieve this, we need calm and mature discussions among ourselves to find good solutions, and sound cooperation to implement them. The least we need are "Cartoon Wars." "Cartoon wars" take our attention and energy away from the pressing challenges for the world that we have to solve. Therefore "Cartoon Wars" are life-threatening for all humankind. The world cannot afford "Cartoon Wars," particularly not in times of emergency.

Given the fact that humankind finds itself in an emergency situation that can only be tackled with global cooperation, anything that hampers this cooperation is a step backwards. And “Cartoon Wars” are a big step backwards.

Kaku’s type I civilizations points at the same vision that philosopher Avishai Margalit describes in his book The Decent Society, where he calls for societies to build institutions that no longer humiliate their citizens (Margalit, 1996, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).

I call for a decent global village harnessed by a Moratorium on Humiliation. I believe that there is an extremely important role for the international community which needs to become more active and facilitate constructive social change towards a decent global village, which includes all citizens of the world in dignified ways.

What should be done?

In the following, I suggest that we have to
• cool down
• avoid defining ourselves as victims
• learn moderation
• and, finally, avoid bias and become aware of our commonalities by defining ourselves as one family of humankind.

We have to cool down

Feelings can be hot or cold. We humans have a hot “go” system and a cool “know” system. The cool “know” system is cognitive, complex, contemplative, slow, strategic, integrated, coherent, and emotionally rather neutral. It is the basis of self-regulation and self-control. The hot “go” system is impulsive and reflexive and undermines rational attempts at self-control. It causes “tunnel vision,” reducing the range of one’s perceptions, thoughts, and choices, risking that we take suboptimal decisions.

In other words, the hot “go” system represents a double-edged sword. It may save us from immediate danger, when we need to run or fight. However, in case of a complex conflict, it easily operates malignly.

Feelings of humiliation are among the hottest feelings. Feelings of humiliation represent the “nuclear bomb of the emotions” (this is a term that I have coined).

I began my research on humiliation in 1996, when I asked myself the following questions: “What is the strongest obstacle to peace, to social cohesion, and to willingness to cooperate in our newly emerging interdependent world? What is the strongest force that disrupts, creates fault lines, and fuels destructive conflict?”

Feelings of humiliation, is my answer. Feelings of debasement may lead to acts of humiliation perpetrated on the perceived humiliator, setting off cycles of humiliation in which everybody who is involved feels denigrated and is convinced that humiliating the humiliator is a just and holy duty.

In order for feelings of humiliation to be expressed in mass movements, leaders are required, who channel the sufferings of masses into one single joint project of expression. Yet, leaders alone can do nothing. Leaders need a pool of feelings of humiliation among the masses on which they can draw, a pool that is “hot” enough.

Fear and humiliation have the potential to link up in particularly disastrous ways. In Rwanda, for example, fear of future humiliation, based on the experience of past humiliation, was used as justification for genocide.

To conclude, we are well advised to cool down when we experience hot feelings, including feelings of humiliation, in order to avoid disastrous “tunnel vision.” Likewise, we should help our opponents in conflicts to calm down.

We have to avoid the pitfalls of victimhood

Philosopher Avishai Margalit suggests that some people may become attached – almost addicted – to feeling humiliated, as this secures the “benefits” of the victim status and an entitlement for retaliation (Margalit, 2002, The Ethics of Memory, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).

Similarly, Arie Nadler shows that victimhood may serve as an “exemption” from having to take responsibility for being a perpetrator (Nadler, 2002b, Social-psychological analysis of reconciliation: Instrumental and socio-emotional routes to reconciliation, in Salomon, Gavriel and Nevo, Baruch (Eds.), Peace Education Worldwide: The Concepts, Underlying Principles, and Research, Mawheh, NJ: Erlbaum).

Jennifer S. Goldman and Peter T. Coleman posit that a humiliated person might feel morally justified to act aggressively against others:

“To give up the status as a humiliated person would mean that the aggression would no longer be morally justified, and no further pleasure or catharsis could be derived from it. It would also mean having to face the reality of one’s own perpetration, and one’s own responsibility for the other’s pain” (Goldman and Coleman, 2005, How Humiliation Fuels Intractable Conflict: The Effects of Emotional Roles on Recall and Reactions to Conflictual Encounters, New York, NY: International Center for Cooperation & Conflict Resolution, Teachers College, Columbia University, manuscript submitted for publication, pp. 15-16).

Not only can victimhood be abused to provide justifications for acting aggressively, it also tends to hamper self-reflection. Further down, I will explain how “Cartoon Wars” are the result of misreadings across out-groups. Recognizing this requires self-reflection. Victims often do not reflect on their own constructions of reality but feel vindicated to regard their take on the situation to be “the only truth” even when it would alleviate their victimhood to also consider other views.

To conclude, victimhood has the potential to foster more victimhood. And since feelings of humiliation are exceptionally hot, they might turn our world into a world full of victims. Do we want that?

We have to learn moderation

The defining characteristic of moderates is that they are capable of rising above the level of opposing sub-groups to perceive all players as fellow participants in One single larger in-group.

Extremists, in contrast, are those most mired in humiliation, both as feelings and retaliating acts, and they deepen the rifts of hatred instead of healing humiliation.

Conflicts are often embedded into an angry atmosphere of “We have to stand united against the ‘enemy’!" This sentence would be interpreted by extremists to mean, “We have to eliminate the ‘enemy.’” In contrast, a moderate would say, “We protect ourselves best by working towards a larger we in a constructive manner, to include among us those we today call ‘enemies’.” These interpretations usually compete, with the more “hot” and emotional interpretation usually being more extremist and promising fast redemption for painful feelings. Moderation is much more difficult to “sell” and needs the support of a larger group of people to gain weight and credibility.

A shining example of a moderate is Nelson Mandela. He succeeded in transforming his feelings of humiliation after 27 years of prison into a constructive contribution to social and societal change. He distanced himself from his own urge for revenge. However, a Mandela is seldom available. Moderation may then be best provided by third parties who are not involved in the conflict and committed to safeguarding social cohesion in a respectful manner and without humiliating any participant. The involved opponents’ feelings are often too hot to be moderate, at least during conflict peaks. Sometimes an overpowering force of moderates may be needed, especially when the conflict has organized itself into political movements led by extremist leaders.

If we leave the world arena to our extremists, we will reap global mayhem. The world is no longer a place where conflicts can be contained locally: the entire world can be set on fire, much easier than ever before. And the world is moreover no longer defined by nations and diplomats. Every single world citizen is a player. Everybody can transform, quite easily, into a weapon of mass destruction. Mohamed Atta, who flew a plane into the Twin Towers in New York, was no diplomat declaring war on behalf of a country. Therefore, if global mayhem shall be averted, every single citizen of this world is called upon to transform into a moderate.

To conclude, mature, moderate, responsible people need to invite everybody to emulate the example of a Nelson Mandela and not to follow promoters of violence who have translated feelings of humiliation into an urge to retaliate with violence. Moderates of all conflict parties and from all third parties carry the responsibility for curbing extremism and inviting their representatives into the camp of moderation, where we all together search for sustainable solutions in a patient and collaborative effort and cooperate for their implementation.

We have to avoid the destructive outfalls of bias

“Cartoon Wars” are the outfall of misunderstandings, misreadings and misconceptions due to the human tendency to view the world through the lens of bias as soon as in-groups define themselves against out-groups. And “Cartoon Wars” are moreover due to a lack of understanding for what ought to be humankind’s priorities.

In the face of global emergencies, humankind ought to conceive of itself as one single family. However, still, many conceptualize the world as being divided into in-groups pitted against out-groups. The problem is that whenever the world is constructed in such a way, people fall prey to a host of biases.

Phenomena such as the false polarization effect, which makes us underestimate what we have in common with out-groups, or the so-called attribution error are central. The attribution error describes the human tendency to believe that our successes are ours, while our failures are due to adverse circumstances; this evaluation is turned into its opposite when others are judged. Others’ successes are perceived as due to favorable circumstances, while only their failures are theirs.

As a result, every member in what are out-groups for me, whenever they hear how self-serving I view the world, feels humiliated. As long as groups lived rather separate from each other on our planet, my in-group bias did not harm; it only strengthened my belonging to “my people.” However, at the present historic point in time, the world grows to be interdependent. Today, my out-groups get to know my in-group bias. And my self-serving in-group bias becomes deeply hurtful to them. Not enough, my bias also blinds me to what we have in common.

Solomon Ash (1907-1996) was a pioneer in studying biases such as reactive devaluation. Reactive devaluation means that any proposition for compromise that is put forward by an out-group is rejected, regardless of its contents, while the own group’s arguments are regarded by its members with sympathy, merely because they come from within the group.

As a result, even the best solution is rejected: I cannot embrace your proposal, even if it is marvelous totally I agree, because I would betray my in-group.

To conclude, the destructive outfall of in-group/out-group biases is that urgently needed efforts to find joint solutions to destructive conflict are hampered. There are mainly two problems. Firstly, the involved parties are incapacitated in their efforts to cooperate on finding and implementing good solutions, due to mutual feelings of humiliation and due to blindness as to the fact that we all have more in common than we think. Secondly, urgently needed good solutions are rejected. Therefore, humankind has to learn to avoid in-group/out-group biases.

Our commonalities need to be our priority, not our differences

In 1994, I wrote my doctoral dissertation in social medicine on the topic of quality of life. I asked Egyptians and Germans “What is a good life for you?” (Lindner, 1994, Quality of Life: A German-Egyptian Comparative Study, Hamburg: Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Hamburg). What I found was that all have in common the wish for society to be cohesive and harmonious. All desire a world in which their children can prosper and be happy. The difference was that secular distance to religion was seen as a guarantor for social cohesion by many of my German interview partners, while the Egyptian interviewees saw secular distance to religion precisely as a hindrance to a “good life.” In other words, all parties wish for society to offer a good future to their children, but they differ on the methods; religious beliefs are seen in opposing ways, either as a beneficial force that holds society together, or as a potential divider.

In the case of the “Cartoon Wars” all sides feel that their most noble beliefs are being exposed to humiliation, namely their vision for a world that offers a good life to their children. All participants feel deeply hurt and humiliated. All sides regard the others’ attacks as evil. Muslims imagine that the cartoons are part of a “Western” conspiracy against Islam, and in the West, many construe the situation to mean that Muslims wish to attack “our freedom.” Both sides are wrong. Both endanger world peace with views that are the result of biases such as the above-discussed false polarization effect, attribution error and reactive devaluation, which obscure that we all wish for the same, a world that is livable for future generations.

If we focus on our commonalities, we can reconciliate and cooperate. How do we do that?

I personally reply to the question “Where are you from?” with the following sentence, “I am from planet Earth, I am a living creature, I am a human being, like you.” I define Arab history to be as much to be “my history” as European history or American history. “My history” is all humankind’s history.

This means that I carry the shame and disgust for all the destruction that has ever been caused in the course of its history by humankind. I feel responsible for not repeating what Stalin did, or Hitler, or any other dictator. I wish to carry the responsibility for doing something about it when it happens again, wherever on the planet it might occur.

In the same spirit I feel proud of all the achievements of humankind, of all the great literature, art and wisdom that have emerged all over the globe. I feel responsible for protecting and celebrating the cultural diversity of this world, however, only as long as it is not divisive. I wish to let go of cultural aspects that can only be kept alive through violence.

The first paragraph of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, reads: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” If we wish to give life to this motto, we need to build a world of decent global inter-human relations, relations that give second priority to inter-national relations or inter-cultural relations, and not vice versa. Land, nations, ethnic or religious group delineations should not provide the essence of our identity to us, lest we wish to open the door for the malignancies of in-group/out-group biases and their potentially disastrous consequences.

When we delineate the essence of our identity as belonging to in-groups whose definition depends on human out-groups, we give tyrants potential hate-tickets: what do we do when we are told that we betray our country or our group when we do not kill? Hutus had to prove their “Hutuness” by killing Tutsis and a Serb killed his wife when she was not Serb.

Identity built on land, nation, ethnic or religious delineations precludes what we need most when we wish to cooperate for building a better world: in-group trust. The maximum one can obtain with out-groups are alliances. In-group/out-group delineations are like foot-binding. They incapacitate the world. Instead, we need to highlight our commonalities, they are more important than our differences, when we wish to cooperate. Humankind has to learn what ought to be their priority: their commonalities, and not their differences.

The solution

Today, 12 million children die each year before they are 5 years old, of preventable diseases and poverty. I choose to feel responsible. Global over-exploitation of resources and the destructive effects of the way we use our resource makes our world unlivable for coming generations. I choose to feel responsible.

The world believes that Germans during World War II ought to have stood up and not stood by when Jews were transported away. 6 million people died in the Holocaust.

I, personally, do not want to stand by in today’s world. I want to stand up. We live in an undignified and ramshackle global village where millions suffer. In order to stand up, I identify with all humankind as "my family." I have made the global village my home and all its citizens my family. I try to do whatever I can to protect my family and I hope you are joining me.

Diversity, be it religious, national, cultural or ethnic diversity, can be the source of unparalleled inspiration and enrichment for the world. However, diversity can only be enriching – as opposed to being divisive – when it is embedded into respect for equal dignity for all people and an awareness that we, all humanity, must cooperate to protect ecological and social sustainability for coming generation.

Humankind is currently coming together into an ever shrinking world. However, coming closer does not always render love. Feelings of humiliation emerge when respect is felt to be failing. Feelings of humiliation may lead to turning the cycle of humiliation another turn by retaliating with acts of debasement as response for feeling debased.

The example of Nelson Mandela shows alternative ways out of feelings of debasement – away from cycles of humiliation and towards constructive social change. Nelson Mandela shows that there is no automatic link between feeling humiliated and retaliating with acts of humiliation. Mandela shows that wounds from debasement cannot serve as a “justification” or “excuse” for mayhem. Mandela’s example proves that strong constructive leadership is what remedies the agony that emanates from being forced into indignity, not inflicting wounds in return.

The important fault lines in conflicts are not those that separate Israelis from Palestinians, Hutus from Tutsis, Singhalese from Tamils, or Christians from Muslims. There is only one important fault line – the division between extremists and moderates in all camps. If extremists gain access to power, they will polarize and deepen whatever rifts they can feed on. Social peace, locally and globally, is only secured if moderates outweigh extremists. Extremist stances do not heal, they exacerbate the problem. It is essential for those who feel to be victims to avoid being drawn into extremist camps. This is what victims can do for a peaceful world.

Once a situation has been overrun by extremists and their polarizing language, moderates face almost insurmountable problems. Moderate Hutus were killed by extremist Hutus in the 1994 genocide. Extremist tyrants usually eliminate critics from their own camp first. Moderates in such a dilemma have only one option, to gather as many allies as possible from the global third party, the international community, to give weight to moderate positions, to help dampen extremist language and to forge alliances of moderates across all opposing camps.

The coming-into-being of the global village facilitates this process as it becomes increasingly apparent that it is in everybody’s interest to extinguish extremist fires wherever they burn, before they engulf the whole global village.

For a third party such as the international community, promoting moderation means supporting and advocating leaders such as a Mandela. It means continuously emphasizing our children’s future, a future that nobody wishes to be bloody and violent. These crucial elements give power to moderation and have the potential to outweigh extremist voices.

The protection of “my people” is best secured by working for global social sustainability, not against any supposed “enemies.” Everybody, who wishes for social peace in the global village is called upon to promote moderation and maturity in the face of the hot feelings that tempt people to lash out against “enemies” instead of working for the social cohesion of humankind as a whole.

Gandhi disliked the words and ideas of “passive resistance.” The term Satyagraha (non-violent action), is a combination of satya (truth-love) and agraha (firmness/force). Satyagraha encapsulates the intertwining of firmness with respect. Human dignity is only safeguarded by firm moderation. And firm moderation means tough dialogue; it does neither mean refusal of dialogue nor does it mean appeasement: Understanding humiliation does not automatically mean condoning violent urges to retaliate, listening does not necessarily mean agreeing, and reaching out for dialogue has nothing to do with appeasement. The world needs Nelson Mandelas who are capable of mature moderation that is both inclusive-respectful and tough.

I call for a decent global village harnessed by a Moratorium on Humiliation. You and me, the entire international community, everybody, needs to become more active and facilitate constructive social change towards a decent global village, which includes all citizens of the world in dignified ways.

Dear Friends,

We graciously invite you once again to the annual University of Notre Dame
Student Peace Conference, and encourage you to both attend the event and to
submit a paper for presentation.

The University of Notre Dame's annual Student Peace Conference will take place on March 31 and April 1, 2006. The conference is officially sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and is planned and directed
entirely by undergraduate peace studies students of the University.

Titled "Voices of Today, Changes for Tomorrow", the conference highlights
student activism, youth leadership, and the role of youth in the peace-building
process. The conference will also explore the consequences of war and conflict
on your and society.

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

The Peace Conference Committee invites papers, panel proposals, performances, audio-visual presentations, interactive sessions or workshops and other programs broadly exploring the role of youth in conflict and in the
peace-building process. Presentations on additional aspects of peace-building
are also encouraged. The presentations may be completed research, research
in-progress, or case studies, especially those reflecting innovative practice.
There is no required format for presentations. Typically, you will present on
a panel with your peers and have 10 minutes for your presentation and 10
minutes for discussion.

The submission can be on any issues that contributes to the conference theme.
Sub-themes could focus on, but are not limited to:
- Changing Nature of Warfare
- Ethnic Conflict/Resolution
- Women, Children, and Peace
- The Impact of Globalization on Peace
- Transnationalism and Peace
- Religion and Peace-Building
- Peace in a Post 9/11 Society
- International Law
- International, Cross-Cultural, or Inter-Religious Dialogue
- International Organizations and NGOs
- War and the Politics of Memory
- Changing Scholarly and Popular Conceptions of War and Peace
- Strengths and Weaknesses of Existing Peace Movements
- Role of Media in War-Making and Peacekeeping
- Peace in Contemporary Literature
- The Role of the Mediator
- Effects of Propaganda
- Economics of Peace

Submissions and/or questions may be made via email to peacecon@nd.edu. Please include at minimum an abstract of your proposal; additional information is of course wonderful. Notification of acceptance of proposals will be sent as soon as the reviewing process is completed, no later than February 24, 2006.

The deadline for proposals is Friday, February 17, 2006.

Online registration for the conference will begin on Monday, February 6, 2006,
and can be done through the Kroc Institute website at www.nd.edu/~krocinst/events/stuconf06.html. This website will also be frequently updated with the Conference agenda and other relevant information; please take advantage of it!

The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is very excited to invite all
of your to attend this year's conference. Travel arrangements and costs are the
responsibility of the attendee, and the Kroc Institute unfortunately is not
capable of offering financial support. The University of Notre Dame is located
in South Bend, IN and is 90 miles east of Chicago, IL. Lodging is also the
responsibility of the attendee, but we have arranged with local hotels to
provide discount rates for conference attendees. Some attendees may have the
option of staying on the Notre Dame campus with student hosts. Further lodging information will be provided upon your registration.

Thank you again for your interest, and we hope to see you soon for another
successful conference, "Voices of Today, Changes for Tomorrow".

Sincerely,
Kevin Walsh
Conference Chair

-----
The University of Notre Dame
2006 Student peace Conference:
Voices of Today, Changes for Tomorrow

www.nd.edu/~krocinst/events/stuconf06.html

IFYC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EBOO PATEL WILL BE READING HIS ESSAY ON THE
DANISH CARTOONS
MONDAY FEBRUARY 13 ON
CHICAGO PUBLIC RADIO'S 848 PROGRAM.

IT WILL AIR BETWEEN
9:00 AM AND 10:00 AM CENTRAL STANDARD TIME.
STREAMING AUDIO CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.WBEZ.ORG

HumanDHS has been asked to react to the rage that has emerged as a result of Danish caricatures since they are felt to have had a humiliating effect.

Please see also a SPIEGEL Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali at
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,399263,00.html

THE SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION IN EUROPE
Training Programme, July 2006

Call for Applications

The EUI Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies and the Social and Political Science Department organize the summer training programme “The sociology and politics of immigration in Europe.” It will take place at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy from 2-9 July 2006. Participants are expected to arrive on 2 July 2006.

Objectives

This training programme aims at improving the knowledge base and research potential of young scholars in migration studies from across Europe. The focus of the programme will thus consist in highlighting core issues in the field using a multidisciplinary approach and providing appropriate theoretical and methodological tools. Participants will also get feedback on their current research from leading scholars in the field. The teaching staff includes: Valérie Amiraux (EUI), Adrian Favell (UCLA), Andrew Geddes (Sheffield University), Virginie Guiraudon (EUI), Sandra Lavenex (University of Berne), Joanne van der Leun (Leiden University), and Patrick Simon (National Institute for Demographic Research, Paris). Additional scholars will participate in the plenary sessions: Robert Kloosterman (University of Amsterdam), Rick van der Ploeg (EUI).
Among the key themes are:
-the relationship between migration patterns, migrant strategies and public policies;
-anti-discrimination, citizenship and the incorporation of migrant groups;
-comparative politics and policies in Europe; and
-international and EU policy-making and their repercussions.

The Programme will be directed by Professor Virginie Guiraudon who holds a Marie Curie Chair at the EUI.

Requirements

The Programme is open to candidates currently completing a doctorate. Applications are encouraged from students who are in the 2nd or 3rd year of their Ph.D. programmes or who have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation. The programme is also open to recent PhDs in the social sciences and to persons that conduct research on migration-related topics within national and international organizations.

Applicants should be aware that English is the working language of the Programme.

Organisation

There will be daily lectures. All participants are required to attend the lectures.
Other sessions will use a workshop format. Participants will need to make a 20-minute oral presentation of the topic of their research, and are required to take part in all workshop sessions.

Contact

RSCAS immigration TP
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
European University Institute
Convento
Via delle Fontanelle, 19
I - 50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI)
Italy

E-mail: rscastp@IUE.it
Tel. for logistic matters: +39 055 4685 790 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            +39 055 4685 790      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Tel. for matters relating to the content of the programme: + 39 055 4685 408 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            + 39 055 4685 408      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Web site: http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/Research/rscastp

Deadlines: Applications must be postmarked no later than 15 April 2006. Applicants will be contacted by e-mail no later than 30 April 2006.

Fees and costs: There are no course fees. Participants should thus pay for their travel, accommodation (€50 per night including breakfast) and evening meals (lunch will be provided during the programme working days).

Scholarships: A few scholarships of €350 are available. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic excellence and financial need. If you are applying for a scholarship, please explain the reasons why you need financial help to attend the programme.

Applications: Applications should be sent to : rscastp@IUE.it (or to the postal address above, or to fax number + 39 055 4685 763 ) and must include:
• The application form filled and signed (download on the web site: http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/Research/rscastp)
• a letter stating your fields of interest and career plans,
• a curriculum vitae,
• a letter of reference (from your thesis supervisor if you are a Ph. D. student),
• an outline of your present research (3-5 pages),
• a copy of one of your publications (if any) or a sample chapter of your thesis.
• And, if applying for a scholarship, a letter stating the reasons why you are applying.

Funding for this initiative is provided by the Marie Curie Chair programme of the European Commission (DIPLOMIG project).

A Joke Gone Awry
© Sarah Sayeed

Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t cartoons supposed to make people laugh? Isn’t political satire supposed to make people think? Don’t we want to explore the boundaries of free speech? All of this did start with a noble idea: to promote better integration and cross-cultural awareness, the author Bluitgen wanted to write a children’s book on our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him. He could not understand why some cartoonists refused the job. He discussed his problem with a local newspaper editor, who wanted to challenge the self-censorship of Danes. Indeed it may have all started as an intellectual exercise to promote tolerance and free speech, as some European newspapers are reporting.

Yet, there is no laughter and no integration- only disintegration. An intellectual debate is out of the question- debate assumes some shared understanding of core premises across the two sides. But it is actually our core premise, love and respect for the Prophet that is now under attack. Ironically, the cartoons were originally published by a newspaper with a rather meager circulation of 150,000. But in our global village, its contents have reached well beyond the borders of this Scandinavian nation. Not only the offensive cartoons have been widely broadcast; Muslims’ reactionary torching of embassies, calls for jihad, and the violently angry placards continue to dominate the air waves. Some have labeled these cartoons “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Muslims, here and abroad feel they are routinely and purposely humiliated. Evelin Lindner, a researcher of human dignity, calls humiliation the “nuclear bomb of emotions.” Is it this nuclear bomb that has now fallen?

More than 15 years ago, I stood in the office of my college professor, discussing the injuries delivered by Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. I was just a student, he was a figure of authority, and it was a difficult conversation. I attempted to convey the pain that Muslims feel when our beloved Prophet is insulted, and the deepening mistrust of Muslims towards “the West.” I was shocked by his point blank response: Muslims’ opinions did not matter! It became painfully clear to me then just how deep the divide truly was—if someone who is a teacher, carrying the title of “expert” in subjects related to Islam and Muslims could say that Muslims’ opinions did not matter, the work of building understanding was indeed monumental.

Thinking now about the European newspapers that re-published the cartoons and Muslims’ angry protests, it seems as if little has changed over the past decade or more. When cast within the debate over free speech, Muslims appear to be over-reacting, unable to “take a joke.” Media across the world duplicate and disseminate images of our anger, and we appear irrational. But, in the words of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., who recently passed away: “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won; you earn it and win it every generation.”
My vision is not perfect, but I do see some rays of hope. Relative to where we were in my college days, U.S. Muslims are organized and more proficient at cross-cultural dialogue. We have gotten better at using web and email technology to broadcast peaceful alternatives, an important strategy when our own mass media (particularly our national media) fail repeatedly to publicize our proactive approach. When life gives us lemons, we have learned to make lemonade: we see these controversies as opportunities to educate others about the core principles of our faith.

Responding to the cartoons, their publicists, and the violent protestors, one email advised us to reflect on and circulate widely the prayer of our Prophet in Taif. Reading it eased my own agitation, perhaps it will yours. Weary from being aggressively chased out of Taif and wounded by stones thrown at him, our Prophet, peace be upon him, spoke these words: "O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources and my humiliation before the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak, and my Lord too. To whom have You entrusted me? To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom You have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favor is of more abundance to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descend upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased. There is no power and no might except by You."

Dear Muslims, isn’t our call to win over hearts, to reach together for the Divine? We know that expressions of outrage are headline grabbers, and at worst, they reinforce all the negative stereotypes about Muslims. Yes, our protests, when they are peaceful, can convey a message of how much we care about these negative images. But the real work is not about defending our image. It is rather about projecting positive and strong character. It is this daily work of reaching inwards, and from that inwards to the outwards, on which we must remember to focus. May Allah guide us towards what is better, now, and in the days ahead.

The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung; MPIfG) in Cologne is offering up to Four doctoral fellowships in economic sociology and political economy

Fellowships will start in October 2006, and will be awarded for a maximum of three years. Students receive a stipend of 1,100 Euro per month. They will share an office and have full access to the research infrastructure of the institute. The program is open to students from a variety of social science disciplines, in particular but not exclusively sociology and political science. Working languages at the MPIfG are German and English. Successful candidates must have an excellent command of English.

Doctoral fellows will participate in a graduate school program including courses and summer school sessions (which will eventually be turned into an International Max Planck Research School) and generally take part in the Institute's intellectual life. Details of the curriculum will be specified according to dissertation topics and previous training. As the MPIfG is not a degree-awarding institution, degrees will have to be received from a fellow's home institution or a German university. For more information on the MPIfG's research program and on the doctoral fellowship program, refer to the school's website: www.mpifg.de/fo/doc_program_en.html

Applications may be sent in English or German by post or by email if all attachments are compiled in one document. They should include a C.V., a list of publications if applicable, and a six-page proposal of topics for a doctoral dissertation project. Two letters of recommendation should be sent directly to the institute. The deadline for submission is March 15, 2006.

The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to improving the opportunities for women in the sciences.

Applications and further inquiries may be directed to the MPIfG's Head of Administration, Juergen Lautwein, lautwein@mpifg.de.

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Juergen Lautwein
Paulstr. 3
50676 Koeln
Germany

A message from
Cora Weiss
Betty Reardon
Chris Norwood

Dear all,

The 1000 Women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize will be on exhibit in New York City from Monday, February 27, 2006 for two weeks in the Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, (corner of 44th St and 1st Avenue), on the 2nd floor. The launch, at 6 pm. on Monday Feb 27th coincides with the opening of the Conference on the Status of Women at the United Nations.

The exhibit will serve as a backdrop for all the parallel meetings being held in that room during the conference. Several thousand women from around the world will be in town for the CSW. You don't have to be a woman to appreciate this exhibit! Men are especially welcome!

We have invited Nane Annan to join in the launch and others will also participate.

This is an INVITATION to any of you planning to be at the CSW or in New York City at that time to please be in touch so you can make presentations at the launch. We want this to be as participatory and inclusive as possible. The launch is open to the public and refreshments will be served.

Will you please circulate this invitation? No UN passes are needed to come to the building, and people are welcome to see the exhibit every day from 8 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Many thanks, hope to see you,

Cora Weiss
Betty Reardon
Chris Norwood

Come Join Us

On
Monday, February 27, 2006
from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
for the Exhibit opening of
“1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize”

The reception celebrates the opening of the United Nation’s Conference on the Status of Women with an exhibit that features the work and stories of the 1,000 women worldwide nominated in 2005 for the Nobel Peace Prize

(Men very Welcome!)

The exhibit will be on display for two weeks in the Church Center located at: 777 UN Plaza (corner of 44th Street and 1st Avenue)
Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

This exhibit is free to the public and no UN passes are needed to attend.

Helene Leneveu
Program Associate
Hague Appeal for Peace
777 UN Plaza, Third Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (+1) 212-687-2623 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (+1) 212-687-2623      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: (+1) 212-661-2704
Website: www.haguepeace.org

" A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems; have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth. Such learning can not be achieved without intentional, sustained and systematic education for peace." Global Campaign for Peace Education

AfricAvenir News, 9th Febuary 2006

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

AfrikAvenir International freut sich auf die Deutschlandpremiere der Ausnahmeband aus Kenia, Bana Kadori.

Bana Kadori gilt unter Kennern als eine der gegenwärtig besten Bands in Kenia. Scheinbar erst jetzt, fast drei Jahrzehnte nach ihrer Gründung, steuert die Band ihrem musikalischen Höhepunkt entgegen. Bana Kadori verbinden die populärste ostafrikanische Tanzmusik Benga mit kongolesischer Rumba.

Do. 16.02. 21:00 Uhr
Eintritt: 7/ erm. 5 Euro. In Kooperation mit AfricAvenir International e.V.
Präsentiert von radio multikulti.
al globe - Brandenburgisches Haus der Kulturen
Charlottenstr. 31
14467 Potsdam
Tel.: 331 / 200 88 12

Erst jetzt, fast drei Jahrzehnte nach ihrer Gründung, steuert die Band ihrem musikalischen Höhepunkt entgegen; auch die kürzlich erschienene neue CD Piny Oketore bestätigt diesen Eindruck: glänzende Kompositionen, überzeugende Instrumental– und Gesangsarrangements, virtuoses Gitarrenspiel und ausdrucksstarke Liedtexte zeichnen die Musik Bana Kadoris aus. In Kenia feierten sie in den letzten Jahren mit Titeln, wie z.B. „Consola-ta“. „Nairobi Wololo“ und „Intercooler“ große Erfolge.

Gegründet wurde Bana Kadori bereits 1978 von Ochieng Kabaselleh, einem in Ostafrika und insbesondere Kenia sehr bekannten Komponisten und Musiker. Die Band war quasi ein Familienunternehmen, bestand aus Ochieng und vier seiner Brüder, Ogolli, Onyango, Omondi und Ondindo Kadori. Sie stammen aus einer angesehenen Luo-Musikerfamilie, alle sind sie Söhne der bekannten Musikerin, Dorcas Siwalo, genannt Dori. So entstand der Name der Gruppe Bana Kadori, was soviel heißt wie die „Kinder von Dori“. Die tragenden Säulen von Bana Kadori heute sind die drei Brüder Joseph Onyango, Philemon Omondi und Baraeck Ondindo Kadori.

Bana Kadori wird erstmals außerhalb Ostafrikas auftreten, dessen hervorragende Musik hierzulande wenig zu hören ist.

http://africavenir.com/news/2006/02/318/deutschlandpremiere-fur-ausnahmeband-aus-kenia

http://www.multikulti.de/_/kalender_jsp/activeid=9/key=konzert-events_372855.html

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.

01/02/2006, Dan Shapiro kindly wrote:

Hi Evelin,

Just wanted to catch up with you and thought you might be interested in an op-ed I wrote that's in today's NY Times. The article offers ideas to deal with the emotional side of the transit negotiations in NYC. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/opinion/01shapiro.html

Best wishes,
Dan

The Replacements
February 1, 2006
Cambridge, Mass.
By DANIEL L. SHAPIRO and MOLLY DUNHAM
Op-Ed Contributors
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/opinion/01shapiro.html?ex=1139634000&en=e0726836a5138cf9&ei=5070

THE executive board of New York City's Transport Workers Union met yesterday to discuss what steps to take now that its members have rejected the proposed contract deal that ended the three-day transit strike back in December. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has urged the union and the Metropolitan Transit Authority to "work together on an amicable resolution."

This advice sounds reasonable and even obvious. Clearly the adversarial method of negotiation — the statements of defiance and disrespect — did not work well. The result was a strike that engendered lingering anger and frustration — and a tenuous agreement that has since collapsed.

But here's the issue for the union and the authority: each side wants to look like a gladiator for the public and for its constituents. Yet they also have to work together because the negotiation involves shared problems. Neither side wants to lose money or public esteem, and both share interests in satisfied employees and a workable contract. While arbitration is an option, a negotiated agreement will lead to a more stable outcome and improved relations.

The good news is that there's a simple solution: send in the second string, and do it now....

Please read the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/opinion/01shapiro.html?ex=1139634000&en=e0726836a5138cf9&ei=5070

Volume 10, number 1, February 2006

The Road to AMARC 9 World Conference in Amman, Jordan
AMARC 9, the 9th world Conference of AMARC, will take place in Amman, Jordan from the 11 to the 17 of November 2006. The Internet Jordanian pioneer and FM broadcaster Ammannet will host the conference in partnership with media and journalists groups from Jordan and Palestine.

Worldwide Broadcast of the Summit for the Community Radio Movement
AMARC covered the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) from the 16 to 18 November. Community Radio journalists from SIMBANI (AMARC news Agency in Africa), from PULSAR (Information Agency from AMARC LAC) from AmisNet (Europe), and community radio correspondents from Asia and North America, webstreamed and produced a precious radio archive...

Struggling for Communication Rights in the Information Society
As a member of the Civil Society Organisations of the WSIS, AMARC effectivelly contributed to ensure the participation of Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi as civil society speaker to the plenary of the WSIS insisting on communication rights as the basis of the information society.

Contradictions in the Summit: Tunisia’s Record on Freedom of Expression!
AMARC Coverage started with dramatic coverage of the Hunger strike of Tunisian journalists, some of which had already been political prisoners. From the inset, police in civilian clothes closely followed AMARC journalists, interested in covering freedom of expression issues in Tunisia. AMARC delegates were forbidden to attend the Citizen Summit...

News from the AMARC International Board
The International Board of Directors of AMARC (IBOD) held its annual face-to-face meeting in Hammamet, Tunisia from 20 to 22 November 2005. The IBOD members dedicated full attention to the strategic planning for the community radio movement.

The First AMARC Asia Pacific Regional Conference
More than a 150, Community broadcasters and media activists from 19 Asia-Pacific countries gathered in Jakarta 24-27 November 2005 at the first Asia Pacific Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters, to create the Regional Section of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and elected a Regional Board of AMARC Asia-Pacific...

The Third Peoples’ Summit of the Americas
AMARC Latin America and Caribbean and a Quebec delegation of community radio broadcasters covered the Third People’s Summit and the Government Summit of the Americas, from November 1 to 5, in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The participants said no, to the Free Trade Zone of the Americas proposed by Washington...

AMARC at the Sixth WTO Conference
AMARC ensured media coverage of the Sixth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference held in Hong Kong, China, 13–18 December 2005. The delegation was composed of journalists from community radio stations members of AMARC from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Korea, the Philippines and the United States...

The 6th Polycentric Social Forum in Bamako and Caracas
AMARC covered the activities of the 6th edition of the World Social Forum, in the Polycentric Forum of Bamako, Mali, from 19 to 23 January and from Caracas, Venezuela from 24 to 28 January. AMARC will also cover the polycentric forum in Karachi, Pakistan in April 2006...

L’AMARC Calls for Solidarity with community Radio in Nepal
In response to the deteriorating press freedom and freedom of expression situation in Nepal, twelve international organisations, including AMARC, UN agencies, global media associations, freedom of expression advocates and media development organisations, undertook a mission...

And much more stories

March 8 is coming!

Dear AMARC member,

MARCH 8, the International Women's Day, is coming soon!
Join us in the international radio broadcasting on the International Women's Day.

There are many ways to collaborate to the March 8 broadcast. For more information visit: www.win.amarc.org or sent an e-mail to sophie toupin at sophie@amarc.org

* *Send us already produced or original audio material* (deadline
for submissions is February 27th). To transfer your programmes by
SFTP contact me.

* *Re-broadcast programs on your radio station* via the Internet on
this special day. Programmes from all over the world and in
different languages will be available on the AMARC Women's
International Network (WIN) web site soon!

* Celebrate the International Women's Day with us by listening to
the different programmes!

* Help *organize* the event in your region: translate, phone, fax,
design...

* Conduct *training* at a local level for newcomers to your radio.

Story ideas

* Factors which tend to perpetuate women's discrimination (economic,
social, political, etc.);
* Impact of economic globalization on women (feminization of
poverty, sweatshops, Export processing zones (EPZs), trafficking
in women, etc.);
* Gender discrimination toward migrants, refugees, asylum seekers
and displaced persons;
* Violence against women (domestic, sexual and psychological
violence, etc. );
* Discrimination toward indigenous women;
* Recognition of women's rights (reproductive rights, etc.);
* Women's empowerment and emancipation;
* Impact of Mass Media in perpetuating gender stereotype;
* The Feminists movements;
* Women and community radio.

General Guidelines for Submission

Here are the General Guidelines for Submissions (deadline is february 27).

Don't forget to vist our website at www.win.amarc.org and send your Submission form.

Need more information? Contact Sophie at sophie.toupin @ amarc.org or call : 514-982-0351

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

DEADLINE for contributions is February 27

Length

Pre-produced contributions should not exceed 20 minutes. Those sending longer contributions should contact Sophie at sophie@amarc.org

Format

Material can be sent in any format (Minidisc, DAT, CD, cassette or as an audio file per e-mail in mp3, wave or ogg format)

We encourage producers to use and experiment with different genres and styles for their contributions: documentary, panel discussion, drama, interview, talk-shows, etc.

Language

Contributions are admitted in any language. Please include a brief content description in English, French or Spanish

Sending contributions

Contributions should be clearly marked and accompanied by a short introduction, either as text or as part of the piece, briefly explaining its content. Programs should end with music. The title, duration and language of the piece(s) should also be specified in writing. Also include the name(s) of the producer(s), radio station with contact details.

Thanks for your contribution

Sophie Toupin
AMARC International Secretariat

Francisco Gomes de Mato gives a promise to his granddaughter,
published on the website of the Promise Club by Kerry Bowden:

Dear Marina,

Your grandfather promises that until the day my physical life ends, in talking to you (face-to-face or on-line),

I will greet you with PAZ, SAúDE, AMIZADE! , Portuguese words meaning

PEACE, HEALTH, FRIENDSHIP,! and will do my best to silently express the same wish to

to strangers on the street, whenever my mind reminds me to . You see, throughout life

we tend to wish well to those closest to us -- our parents, relatives, friends, classmates, workmates, etc --

but neglect to extend our good wishes to those we will never meet ,who just pass us by on

the street. In doing so, I also promise to put on a happy face .

Your grandfather Francisco

Sent by Francisco Gomes de Matos, Recife,Brazil

Dear Marina

I am pleased to say that when Professor Francisco (your Grandfather) visited The Promise Club website for the first on the 8th Febuary 2006, which was yesterday, he was inspired to write this poem, which I now include below

Human promises are easy to make
When they are just simple declarations
Our promises are so easy to break
When there is no fruit of expectation
Promises for children when we make
Are they filled with love and joy ?
Do they keep us wisely awake
For the world is not always a toy ?

A better world for children can be realized
If our promises are planted with Peace
Then global harmony can be perennized
And children´s happiness will never cease!

This granma in Down Under Australia would like say PAZ, SAúDE, AMIZADE! and thank you to the Grandfather in Brazil.

Professor Francisco Gomes de Matos teaches linguistics and languages at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, northeastern Brazil. He holds degrees in languages and law from UFPE and in linguistics from the University of Michigan and the Catholic University of São Paulo. He has served as a visiting professor at the Universities of Texas (Austin), Mexico, Ottawa, and Georgia (Athens, USA). Gomes de Matos is the author of two pioneering pleas: for a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (1984) and for "communicative peace" (1993). His current research interests include linguistic rights and responsibilities (of language users) and peace linguistics.

The Muhammad caricatures (1)
Freedom of suppression

PressInfo # 232
February 7, 2006

By Jan Oberg, the Director of The Transnational Foundation (TFF)

Jyllands-Posten's drawings are caricatures with a tendency. They associate the Prophet with terrorism, criminality and repression of women. None of them could possibly serve dialogue, mutual understanding or much needed public education between Danes and the Muslims anywhere. They are ill-willed.

The intensity of the negative reaction may be surprising. But seen in the context of our contemporary, globalizing world, their publication was both thoughtless and purposeless. It reveals a mind-boggling deficit in general education and good (journalistic) manners.

The Danish government has lost it

Worse, the Danish government understood neither the affair nor the need for early damage-limitation. Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen turned down appeals for dialogue, following an established pattern also in relation to Denmark's policy on Iraq and immigration issues: by definition we make no mistakes and have nothing to learn from anyone.

If the government had understood the world and our times, it could have emphasized Jyllands-Posten's right to publish the caricatures but used the opportunity to strongly distance itself from such counterproductive, offending activity.

The Prime Minister's and the Foreign Minister's press conference in the afternoon of February 7th amounted to little but yet another bout of self-praise without the slightest hints at regret, apology or reconciliation. The Prime Minister's emphasis that he has the full support of George W. Bush - made in a speech to the Muslim world - reveals that he has understood deplorably little of that world.

Why this is freedom of suppression, not freedom of expression

One must welcome that Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief has apologised for the fact that they have provoked and offended so many; he says they were not meant to (January 30, 2006). He maintains that they were published as part of an "ongoing debate on freedom of expression that we cherish so highly." Fine and good - but how utterly blind culturally!

The freedom of expression argument is phoney. That the free press exists is, at best, a qualified truth. The way Western mainstream media treat some contemporary issues, such as their government's participation in wars, is only one of several examples of self-censorship and propaganda in the service of power rather than truth and freedom of opinion formation. Freedom of the press has always also implied the freedom to neglect and marginalise - for instance the larger truth about how and why billions of people keep on living in poverty. And it has meant a systematic orientation to government policies rather than civil society.

Second, freedom of expression implies responsibility. It doesn't equal a right to humiliate, offend, demonise, defame or slander. Personal maturity as well as cultured behaviour is also about exercising sound judgment and knowing what to say and not to say when - and why. Journalists can still exercise respect, be polite, show empathy and be decent in their dealings with fellow human beings, can't they?

Third, anyone who has travelled outside her or his own culture knows that freedom of expression, together with other so-called universally accepted norms, must be interpreted in a context. No culture or society wants to have foreigners' interpretations imposed upon them. The generalised Westerner - the teacher of the world, never the learner - would strongly decline to have Muslim or Hindu interpretations of those norms imposed on her or his daily living.

Self-glorification and institutionalised racism

I am a Danish citizen who has lived 33 years in Sweden. For shorter periods I have worked in Somalia, the Balkans, Japan, Burundi and elsewhere. What has happened the last decade or so in Denmark eludes me both as a Dane and as scholar. I am afraid, indeed frightened, when I ponder the consequences of what I would call Western self-glorifying civilizational dominance and institutionalised racism. So pervasive and so "natural" has it become since the end of the old Cold War that neither the Danes nor other Westerners in general seem to see it. With the war on terrorism we are already well into a new Cold War. For no good reason except the human folly that stems from the combination of cultural arrogance, absence of self-criticism and empathy.

Not for a second do I believe that the Muhammad caricatures or the freedom of the press argument is anything but the last straw in a series of cultural blind humiliations of non-Westerners. They build on centuries of humiliation and insensitivity of the "other". We have become culturally blind and project our own dark features upon others.

So lacking in empathy has Danish politics become that the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Stig Moeller, repeatedly uses only one word: Unacceptable! - but not about his own government's immigration policies or its participation in genocide and mass murder on the Iraqi people but - yes of course - about the reactions throughout the Muslim world. Increasingly these hours and days, commentators present Denmark as a victim and the Muslim reactions as exaggerated and staged.

Few Danes and few Danish media seem willing to raise the broader contextual questions and ask whether Denmark's policies - Iraq, immigration, Islamophobia - could be the basic cause of all this.

They see my country as a rogue state and I don't blame them

Let's assume that the Danes and their politicians still have manners and human maturity. If so, they would recognise that now is the time for modesty, self-reflection, apologies and reconciliation. A civilisation that has none of it is decaying and, in the process, also dangerous for itself and others. It becomes a rogue civilisation.

These days I fear that Western culture increasingly comes across as lacking both empathy, open debate and the courage to say, We are sorry! My native country is now a rogue state in the eyes of millions of fellow human beings. Whether or not this is a fair judgment of Denmark is not the issue. The issue is that present Danish politics is a prime reason that those millions hold that image.

We could well be witnessing the beginning of a drift towards unparalleled catastrophe.

The Muhammad Caricatures (2)
But There Is A Context

By Jan Oberg, TFF director

There is a context to the Muhammad caricatures. It's the story about how Denmark has changed. If that context is addressed, Denmark - its government and people - would have to ask: What have we done wrong in the eyes of so many during the last 10-15 years?

That would open for some kind of learning and long- term reconciliation with the perceived enemies.

But if that context is ignored, Denmark will react only with self-pity, feeling misunderstood and sink deeper into it cultural insensitivity and institutionalized lack of self-criticism and empathy.
This means more conflict in Denmark and more conflict between Denmark and the Muslim world.

So, what offers hope in this darkness? Well, that so many Danish citizens discuss the issue like never before. And there are three websites where they express their disagreement with their government and act for peace. I hope millions in the Muslim world will see it and dialogue with these - constructive - Danes.

Read the analysis here
http://www.transnational.org/pressinf/2006/pi233_Muhammad_Context.html

Carl Conetta kindly permits that we link to the following artice:

See sections:
#3. From anger to insurgency and
#4. The fog and friction of occupation.

Dear Colleagues:

Excerpts and commentary on the new US defense review (QDR) are now available on our Defense Strategy Review library site. We’ve also just updated our other special topic libraries (China, military transformation, terrorism, etc). And we’ve created a single gateway to all of the libraries and sites: http://www.comw.org/infogate/

Please have a look and pass the link along. Regarding the US defense review: As new information and commentary becomes available during the next week, we’ll update the Defense Strategy Review page. If you come across relevant material for this site or the others, we’d greatly appreciate your letting us know.

Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives, Cambridge & Washington DC, USA pda@comw.org

International Summer Academy on Islam and the Repositioning of Religion
Essen (Germany), July 16 to July 30, 2006

Apply by March 1, 2006 for awards that include travel and accommodation costs

This two-week Summer Academy is convened at the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut (KWI) – Institute of Advanced Study in the Humanities – Essen, Germany, and sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation. The Summer Academy is designed to support the development of scholarly networks and collaborative projects between young scholars in Germany and worldwide. Twenty Fellows (PhD candidates and recent PhDs) in addition to invited senior faculty, will present their research and contribute to the advancement of an emerging field of investigation.

Essen is located at the core of the historic industrial Ruhr region and is a prominent European city of culture and arts. The Institute of Advanced Study in the Humanities is a leading institution in Europe that pursues research on cultural and religious pluralism and promotes cultural dialogue. The Summer Academy aims to explore the ongoing recon-structive processes and conceptual shifts of “religion” with respect to the formative and trans-formative processes of modernity related to Islam’s presence in the contemporary scene.
The convenors of the Summer Academy are Georg Stauth and Armando Salvatore. The Academy’s teaching body will include internationally leading specialists from Social Theory, Islamic Studies, Sociology of Religion, Comparative Civilisational Analysis and “Multiple Modernities”.

The project

One of the most challenging developments in the last two or three decades is the continual reconstruction, re-positioning and re-definition of “religion” in social thought. Prior to this, the self-understanding of modern societies was bound to the sociologically “classical” idea that these societies are inherently secular. Religion was considered marginal to the core issues of development and change.

The presence of Islam in modern contexts has been extensively discussed, and interpreted in widely divergent ways. We propose to look at this presence as part of the wider process through which religious concepts have re-entered the political and cultural arenas of modern societies. Islam’s presence represents the most challenging component in the current process of cultural globalisation that includes the social re-location of religion. The modern presence of Islam in global society has become the main vector of transposition of religion from a private or secondary public sphere into the central political arenas and arsenals of collective representation. Our work hypothesis is namely that Islam’s role, per-ception, and reconstruction has also legitimised other, non-Islamic “public religions”.

The group of scholars that will meet in Essen will re-examine critically the new religious antinomies of modernity and so generate awareness about the risks that might be linked to any lopsided redefinition of the political and cultural arenas of modernity by reference to a static notion of “religion”.

The topics

Participants will present empirical and theory-oriented projects exploring the processes which are linked to the reformulation of religion in the continual interplay between Islamic and, supposedly, “original” (since “Western”) programs of modernity. Projects may target a variety of religious and socio-political arenas worldwide.

Crucial (though not exclusive) examples of the areas of critical exploration that will be central to the Summer Academy are:
a) The condition of post-coloniality and the various attempts of nation-states within Muslim majority societies to initiate Islamic policies and to link them to issues of economic and social development.
b) The dynamics of unification of Europe, with Islam playing the role of a challenger that appears to question a long standing yet fragile balance between religious and secular ideas, practices and concepts.
c) The condition of America “between two worlds”, where religion becomes a tool for mastering the social machine of emancipation and recognition.

Application procedure:

Applications are invited from advanced PhD candidates and recent PhDs (degree received after February 2001) whose research relates to the topic of the Summer Academy as described above. The working language is English. A complete application requires sub-mission in English of the following materials:
�� a curriculum vitae;
�� a statement of 1000-1500 words detailing current research interests and past research and writing related to the topic of the Summer Academy;
�� the names and addresses of two potential referees familiar with the applicant’s work.
Completed applications must be received by March 1, 2006. Submission of applications by e-mail is encouraged.

Send queries and applications to:
Dr. Armin Flender
Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut, Essen
Goethestrasse 31
45128 Essen
GERMANY
Tel.: +49 (0) 201/7204-213 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            +49 (0) 201/7204-213      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: +49 (0) 201/7204-111
E-Mail: armin.flender@kwi-nrw.de

Program 2006, Centre de Cooperation Franco-Norvegienne, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris
(09.02.2006)

Januar
24.-26. januar: Internasjonalt seminar: La linguistique de Bernard Pottier: Bilan, critiques, perspectives. Ansvarlig Aboubakar Ouattara, Universitetet i Tromsø.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Saphinaz-Amal Naguib

Februar
2. - 4. februar : Internasjonalt seminar : Phonologie du français contemporain. Ansvarlige : Chantal Lyche, OFNEC (Caen), i samarbeid med Jacques Durand (Toulouse) og Bernard Laks (Paris).
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Saphinaz-Amal Naguib

16. – 19. februar: Internasjonalt seminar Social Autonomy – Systems, Movements, Interventions, internasjonalt seminar arrangert av Ingerid Straume, Utdanningsfakultetet, Universitetet i Oslo.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Saphinaz-Amal Naguib

17. februar : Arbeidsmøte La philosophie française contemporaine vue de l’étranger, ledet av professor Arild Utaker, Universitetet i Bergen.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret : Saphinaz-Amal Naguib

23. februar: Seminar Biologie et Philosophie, ledet av professorene Arild Utaker, Universitetet i Bergen og Pascal Nouvel, Jussieu Paris VII.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Saphinaz-Amal Naguib

Mars

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

Juni

Oktober

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

12. – 14. oktober : Forskerutdanningsseminar i kunst og kulturfag arrangert av professor Sissel Lie, NTNU.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret : Per Buvik

November
30.november – 1. desember. Ibsen seminar arrangert i samarbeid med UD, den norske ambassaden i Paris, Ibsensenteret og Sorbonne universitetet.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

Desember
7. – 9. desember : Internasjonalt seminar Phonologie du français contemporain. Ansvarlige : Chantal Lyche, OFNEC (Caen), i samarbeid med Jacques Durand (Toulouse) og Bernard Laks (Paris).

CENTRE DE COOPERATION FRANCO-NORVEGIENNE EN SCIENCES SOCIALES ET HUMAINES

Directrice : Saphinaz-Amal NAGUIB, professeur E-mail: sanaguib@msh-paris.fr
Responsable administratif : Kirstin B. SKJELSTAD E-mail: skjelsta@msh-paris.fr

Call for proposals for Marie Curie Conferences and Training Courses
Publication date: 18 January 2006
Budget: € 12.250 million
Closing Date(s): 17 May 2006 at 17.00 (Brussels local time)
OJ Reference: OJ C12 of 18.01.2006

Specific programme: Structuring the European Research Area
Activity area(s): Human resources and mobility

For more information please visit the specific service: http://www.cordis.lu/mariecurie-actions/scf/home.html

The Program on International Policy Attitudes, , publishes the following findings:

Europe and Japan Viewed Most Positively

A major BBC World Service poll exploring how people in 33 countries view various countries found not a single country where a majority has a positive view of Iran’s role in the world (with the exception of Iranians themselves).

Views of Iran are lower than the US, although the US continues to get low marks, as does Russia. Views of China, France, and Russia are down sharply compared to a similar BBC World Service poll conducted at the end of 2004.

Japan is the country most widely viewed as having a positive influence, and Europe as a whole gets the most positive ratings of all.

Global views of: Iran, United States, China, Russia, France, Japan, Europe, Britain, India

Read more at http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/168.php?nid=&id=&pnt=168&lb=hmpg1

Working for Peace

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Choir's Gotta Know How to Sing
Rachel M. MacNair, with Neil Wollman

Part I. Peace Workers: Getting Yourselves Together

1. Building Confidence for Social Action
Barry Childers

2. Cultivating Inner Peace
Christina Michaelson

3. Improving Your Personal Appeal
Neil Wollman

4. Overcoming Anger and Anxiety
Helen Margulies Mehr

5. Overcoming Helplessness and Discouragement
Gerald D. Oster

6. Overcoming Burnout
Christina Maslach and Mary E. Gomes

7. Dealing with the Distressed
Rachel M. MacNair

8. Parenting in the Peaceful Home
Susan M. Sisk and Larissa G. Duncan

9. Peace Within, Peace Between, Peace Among
Miriam L. Freeman

10. Working for Peace and Social Justice: Who's Watching?
Robert E. Alberti

Part II. Peace Groups: Getting Organized

11. Motivating Others to Work with You
Neil Wollman

12. Effective Group Meetings and Decision Making
Donelson R. Forsyth

13. Changing Within to Bring Change Outside: Promoting Healthy Group Dynamics
Shawn Meghan Burn

14. How to Know When It's Not Time to Get Discouraged
Rachel M. MacNair

15. Storytelling: A Workshop for Inspiring Group Action
Niki Harré, Pat Bullen, and Brad Olson

16. Three Examples of Successful Social Action Groups
Susan M. Koger, Carol J. Merrick, John W. Kraybill-Greggo, and Marcella J. Kraybill-
Greggo

Part III. Peacemaking: Transforming Conflict into Creativity

17. Using Conflict Constructively
Robert Pettit

18. Promoting Peaceful Interaction
Paul W. Keller and Charles T. Brown

19. Nonviolent Communication
Roxanne Manning and Jane Marantz Connor

20. Resolving Conflict from the Third Side
Carolyn Gellermann and Kurt C. O’Brien

21. Conflict Transformation Skills for Left and Right Wings
Rachel M. MacNair

22. Moving from the Clenched Fist to Shaking Hands: Working with Negative Emotions
Provoked by Conflict
Deborah Du Nann Winter

23. Preparing for Nonviolent Confrontations
George Lakey

Part IV. Peace Work: Getting the Message Out

24. Effective Media Communication
Matt Keener

25. Attracting an Audience: The Psychology of Layout and Design
J. W. P. Heuchert

26. Adding Peace to the Curriculum: Preschool through College
Linden L. Nelson

27. Parenting for Peace
Rita Sommers-Flanagan and John Sommers-Flanagan

28. Regrets, Realizations, and Resolutions of an Online Activist
Scot Evans

Part V. Peaceful Persuasion: Changing Attitudes

29. Creating a Peaceful Climate for Peace Work
Jo Young Switzer

30. Principles of Opinion Change
Neil Wollman and John Keating

31. Techniques of Behavior Change
Christopher S. Grundy and Richard Osbaldiston

32. Dialogs across Differences
Susan E. Hawes

33. Using the Mind's Drive for Consistency
Rachel M. MacNair

34. Humor for Peace: Finding Laughing Matters
Gary A. Zimmerman

Epilogue
Anne Anderson

About the Authors

Resources for Peace Work

Index

Language and Ecology

Univ.Prof. Dr. Alwin Fill

Welcome to the Ecolinguistics website, on which you find information about this exciting new field of linguistics.

Ecolinguistics is a new branch of linguistics which investigates the role of language in the development and possible solution of ecological and environmental problems. For this, some ecolinguists use the concept of the eco-system metaphorically for language world systems which they analyse with the help of concepts transferred from biological ecology.

Ecolinguists criticize language on the levels of langue and parole and point out unecological language uses and "anthropocentrisms" which represent nature from the point of view of its usefulness for humans. In a wider understanding, the "growthism", "sexism", "classism" and "anthropocentrism" inherent in many languages and language uses are criticized.

Another important field of ecolinguistics is the research area of the relation between linguistic and biological diversity (two phenomena ecolinguists aim to preserve).

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

Ökolinguistik

Die Ökolinguistik ist ein neuer Zweig der Sprachwissenschaft, in dem die Rolle der Sprache bei der Entstehung und möglichen Lösung der Umweltprobleme ("ökologischer" Probleme) untersucht wird. Von einigen ÖkolinguistInnen wird dazu der Begriff des Öko -Systems metaphorisch auf Sprache-Welt-Systeme angewendet, die dann mithilfe von aus der biologischen Ökologie entlehnten Begriffen erforscht werden.

Die Ökolinguistik kritisiert die Sprache auf den Ebenen der langue and der parole und weist auf "unökologischen" und "anthropozentrischen" Sprachgebrauch hin, der die belebte und unbelebte Welt vom Standpunkt der Nützlichkeit für den Menschen darstellt. In einem weiteren Verständnis von Ökolinguistik werden auch Wachstumsdenken, Sexismus und Ethnozentrismus kritisiert, wie sie im Sprachsystem und in Texten zum Ausdruck kommen.

Ein weiteres zentrales Gebiet der Ökolinguistik ist die Erforschung des Zusammenhangs zwischen sprachlicher und biologischer Vielfalt - zu deren Erhaltung die Ökolinguistik beitragen will.

Bitte senden Sie Ihre Kommentare an fill@kfunigraz.ac.at.

New Film: "I am waiting………… half-widows of the Kashmir"

Synopsis:

This is a story of missing people, boys and men who were picked up by security forces and then simply disappeared. The location is Kashmir. Sandwiched between India and Pakistan, Kashmir is a battleground for both. Since the men are missing, not declared dead their wives are not widows but 'half widows.' The 'half widows' need extraordinary courage in living. Personally they live with the memories of their love. They have to suddenly switch from being the woman in the veil at home to a bread-earner. Face society who treats them as unattached property as it treats most single woman in India. The women and children tell their own stories. Their dreams, fears, aspirations and the hardships. Their faces reflect their tension. As the years have gone by, many have learnt to live with their hopes and aspirations while some are still caught in conflicts with their in-laws, the state, religion and day-to-day livelihood.

Their psychiatric problems add to the statistic that Kashmir has the highest number of psychotic patients in the world. These women are true survivorsof a cruel period in the history of this 'paradise on earth'. The security forces stand by their version of events, but staged shootouts, say human rights groups, are commonplace. The first result of a society living in the midst of war is a sharp increase in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSDT) patients. Many studies about this are going on. They are targeting women in general and generating paper reports, which people read and forget. These women have not only lost their support but are also being marginalized and have no status left in society.

Another day of agony begins for the people of Kashmir.

Director: Shabnam Ara and Sushil Kumar
Produced by: Shabnam Ara and Sushil Kumar.
Writer: Sushil Kumar
Language: Kashmiri
Language Sub Title: English
Duration: 39.25 mins. DV.
Rights Available: All, Worldwide.
Screenings: Any period and any place.

Call for papers: Education, Citizenship and Social Justice

Papers are invited for early issues of the new peer reviewed journal Education, Citizenship and Social Justice. Launched in 2006, the journal intends to provide a strategic forum for international and multi-disciplinary dialogue for all academic educators and educational policy-makers concerned with the meanings and form of citizenship and social justice as these are realised throughout the time spent in educational institutions.

Below is a list of articles to appear in the first issue, March 2006. Free online access to the journal is being provided through the end of this year.

For details, including instructions for authors, visit www.sagepub.co.uk/ECSJ or contact Tony Gallagher, Graduate School of Education, Queen's University, Belfast UK by email at am.gallagher@qub.ac.uk

Volume One, March 2006

Ira Harkavy on The Role of Universities in Advancing Citizenship and Social Justice in the 21st Century

Paul J. Welsh and Carl Parsons on The Politics of Deprivation, Disaffection and Education in the District of Thanet

Ranu Basu on Multiethnic neighbourhoods as sites of social capital formation: examining social to political 'integration' in schools

Keith Faulkes on Rethinking citizenship education in England

David Gilbourn on Citizenship education as placebo: 'standards', institutional racism and education policy

J. Lynn McBrien on Discrimination and Academic Motivation in Adolescent Refugee Girls in the United States

Tetyana Koshmanova on National Identity and Cultural Coherence in Educational Reform for Democratic Citizenship in Ukraine

Call for Papers: Seventh Annual International Social Theory Consortium (ISTC) Conference
May 18 – 21, 2006
The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center
Roanoke, Virginia
Theorizing Power in the post 9/11 World

The Alliance of Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought (ASPECT) at Virginia Tech in partnership with the International Social Theory Consortium, (ISTC) will host the 7th Annual ISTC Conference May 18—21, 2006, in Roanoke, Virginia at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center.

The objective of this annual conference is to provide a forum for multidisciplinary dialogue between social theorists of all disciplines and occupations. The conference organizers invite paper and panel proposals from
a variety of theoretical perspectives and intellectual traditions, and especially welcomes proposals that continue the Consortium’s dialogue among theorists working in the Global South and North. This conference also explicitly welcomes social activists engaged in transforming power relationships at various scales. As this year’s host, ASPECT is particularly interested in inviting panels that embrace in equal measure social, political, ethical and cultural theory in relationship to the conference theme. Previous ISTC conferences have been hosted in Singapore, Toronto, Tampa, Dubrovnik, Sussex and
Lexington, Kentucky.

Possible sub-themes to be addressed may include, but are not limited to the following.
1. New theorizations of power post 9/11
2. Classic theories of political, cultural,
and social power
3. Geographical theorizations of power
4. Empire and its discontents
5. National and comparative perspectives
on “race,” racialization, ethnicity and
nativism
6. Cultural forms of neo-liberalism
7. Non-corporate and corporate models
of globalization
8. Islam, Christianity and Judaism as
forces for social justice
9. Technology, science and democracy
10. Analytic approaches to power and
justice
11. Visualilty, media and representation
12. Memory and mourning
13. Theories and practices of civil society
14. Mediations of post 9/11 power: Race,
Gender, Class
15. Militarism, war, and the disciplining of
national bodies
16. Patriotism and class
17. Discourses on inter-civilizational dialogues
18. Terror, torture, and human rights
19. Gender, sexuality and critical theory
20. Postcoloniality in an (ongoing) age of imperialism
21. Theorizing development and antidevelopment
22. Varieties of capitalism and anti-capitalisms
23. Global civil society and the ethics of place
24. Transnational social movements
25. Governance and governmentality
26. Radical, plural, and other varieties of democracy
27. Techno-nature
28. Health: Bio-ethics and bio-power
29. Demographies and cartographies of power
30. Immigration, citizenship and imagined national communities
31. Contemporary and historical perspectives on civic nationalism and patriotism
32. Constitutionalism and its institutions

Submission
Abstracts (between 150 and 200 words in length) for paper and panel proposal should be submitted by February 15, 2006 to:

Professor Wolfgang Natter
E-MAIL: wnatter@vt.edu
FAX: 540-231-6078
MAIL: 7th ISTC Conference
ASPECT
531 Major Williams Hall (0130)
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061

For further inquiry, please contact:
Karen Jenkins E-mail: karenjen@vt.edu Telephone: 540-231-2839 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            540-231-2839      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
All conference papers will receive consideration for inclusion in a publication containing the proceedings.

Registration
Conference registration will be open in early February 2006. Visit the ASPECT website at http://www.ASPECT.vt.edu for further information. Organized by the ASPECT Program, with the generous support of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Virginia Tech

Judge Rosalyn Higgins (United Kingdom) elected President
of the International Court of Justice

Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan) elected Vice-President

THE HAGUE, 6 February 2006. Judge Rosalyn Higgins (United Kingdom) was today elected President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by her peers and Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan) was elected Vice-President, each for a term of three years.

Judge Higgins is the first woman to have been elected President of the Court. She is moreover still the only woman ever to have been elected Member of the Court.

The International Court of Justice, composed of 15 Members, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It adjudicates disputes between States and gives advisory opinions to United Nations organs and specialized agencies. There are currently ten cases on the Court’s docket.

Taking into account the result of the election held on 7 November 2005 by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council to fill the five seats which were due to fall vacant on 6 February 2006 (see Press Release No. 2005/23), the composition of the Court is now as follows:

President Rosalyn Higgins (United Kingdom)
Vice-President Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan)
Judges Raymond Ranjeva (Madagascar)
Shi Jiuyong (China)
Abdul G. Koroma (Sierra Leone)
Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren (Venezuela)
Thomas Buergenthal (United States of America)
Hisashi Owada (Japan)
Bruno Simma (Germany)
Peter Tomka (Slovakia)
Ronny Abraham (France)
Kenneth Keith (New Zealand)
Bernardo Sepúlveda Amor (Mexico)
Mohammed Bennouna (Morocco)
Leonid Skotnikov (Russian Federation).
__________

Website of the Court: www.icj-cij.org
Information Department:
Mrs. Laurence Blairon, Head of the Department (+ 31 70 302 23 36 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            + 31 70 302 23 36      end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
Messrs. Boris Heim and Maxime Schouppe, Information Officers (+ 31 70 302 23 37 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            + 31 70 302 23 37      end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
E-mail address: information@icj-cij.org

Global Campaign for Peace Education, Issue #29, January 2006

The Hague Appeal for Peace is delighted that Peace Boat US is busily installed in our office. Those of you planning to be in Vancouver, BC for the World Peace Forum (June 23-28) should look out for announcements of joint HAP and PBUS activities.

We join in honoring the memory and legacy of Coretta Scott King, whose leadership in the struggle for racial and gender equality, for peace and the elimination of poverty will be a beacon for all to follow.

HAP HIGHLIGHTS & PEACE NEWS

· Congratulations for the First All Women Peacekeepers Force!

· Basket Ball Tournament Involving Jewish and Arabic Children, Playing for Peace-Middle East

· In Europe, Kofi Annan Promotes Sports for Peace and Development

· Cooperation and Reconciliation Potential After Natural Disaster, India and Pakistan

· Small Arms: United Nations Preparatory Committee No Success

· UN Supports Project Aimed at Providing Cheap Laptops to Students in Poor Countries

· African Summit on Culture and Education, Sixth Annual African Union Meeting

· Palestinian Election Reported by an International Observer

GETTING INVOLVED

· Women Say No To War, campaign launched by Codepink USA

· International Peace Bond Design Competition for Youth and Adults, Nonviolent Peaceforce

· Prepare Your Students for the Global Kids' Digital Media Essay Contest

· UNESCO Manifesto 2000 Still Open for Signatures

· Foregone Conclusions, New Online Journal Accepting Submissions on Historical Topics

· Call for Action to Save Iraq's Academics, Brussels Tribunal Initiative

COURSES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

· Short Course on Gendered Research in Health, March 6-18 (Vadodara, India)

· Gender and Peacebuilding, April 10-14 (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

· Women’s Rights: Building a Peaceful World in an Era of Globalization, May 1-June 9 (Toronto, Canada)

· Training Course on Women’s Studies in Asia, June 13-20 (Bangkok, Thailand)

· Global Peace and Security in Community Colleges and the Communities They Serve, July 11-16 (Washington DC, USA)

EVENTS

· Global Education Tour, International Women’s Development Agency, March (Australia)

· Threat and Youth: Cultural Studies Takes On Violence and Education, March 31-April 1 (USA)

· Fifth Annual Female Eye Film Festival, June 1-4 (Canada)

· Capitalism and/or Patriarchy, Conference on Gender in Post Soviet Region, June 22-24 (Lithuania)

· Weaving the Information Society: a Gender and Multicultural Perspective, August 23-26 (Mexico)

· Women, Education and Culture, September 1-3 (England)

RESOURCES, MATERIALS, PUBLICATIONS

· Resources on Gandhi and Non Violence, GandhiServe Online

· Earth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)

· Armed Conflicts Report 2005

· UNESCO-Bangkok Advocacy Briefs on Education for Girls

· Pacific Human Rights Law Digest, Volume 1

· Gender and Sustainable Development in Drylands, FAO Report

· Getting It Right, Doing It Right: Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

GRANTS, PRIZES &AWARDS

· Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life

· UN Awards Advertisers for Campaigns Spreading Humanitarian Messages

HAP HIGHLIGHTS & PEACE NEWS

Congratulations for the First All Women Peacekeepers Force!

On January 21, the Indo Asian News Service (IANS) reported: “For the first time, a company of 120 Indian women would be deputed to Liberia, West Africa, for a peace-keeping mission following a UN request to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).” The forces deployed in Liberia were facing difficulty while dealing with women and therefore UN staff requested a women's contingent. It will be sent to Liberia in two months.
To read more: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/pkwatch/News/06/Indiawomen.html

Basket Ball Tournament Involving Jewish and Arabic Children, Playing for Peace-Middle East

Matt Quinn, Program Director of Playing for Peace in the Middle East, reported earlier this month: “With the political peace process frozen due to parliamentary elections in Israel and Palestine, Playing for Peace (PfP) continues its grassroots efforts to foster meaningful relationships between Jewish and Arab children. The inaugural Twin Schools Tournament that took place on January 2nd, 2006 was our latest endeavor in uniting Israeli Jewish, Israeli Arab and Palestinian youth ... Like all of our programming, each tournament team combined players from Jewish and Arab partner schools ... We were concerned about how the kids would interact in such a large and multi-ethnic setting. However, there was no time for worrying. The Gym boomed as the children uniformly slapped the floor and yelled DEFENSE during the warm up. After a constructive team building activity, each of the 10 teams played three games and one match of dribble knockout. At the opening tip off, enthusiasm overwhelmed the kids, many of whom had never played in a real game with referees before. I watched a Palestinian child from Jericho trade teams in order to play with an Israeli child from Kiryat Gat whom he met at a previous joint activity. I realized that we were making small, yet, significant progress ... On the way to the Dining Hall for dinner and the awards ceremony, a group of Jericho kids eagerly huddled together. When I approached to find out the cause, the group pointed towards the Mediterranean Sea and explained in broken English that this was the first time they had ever seen the ocean. Imagining what the expanse of water must have looked like through their eyes, I better understood the meaningful impact PfP has on our participants’ lives ... The ‘Team of the Day’ award, given to the team demonstrating the most spirit, unity, and teamwork, went to a group composed of Bet Sefafa and Bet Shemesh players. Amazingly, these were the same basketball schools that only a few weeks earlier had made racial slurs and offensive remarks to one another during their joint activity. Whether it is their first glimpse of the ocean or a fresh perspective on coexistence, these children’s outlook had been altered in a significant and positive way ... Every joint activity plays a part in the long process of forming meaningful relationships. Judging by the amount of teamwork and high fives I witnessed, the inaugural Twinned Schools Tournament successfully fulfilled its role.”
To learn more about Playing for Peace, go to: http://www.playingforpeace.org/index.htm

In Europe, Kofi Annan Promotes Sports for Peace and Development

On his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited major athletic organizations to continue to promote sports for peace and development. “In the past we talked of ping-pong diplomacy, today we talk of cricket diplomacy,” Mr. Annan told the press after meeting with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge in Lausanne, referring to the softening of relations between India and Pakistan through that game. “I don’t know what else you are going to give us, Mr. Rogge, but what is important is that you are putting sports in the service of peace and development,” he added. Speaking to Olympics staff, the Secretary-General said that governments have begun to take the potential of sports seriously, following the designation of 2005 as the International Year of Sports and Physical Education and other such initiatives. Mr. Annan has supported the revival of the ancient concept of the Olympic Truce and has urged all countries to observe the truce during the Winter Olympics in Turin. While visiting the International Football Federation (soccer), he observed: “I’ve seen societies that have been divided for that brief moment forget their divisions and they become one nation, one people sharing for their people and nation to do things.” Also in Davos, Mr. Annan spoke at an opening media lunch on the subject of “The Impact of Sports in the World”.
To read more about Secretary-General meeting with major Athletic organizations, go to: http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=823 and http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=824

Cooperation and Reconciliation Potential After Natural Disaster, India and Pakistan

Mona Bahn is an anthropologist specializing in South Asian Studies at Rutgers University (USA). Regarding the earthquake relief efforts on the Indo-Pak border and within borders, including Kashmir, she said, “From what I know, there are some organizations orchestrating relief efforts as well as monitoring whether or not the money/resources are reaching the intended beneficiaries. Recently, a workshop organized by Delhi Policy Group (headed by Dr. Radha Kumar) and Center for Dialogue and Reconciliation (headed by Ms. Sushma Dawe) reflected on issues surrounding the collection and distribution of aid. The conference was attended by members from both India and Pakistan, who are involved in using the disaster as a platform to further mutual cooperation and reconciliation between the two countries. May be we can come up with ideas and plans to bolster their efforts.”

The Hague Appeal for Peace has always supported the idea to use unfortunate situations such as natural disasters to establish dialogue and cooperation between conflictual parties, India/Pakistan is one example among others. Natural disasters have the potential to destroy dwellings, damage livelihoods, and spark disease epidemics. However, in some cases, common relief needs can open paths to reconciliation. Zoë Chafe and Michael Renner, researchers at Worldwatch Institute, use the term ‘post-earthquake diplomacy’ to describe the India/Pakistan current situation.
You may contact Mona Bahn at: monabhan@rci.rutgers.edu
In addition, Worldwatch Institute, an independent research for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society, opened an online forum discussion on Natural Disaster, to participate in the discussion: http://www.worldwatch.org/live/discussion/117/

Small Arms: United Nations Preparatory Committee No Success

From January 9-20 the Small Arms Preparatory Committee was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York. This meeting was intended to set the agenda for the second world summit on small arms in June 2006, at which the Programme of Action (PoA) on small arms will be reviewed. After two weeks of talking, governments have achieved virtually no outcome on controlling the proliferation and misuse of small arms. In 2005, IANSA published a valuable report on the PoA, Biting the Bullets and their Control Arms campaign has now launched three new reports depicting the human cost of armed violence. Featuring interviews with survivors of armed violence, the reports describe the impact of international arms transfers to Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone.
To read IANSA’s PrepCom Review and Reports: http://www.iansa.org/un/review2006/prepcom.htm

UN Supports Project Aimed at Providing Cheap Laptops to Students in Poor Countries

A pioneering $100 laptop programme, designed to give children in poor countries access to knowledge and educational tools, came a step closer to realization this month with the signing of a partnership agreement in Davos, Switzerland, between the main United Nations development agency and the organization responsible for the initiative. "We are delighted to be part of this venture, which has the potential to break through the digital divide between rich countries and poor countries," said Mr. Dervis, UNDP Administrator. "Though the price of access to knowledge has dramatically decreased in recent years, new technologies remain out of reach for most people in developing countries, especially children, who rarely have access to the educational resources that could enhance their opportunities and lift them out of poverty," he said. It is expected that the cost of each laptop will come down over time. Manufacturing will begin when at least 5 million machines have been ordered and paid for in advance, and the preliminary target is to have units ready for shipment by early 2007.
To read UN Press Release: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17328&Cr=information&Cr1=

African Summit on Culture and Education, Sixth Annual African Union Meeting

The African Union (AU) consists of 53 states. It was founded in July 2002 as a successor to the African Economic Community (AEC) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). As other regional organizations, the AU eventually aims to have a single currency, and a single integrated defense force, as well as other institutions of state, but there is still a long way to go. The purpose of the federation is to help secure for Africans democracy, human rights and a sustainable economy, especially by bringing an end to intra-African conflict, and creating an effective common market. African leaders gathered in Sudan for the sixth annual AU summit on the theme of culture and education. As a Sudanese Ambassador pointed out, “the only basis that could unify this continent is cultural”. Secretary-General Kofi Annan saluted this agenda and pledged the assistance of the United Nations in advancing progress on these issues: “Education is a fundamental human right and a powerful vehicle for promoting social advancement, economic well-being and political stability ... Culture, while rooted in particular histories, traditions and values, can also be a potent force for cultivating dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding among the world's people. It is crucial that these two domains be given the importance they deserve.” Among the ideas discussed, the Sudanese Minister proposed to create an African equivalent to UNESCO, an ‘African Organization on Education, Science and Culture’.

Palestinian Election Reported by an International Observer

What follows was excerpted from a report written by Mary Ann McGivern who was among the international observers during the recent election in Palestine. When Dr. Hanna Nasir, Chair of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, opened the United Nations Development Programme orientation for observers, he told them that the elections could not be viewed apart from the occupation and he encouraged them to report on the issue when returning to their home countries. Mary Ann reported “I did experience the occupation. I passed through checkpoints, was intimidated by men with guns, was threatened with confiscation of my camera for taking a picture of the observation tower at a check point ... But my nervousness is not the same as the fear of a man on the housekeeping staff at my hotel in Jerusalem. He is afraid to visit his home village because the last time, when he tried to cross back from the West Bank he was thrown into prison for three months, beaten and jailed, despite being told at his arrest that his record was clean. My nervousness is not the same as poverty. The schools where the elections were held had blackboard and chalk, but no maps on the walls or papers of best work, much less shelves of books or cabinets of paper, scissors, glue, crayons. The last classroom I was in, where I watched the ballot counting for four hours, had four broken windows ... A taxi driver said it is foolishness to pretend that either Fatah or Hamas has any power to resist the occupation and he was unwilling to participate in the charade. The Israelis only allowed voting in Jerusalem at the Post Offices, and only allowed 6300 of about 120,000 eligible voters to vote ... Palestinians with blue cards, giving them permission to live in Jerusalem, were afraid that voting would put their residence cards at risk ... Women sometimes tried to hand off their ballots but the election workers never took them. Illiterate voters brought trusted assistants with them and there too the election workers made sure it was the voter who put the ballot in the box. The voters guarded their ballot secrecy and the election workers guarded the voters. It was inspiring. It was a fair and transparent and credible election ... Meanwhile, outside the schools, on the playgrounds, the parties were campaigning ... At one school a veiled woman working for Hamas sat at a table next to the school entrance, checking off voters from a copy of the registration list. It’s what party operatives do all the time, track whether their committed members vote. Yes, this may have been intimidating to voters. It was illegal ... I had one big cultural shock. At about six o'clock in one polling station a man unrolled a prayer rug and quietly prayed for about three minutes. Then a second man used the rug, then four more ... The vote count was exciting ... In this polling station, 336 ballots were cast. It didn't take more than 20 ballots to see that in our little room one of the slates was headed for a landslide. I asked who it was and my kind interpreter whispered Hamas. The excitement was palpable. The Hamas list received 247 votes, Fatah 63 ...”

The Hague Appeal for Peace is circulating the information below, however this does not indicate our endorsement. We are not in a position to evaluate them all.

GETTING INVOLVED

Women Say No To War, campaign launched by Codepink USA

On 5 January 2006 Codepink launched the 'Women Say No To War' campaign to bring together US women with women from countries such as Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, Jordan, Iran and especially Iraq. Their objective is to tell leaders - and the world - that women have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and want the foreign troops to leave Iraq now. The initiators aim to get at least

100,000 women from around the world to sign this global call by March 8, 2006 (International Day of Women), when they will deliver the signatures to the White House and to US embassies around the world.

The Hague Appeal for Peace has endorsed the ‘Women Say No To War’ campaign.
To sign the call, go to: http://www.womensaynotowar.org.

International Peace Bond Design Competition for Youth and Adults, Nonviolent Peaceforce

The purpose of this contest is to promote peace and nonviolent conflict intervention around the world. All entries should be postmarked no later than midnight, February 5, 2006. Selected artwork that promotes and advocates for peace will be featured on the new 2006 Series A Peace Bonds. The winner-designers will receive international recognition and a trip to Washington, DC for an award presentation and exhibition. The International Judging Panel will include Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and Ann Bancroft, artic explorer, among others.
For complete guidelines and entry form go to: http://nvpf.org/np/english/pb/artcompetition/index.asp.html

Prepare Your Students for the Global Kids' Digital Media Essay Contest

Funded by the MacArthur Foundation, this February Global Kids will launch a Digital Media Essay Contest. They are looking for interested teachers to collaborate in preparing students to submit an entry. They offer financial support for your involvement.
To learn how you and your students can be involved, contact Barry at: bjoseph@globalkids.org
If you don’t know anything about Global Kids, check: http://www.globalkids.org/

UNESCO Manifesto 2000 Still Open for Signatures

This is a reminder for many of you, tell your friends. UNESCO initiated this Manifesto at the very beginning of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). "The Manifesto 2000 does not appeal to a higher authority, but instead it is an individual commitment and responsibility." In sum, by signing the Manifesto 2000, you engage yourself: to respect the life, practice active non-violence, share time and material resources, defend freedom of expression and cultural diversity, promote responsible consumer behavior and contribute to the development of your respective communities. It has been translated into over 40 languages and almost 76 million people worldwide have already signed on.
If you want to join this international movement for a culture of peace and non-violence, go to: http://www3.unesco.org/manifesto2000/uk/uk_manifeste.htm

Foregone Conclusions, New Online Journal Accepting Submissions on Historical Topics

The school of philosophical and historical inquiry at the University of Sydney has launched a new online journal, Foregone Conclusions. The journal will be published twice a year and they are currently accepting submissions from postgraduates and early career researchers, national and international, on historical topics from a variety of disciplines, including Ancient History, Anthropology, Classics, Gender Studies, History, Sociology.
For more information go to http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/publications/fc/

Call for Action to Save Iraq's Academics, Brussels Tribunal Initiative

Just before war in Iraq started, a petition was launched, signed by some 500 artists, writers, intellectuals and academics. It called for moral and legal action against the ‘Project for the New American Century’ and the authorities responsible for the war against Iraq. After many gatherings, a proposal to constitute a Commission of Inquiry culminating in a Tribunal on the war in Iraq was discussed. Originated in Belgium, this project has gained in scale and momentum and it is today endorsed by various international organizations.

“A little known aspect of the tragedy engulfing Iraq is the systematic liquidation of the country's academics. Even according to conservative estimates, over 250 educators have been assassinated, and many hundreds more have disappeared. With thousands fleeing the country in fear for their lives, not only is Iraq undergoing a major brain drain, the secular middle class - which has refused to be co-opted by the US occupation - is being decimated, with far-reaching consequences for the future of Iraq ... According to the United Nations University, some 84 per cent of Iraq's institutions of higher education have already been burnt, looted or destroyed. Iraq's educational system used to be among the best in the region; one of the country's most important assets was its well-educated people ... With this petition we want to break the silence.”
To read the full text and find out more about the project, visit: www.brusselstribunal.org/Academics.htm
To sign the petition, go directly to: http://new.petitiononline.com/Iraqacad/petition.html

COURSES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Short Course on Gendered Research in Health, March 6-18 (Vadodara, India)

This course aims to help development workers, social science researchers in health, faculty members of academic institutions, research scholars and those working on health issues within the non-government and government sectors better understand basic gender concepts and their application in the context of research, policies and programmes related to health. It aims to empower researchers and practitioners to carry out gendered research in health by increasing the required knowledge and skills.
For more information go to: http://www.comminit.com/events_calendar/2006-events/events-4264.html

Gender and Peacebuilding, April 10-14 (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

This course will provide an introduction to gender studies, and analysis of the complex relationships between gender and social constructions and between gender, race and class privileges. Participants will explore the interdependency between gender and power, focusing on theory and practices of gender roles in different societies. It will seek to explore how understanding of gendered social constructions can help in addressing gender inequalities and promote gender equity and cultures of peace. It will also study militarism, the war system and peace - as expressions of social and gender-based constructions, using examples from the Middle East, South East Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, with emphasis on the Balkans and the US. This programme has been particularly designed for senior, middle-range staff and executive officers working in the fields of gender equity, education, social work, peace building and conflict transformation, human rights, democratization, and human development.
For more information go to: http://www.transcend.org/tpd/tp.shtml?x=421

Women’s Human Rights: Building a Peaceful World in an Era of Globalization, May 1- June 9 (Toronto, Canada)

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto) brings feminist perspectives and an activist orientation to the inextricably related issues of peace, human rights and life-sustaining development. Participants will gain an understanding of the global economic, ecological, legal, cultural and political contexts of this work, as well as how to deliver human rights education and to work for women's human rights in their own country.
For all the details, go to: http://www1.oise.utoronto.ca/cwse/springinst_06.htm or contact Pat Doherty at: springinst@oise.utoronto.ca

Training Course on Women’s Studies in Asia, June 13-20 (Bangkok, Thailand)

A Bangkok based women's rights group, WARI, is hosting an 8-day course to promote the introduction, development and institutionalization of women's studies programs in Asia. It includes historical, cultural and comparative aspects of the gender situation in Asia, explores teaching and research issues of women's studies, and discusses ways to integrate Asian and gender perspectives in existing courses. The course is suitable for young or experienced teachers, students, researchers, administrators and support organizations. Interested participants are invited to stay for an International Conference on Women's Studies in Asia that will follow (June 21-22, 2006).
For more information visit the WARI website at: http://geocities.com/wari9/womenstudies.HTM

Global Peace and Security in Community Colleges and the Communities They Serve, July 11-16 (Washington DC, USA)

The United States Institute of Peace announces a summer seminar designed for community college faculty and administrators to give them an opportunity to carefully examine the nature of international peace and security and how community colleges can relate this to their students and local communities. Presenters will include leading authorities in the study of global peace and conflict, as well as from the field of community college education. The application process is competitive and the Institute will contribute to travel, lodging, and incidental expenses (Deadline: March 25).
For all the details and to apply, go to: http://www.usip.org/ed/seminars/ccfs.html

EVENTS

Global Education Tour, International Women Development Agency, March (Australia)

IWDA will host a two-week speaking and study tour this March, for an inspirational young leader, K'nyaw Paw. K'nyaw Paw was only a child when violence and persecution forced her family to flee their home in the Karen state of Burma. They are now among the 110,000 Karen people who live in seven refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. K'nyaw Paw works with IWDA's project partner, Karen Women's Organization, on relief and development projects. The Global Education Tour is designed to coincide with IWDA's International Women's Day (March 8th) celebrations around Australia.
For further information: http://www.iwda.org.au/ or contact Kalene Caffarella at: kcaffarella@iwda.org.au

Threat and Youth: Cultural Studies Takes On Violence and Education, March 31-April 1 (USA)

As part of the ongoing effort to create and promote cultural studies work at Teachers College, Columbia University (New York), TC Students for a Cultural Studies Initiative (TCSCSI) is sponsoring a Graduate Student Conference entitled “Threat-n-Youth: Cultural Studies Responds to Violence and Education.” The goal is to bring together an international group of faculty and graduate students, along with K-12 educators and their students in an effort to address various issues of violence and education. You may submit papers that address the ongoing, general debate about how Cultural Studies can contribute to and transform education, with a special interest in visual culture, popular culture, new media, media pedagogy, race and gender studies, branding, youth culture, techno-culture, film & television, urban studies, and disability studies. Selected projects will be presented over the course of the two days.
For papers submissions, contact Ms. Jessica Lee at: threatnyouth@gmail.com
For further information and registration, go to: http://www.subjectmatters.org/threatnyouth.htm

Fifth Annual Female Eye Film Festival, June 1-4 (Canada)

FEFF was established in 2001 in Ontario, Canada. Two of the objectives listed under their mission statement are, offer a perspective of the world through the female eye and open the doors for women directors. The festival will showcase feature, short, documentary, experimental and animated films all directed by women. Note that the Script Development Program welcomes screenplays by male writers with the provision that their story features a female protagonist. All the different deadlines and guidelines for film and screenplay submissions are available online.
For more details, visit: http://www.femaleeyefilmfestival.com/ or e-mail: info@femaleeyefilmfestival.com

Capitalism and Patriarchy, Conference on Gender in Post Soviet Region, June 22-24 (Lithuania)

The Centre for Gender Studies at European Humanities University International invites panel and paper proposals for the Capitalism and/or Patriarchy conference that is aimed at exploring issues of gender in the post-Soviet region. The demise of state socialism, some scholars maintain, resulted in the reconfiguration of gender relations and the rise of a systemic privilege of men over women in countries in transition. The conference will be held next June in Vilnius, Lithuania.
For submissions please contact Elena Gapova at e.gapova@worldnet.att.net or for more information on the conference go to: http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=149157

Weaving the Information Society: a Gender and Multicultural Perspective, August 23-26 (Mexico)

This conference is hosted by Programa Universitario de Estudios de Género (PUEG), in Mexico. The goal is to increase the availability, accessibility and visibility of information relevant to advancing the position of women and girls throughout the world, and to share documentary efforts, strategies and tactics. PUEG distinguishes four main objectives: to establish strategies for the development of the work of gender/ women's libraries, centres and networks; to generate specific policies to attend to the information needs of indigenous and rural women; to narrow the digital gap for women and information; and to construct the Latin American Network of Information Centres and Libraries on Women's and Gender Studies.
For more information on this conference go to: http://www.iiav.nl/eng/ic/knowhow/knowhow_mexico.html

Women, Education and Culture, September 1-3, 2006 (England)

The 15th annual conference of the women's history network will take place on 1-3 September 2006 at the University of Durham, England. Conference organizers are currently calling for papers on the themes of Women and education, Women, the humanities and cultural representation, Women's intellectual contribution to the social sciences, Women and scientific endeavor, Thinking women: past representations.
You may submit a 200-word synopsis (including type of session proposed) by March 1st or June 1st to: whn.conference@durham.ac.uk. For details go to: http://www.womenshistorynetwork.org/

RESOURCES, MATERIALS, PUBLICATIONS

Resources on Gandhi and Non Violence, GandhiServe Online

GandhiServe is a charitable foundation registered in Germany, which aims to spread the ethics of nonviolence by disseminating information about and popularizing Mahatma Gandhi’s life and works. It is one of the most complete online resources on Gandhi and non-violence. You will find all kinds of materials, from audio tracks (50 hours of Gandhi’s voice) to photographs (over 10,000), including video films (110 hours) and footage (10 hours), as well as different types of visuals (paintings, cartoons, etc.) and multilingual bibliographical sources (over 8,800 books listed). The GandhiServe also issues a valuable quarterly newsletter. The website is available in English, Russian, Chinese, Esperanto, and German.
To check these materials: http://www.gandhiserve.org/

Earth and Peace Education Associates International (EPE)

Founded in 1992, EPE is a global network of educators who aim to promote the recognition of the reciprocal relationship between ecological degradation and the violation of human rights on a local, national and global level. In their own words, this relationship is defined by the organizing principle underlying EPE’s educational approach: contextual sustainability. Thus, it assumes that the earth is the primary context and essential foundation of all social activity and that ecological sustainability is key to achieving a culture of peace. In return, respect for human rights characterizes the social context essential to ecological sustainability. This month EPE launched Transitions, a monthly E-Newsletter which welcomes contributions.
To learn more about EPE, go to: http://www.globalepe.org/services.html
To submit your contributions, you should contact the editor, Anita L. Wenden at: wldyc@cunyvm.cuny.edu

Armed Conflicts Report 2005

Project Ploughshares, Canada, has reported annually on armed conflicts since 1987. Project Ploughshares' Armed Conflicts Report thoroughly details the state of wars around the world. Going beyond the wars on the evening news, the report describes lesser-known conflicts, as well as the issues that surround current and recently ended conflicts. It also includes maps depicting causes and consequences of armed conflict.
If you are interested: http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-TitlePageRev.htm#Preface

UNESCO-Bangkok Advocacy Briefs on Education for Girls

Providing Education to Girls from Remote and Rural Areas discusses how boarding schools have been used to ensure access to education for children who might otherwise be deprived of it. It discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this strategy, particularly for education of girls from rural or remote areas. The brief also provides useful hints for maximizing the effectiveness of the boarding school approach.
To read this briefing paper: http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/2582

Mother Tongue-Based Teaching and Education for Girls
argues that children who have an opportunity to learn through their mother tongue have the best chance of understanding what is taught, making the connection between the spoken and written word and participating in their own learning. It examines the issues surrounding marginalization, language and girls by exploring obstacles to girls’ education and strategies to address them. The conclusion states that the use of the mother tongue does not in itself equalize opportunities for female learners, but there are clear indications that it improves conditions for all learners.
To read this briefing paper: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001420/142079e.pdf

Pacific Human Rights Law Digest, Volume 1

Pacific Human Rights Law Digest was launched in Fiji last December. This new collection features recent analysis of human rights case law that can be used in the courts as precedents and as tools for policy initiatives.
For details contact the RRRT at: registry@rrrt.org.fj or visit their website at http://www.rrrt.org/

Gender and Sustainable Development in Drylands, FAO Report

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has analyzed field experience to demonstrate that gender has a significant impact on patterns of land use. This report examines the implications of gender in dryland areas and includes case studies from Africa, India and China.
To read it: http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/2573

Getting It Right, Doing It Right: Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

This UNIFEM handbook is aimed at those planning and executing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). It contains reflections and lessons learned, case studies from Liberia and Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, and practical guidance in the form of a model standard operating procedure.
This Report is available in English, French and Arabic.

GRANTS, PRIZES, AWARDS

Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life

Awarded since 1994 by the Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) - an international NGO for the empowerment of women and children - the Prize ($500 each) honors every two years women and women's groups exhibiting exceptional creativity, courage and commitment in improving the quality of life in rural communities. The Prize aims to draw international attention to the laureates' contributions to sustainable development, household food security and peace, thus generating more recognition and support for their projects. The goal of WWSF is to participate in addressing the eradication of extreme poverty and help arrest the drift to urban areas.
For nomination procedures go to: http://www.woman.ch/women/1-guidelines.asp

UN Awards Advertisers for Campaigns Spreading Humanitarian Messages

International advertising companies whose campaigns have raised awareness of humanitarian or development issues have been honored by the United Nations for public service advertising that best expresses the ideals and goals of the UN. The awards, jointly sponsored by the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI) and The New York Festivals, were presented by Raymond Sommereyns, DPI’s Director of the Outreach Division, who touched on the breadth of issues the world body is involved in before naming the winners at a formal ceremony last week. This year’s Gold UNDPI award went to Leo Burnett Publicidade Ltda (Brazil) for ‘Favela’, a print advertisement to raise awareness about poverty. The Silver went to Leo Burnett Paris (France) for a campaign for ‘Enfance et Partage’, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to prevent child abuse. And the Bronze went to DDB Jakarta (Indonesia) for ‘Supermarket Baby’, a television campaign about the trafficking of infants for adoption.
To read UN Press Release: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17326&Cr=xxx&Cr1=

Founded in 1999, the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE), is an international organized network which promotes peace education among schools, families and communities to transform the culture of violence into a culture of peace. Over 140 organizations worldwide have endorsed it.

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

The Global Campaign for Peace Education has two goals:

- To see peace education integrated into all curricula, community and family education worldwide to become a part of life

- To promote the education of all teachers to teach for peace.

The Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education Worldwide Activities Brief e-newsletter highlights how and where the GCPE network is active and growing. Submissions are encouraged! Please contribute how you are working for peace education including dates, locations, a brief description, and a website and/ or contact information and send it to helene@haguepeace.org For more information on the Hague Appeal for Peace and to become an endorser of the GCPE visit www.haguepeace.org.

Special Thanks

The Hague Appeal for Peace is grateful to the following for their generous support:

The Ford Foundation, Robert and Fran Boehm, The Arsenault Family Foundation, Olof Palme Minnesfond, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, Compton Foundation, Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust, Samuel Rubin Foundation, The Simons Foundation, Norwottock Foundation, CarEth Foundation, Loretto Community, Rissho Kosei Kai, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, Tides Canada Foundation Exchange Fund of Tides Foundation, Wade Greene and several anonymous donors.

Helene Leneveu
Program Associate
Hague Appeal for Peace
777 UN Plaza, Third Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (+1) 212-687-2623 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (+1) 212-687-2623      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: (+1) 212-661-2704
Website: www.haguepeace.org

" A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems; have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth. Such learning can not be achieved without intentional, sustained and systematic education for peace." Global Campaign for Peace Education

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity
(CGNews-PiH)
February 7, 2006

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab world, and countries with significant Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication, free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and Common Ground News Service, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. Zap! Pow! Islamic superheroes to save the day by Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times journalist, Hassan M. Fattah, introduces us to Naif al-Mutawa, a 34-year old Kuwaiti and the creator of a new set of Muslim superheroes from around the world that aim to "…teach kids that there's more than one way to solve a problem." Although he acknowledges his endeavour meets with some criticism within the Muslim community, he explains that he is trying to reach young people “who are straddling the cultural divide between East and West….They like comics and Western entertainment, and yet are attached to their roots and intend to hold on to their customs.”
(Source: New York Times, January 22, 2006)

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ARTICLE 1
Muslims deserve the same respect as Christians or Jews
Edgar M. Bronfman

New York, New York - Although freedom of religion and freedom of speech are both fundamental rights, they sometimes come into conflict with each other, as is the case with the caricatures recently published in the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten” depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This has provoked uproar among Muslims, not just in Denmark, but across the Islamic world as it is widely understood that Islam forbids the depicting of Muhammad.

The issue at stake here is not “self-censorship”, which Flemming Rose, the newspaper’s culture editor, claims has befallen Europe since the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. It is whether respect for other religious beliefs, traditions and practices really applies to everybody, including Muslims.

We prefer the word “respect” to “tolerance” because to be “tolerated” is not a positive notion, and in addition “respect” is not a one-way concept; it is mutual. If the cartoons in question were deliberately made and published to provoke Muslims and to stir up public opinion in Denmark, as Rose seems to suggest, something has gone wrong.

What the cartoons managed to do was to offend all Muslims instead of focusing on those fanatics that actually merit criticism.

Sometimes, provocations are necessary to wake people up. Over the past 30 years, the World Jewish Congress has been no stranger to that. But religious customs, practices and beliefs should be respected by followers of other religions and nonbelievers alike, because this is a prerequisite for being respected oneself.

Although freedom of speech is an indivisible right, the law may make it an offence to shout “Fire!” in a crowded auditorium as this might cause a panic and physical harm. Words and actions which predictably provoke strong reactions and anger — however unjustified this may be — should be limited at least when it comes to religious beliefs.

Mutual respect and understanding between members of different religions is the key to ending hatred and to creating a better world. We consider desecration of any holy book an insult to ourselves. Desecration of the Qur’an, the Torah, or the Christian Bible, or any religious site should be offensive to all of us. Mutual respect means just that: You respect me and what I stand for, and I respect you and what you stand for.

To consciously provoke and offend the fairly small Muslim minority in Denmark was wrong. Yes, immigrants must integrate in their host societies, be they Muslims, Jews or Christians, while retaining their own identities, beliefs, customs and faiths. Parallel societies can easily become a breeding ground for fanatics, zealots and, ultimately, terrorists. Immigration sometimes fails because immigrants do not make enough effort. But sometimes, it is also made harder because of an intolerant and harsh host country.

It is the job of governments and lawmakers to make sure that immigrants are not treated as newly conquered (as some populists suggest), but with respect. Those who make an effort to integrate should be welcomed with open arms and they should be allowed to make more than just financial contributions to their new countries’ tax coffers.

Over the last two thousand years and until the creation of the State of Israel, Jews have always been a small minority in every country they have settled in. Our ancestors have suffered from pogroms, rampant anti-Semitism and finally the Holocaust.

Lies about Jews, the Jewish faith and traditions have never disappeared. In fact, they are staging a comeback, especially in “Western democracies” which we thought had become immune to anti-Semitism after the horrors of the Holocaust.

Nonetheless, Jewish intellectuals and politicians have always been at the forefront of fighting for human rights, democracy and free speech. But there are limits to the letter that should be respected, and publishing materials considered offensive by a small religious minority is going too far. Democracies are tested on how they treat their minorities.

Over the decades since the publication of the Second Vatican Council declaration “Nostra Aetate”, the Catholic Church and the Jewish community have been engaged in dialogue with each other. This is a successful example of how centuries-old prejudices and hatred can be overcome by listening to one another instead of just talking about the other.

Christians, Jews and Muslims are all children of Abraham, and we should learn what we have in common. After that, our differences might look less significant.

We need to restrain ourselves in what we say about other religions, in how we judge other faiths. We don’t need new laws. We cannot restrict freedom of speech. We need to restrict ourselves. Otherwise, in the end, we will be restricted.

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* Edgar M. Bronfman is New York President of the World Jewish Congress.
Source: Arab News, February 1, 2006
Visit the website at www.arabnews.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Democracy is always local
Nora Al Subai and Bryan Gerbracht

Safat, Kuwait/Ames, Iowa - Advocacy for democratisation in the Middle East has been a major part of the United States’ foreign policy for the last several years. While few would argue that a country should not be able to have a government that is responsive to the people it represents, the United States should examine not only its motives for endorsing democracy throughout the region, but also what it is actually trying to export.

The ideals and principles that are commonly associated with democracies – fundamental liberties, an active and involved civil society, representative government, and governments that are accountable to the people, to name a few – are not principles that can only be expressed through one particular form of government and set of institutions. However, the United States, in pushing democratisation, often seems to take the contrary view – that democracy is the institutions of government, not its principles. In so doing it runs the risk of pushing institutions and structures onto countries that are not suited to local conditions and culture, and are nothing more than skewed reflections of Western societies with democratic governments.

Democracy is a set of complementary concepts, and the particular form of government and set of institutions that a country chooses to embody them must inevitably be unique to that country’s culture. A people’s shared history, cultural identity and values are all important factors that shape its conception of what it expect its government to provide. A “one size fits all” democracy is not possible – and to view abstract concepts as a type of software that can simply be installed in any country is a dangerous mistake. The mistake is compounded a thousand times if democracy is artificially imposed by force, as the United States appears to be doing in Iraq.

Democratic government is a process, and to artificially impose it is to forget that a democracy is a government of the people, and is the result of interaction and communication among citizens, and between the citizenry and the government. A democratic government is, by definition, an evolution of the ideas of its citizens, and when the United States attempts to force its form of democracy onto the countries of the Middle East, it forgets that not only must the actions of a functioning democracy evolve from the concerns of its citizens, but that the initial implementation of democratic principles must evolve out of the citizens’ expectations, values and experiences. In its policy towards the Middle East, the United States has forgotten that democracy is not a Western structure, but a series of processes with a form that evolves from the unique needs and will of its citizens.

In short, how and by whom democracy is established is as important as the structures of governance established. Democracy must develop organically. The United States cannot disregard Middle Eastern countries’ history and culture in its plans for a democratic Middle East. Yet, the contrary is what is occurring. Indeed, historians and students of America have long recognised the danger of the idealistic strain in U.S. foreign policy, which stems even from the days of the Founding Fathers, who thought of the United States as the “shining city on the hill.” History, including victories in both World War II and the Cold War only cemented the United States’ conception of itself as the “leader of the free world” and a paragon of democratic virtue. This is unfortunate, because a realistic and just foreign policy with regard to democratisation can only stem from the realisation that its own democracy is based on certain, perhaps not so universal principles, and the culturally unique structures designed to embody those principles. Some argue the United States’ stable and long tradition of democracy and representative government are proof enough of the effectiveness of its form of government; nevertheless its laws and governmental structures developed as a result of its own history and culture.

In the end, it is paradoxical to assume that democracy could actually function if it is the result of shallow mimicry, or through imposition by force. The contradictory nature of this effort, however, seems lost on U.S. policy makers.

However, it may not be lost on many in the Middle East, and what is certainly not lost on the Muslim world is that, even on its own terms, U.S.-style democracy does not always seem so worthy of emulation. While the United States urges “fair” elections in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, the fact that only about 50% of the American population votes is often taken as evidence that democracy is not healthy in the United States. And if Americans have already forgotten that the popular vote did not determine the outcome of the 2000 election, many elsewhere in the world have not.

In short, the United States should remember that what works for one country may not work for another. The United States needs to be sure that countries want democracy before providing aid, and even then it should make every effort to make sure its own culture is not forced on the country’s institutions. Only then is there any hope that real and sustainable democracies will be established.

The dangerous assumption that the United States seems to make all too often – that ”those people need us” - only heightens tensions, and will slow the process of democratisation in the Middle East by permitting the establishment of structures and the imposition of principles that do not respond to the cultural and historical prerogatives of the people.

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* Nora Al Subai is a student at the University of Kuwait, and Bryan Gerbracht attends the University of Iowa. They wrote this article as part of the Soliya Connect program, an online Western-Islamic dialogue program.
Source: Common Ground News Service, February 7, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Pakistani women defy threats, run mixed marathon
David Montero

Lahore, Pakistan - For Nabila Rafique, the race wasn't about finishing first. She ran and walked the course wearing a traditional salwar kameez (loose-fitting tunic) with a shawl. As she focused on putting one foot in front of the other, she paid little heed to the throngs cheering on the curbs - or the armed police posted at every corner.

"This is just for the experience," says Mrs. Rafique, who felt her victory in Sunday's Lahore Marathon was won at the word "Go!"

For weeks, Islamist groups had tried to ban women from the race. On Friday police arrested more than 400 people when a protest against the marathon turned violent. The controversy shook this city of 8 million, raising concerns that violence would disrupt the race, which was designed as a fundraiser for quake victims.

The threat only underscored for many the symbolic importance of the race.

"Though we are afraid, we are running," says Ethiopian star runner Ashu Kasim, who is Muslim. "We can have our faith and we can run."

The race went off without incident. The only challenge to some 6,000 police was controlling the exuberance of the crowds, who cheered more than 15,000 runners.

But the fears of violence were not unfounded. Since the inaugural Lahore Marathon was held last January, allowing men and women to run together for the first time, marathons have emerged as one of the most contested battlegrounds in a country struggling to define its Islamic identity.

Progressive elements argue that races like this, by granting women greater freedom in public, advance Pakistan's commitment to "enlightened moderation," the program of social reform touted by President Pervez Musharraf. But the religious right here, whose political power and influence many say are growing, have grabbed attention by launching both verbal and physical attacks against races. In April 2005, supporters of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a coalition of six religious parties, physically assaulted women running a race in Gujranwala, 60 miles north of Lahore, prompting the government to ban mixed gender races.

"It's not only a marathon - it's about whether Pakistan is moving toward liberalism, shedding its Taliban past," argues Jugnu Mohsin, publisher of The Friday Times, one of the leading progressive newspapers in Lahore.

Her religious opponents disagree, however, saying that mixed races are an unwanted transgression from Islamic tradition, which says that women and men should not mix freely in public.

"We have great support for the sports played by women ... but women should run separately and in a separate area," argues Hafiz Salman Butt, Lahore chapter president of the MMA. Mr. Butt and other religious leaders also scorned the idea of Pakistani women running in shorts on the streets of Lahore. In the end, however, only a handful of foreign professional women wore shorts, with most women wearing the traditional salwar kameez.

President Musharraf's "enlightened moderation" was supposed to bring a greater dimension of liberal democracy to Pakistan, dispelling the notion that Islam is at odds with modernity.

But many analysts see the opposite trend at work. Right-wing religious groups swept to power in 2002, when the MMA took control of the provincial government of the North West Frontier Province. They are now the second-largest party in the National Assembly, occupying nearly one fourth of all seats. With greater political clout has come greater leverage to challenge national laws.

In March 2005, these groups successfully launched a campaign to stop the government from removing religious identities from passports. The MMA has also introduced a parliamentary bill seeking to ban women in advertising; a decision is pending.

Analysts say the dispute over marathons underscores the government's ambivalence toward checking growing extremism. The Lahore government decided to hold a marathon last year, but they disrupted subsequent races after religious parties complained.

When the administration changes directions like this, analysts say, it translates into a victory for the religious right. Sunday's race was therefore viewed as an important line in the sand, one which even ordinary citizens were not willing to yield.

"Today it's saying that men and women can't run together; tomorrow that they can't work together," says Shakir Husain, a business consultant in Karachi, who felt compelled to pen a newspaper op-ed.

Efforts like these eventually paid off. Days before the race, Lahore city officials said the mixed race would go on. Hundreds of women, including Rafique, turned out for the shorter "family" runs, dashing and walking alongside their husbands and children.

Ordinary citizens hope their participation demonstrates the direction in which Pakistan is headed. "My family took part in the race because we wanted to make a statement. Because we don't find it right, the separation," says Aamir Rafique, Nabila's husband, walking briskly to keep pace with his wife.

###
* David Montero is a Christian Science Monitor correspondent.
Source: Christian Science Monitor, January 30, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission can be obtained from the Christian Science Monitor by contacting lawrenced@csps.com.

**********

ARTICLE 4
A man who lived the multicultural message
El Hassan bin Talal

Amman - In a world where divisions seem to multiply by the month, it is very difficult to face the passing of one who unifies. As a globalising planet appears ironically bent on polarisation of its people, tags of person, place, colour and creed have rarely been more visible. Yet the only label one could apply to my late friend Zaki Badawi, who died on recently, is that of the best of men.

Much has already been written of Zaki's great qualities. His blend of spirituality and understanding was a rare and precious thing in Britain and the world at large. He brought his belief in pluralism to the very centre of the country's civic stage. His work touched and educated a generation of Britons, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. But Zaki's greatest gift to us all has not passed with him. He leaves behind a legacy of hope for us and for generations unborn.

Zaki and I first met some 30 years ago, soon after he had been appointed director of the Islamic Cultural Centre in London. What a different world that seems now. Zaki's message then was well formed and constant, ready to weather the terrible storms that few could have foreseen.

Here was a man who carried an array of identities in a powerfully human embrace. An Egyptian by birth, this graduate of Cairo's al-Azhar had formed his compassionate core while studying the language and literature of his forefathers. Yet a new life at University College London, where Zaki obtained his doctorate in Modern Muslim Thought, was lived to the full. Over the years, Zaki became a part of British life without compromising his resolute character.

This message of integration without loss was elegantly conveyed by Zaki through his words and his actions. His was a life lived in glorious Technicolor, bathed in patterns of culture and community, faith and friendship. Difference disavowed discord, in the man and in the message, and for Zaki, one's multiple identities were cause for celebration, not self-castigation.

Zaki Badawi's message has never been more relevant than today. If we allow those drab ideologues who sometimes seem dominant to shout above the true men of value, then all is lost. Throughout the world, lines are being drawn that can only divide us. Sometimes it seems easier to listen to a message of hatred and division, but Zaki showed that thoughtful conversation brings the most abundant rewards.

My involvement with the Interfaith Foundation allowed me to work with Zaki in an area where his talents shone. Together with men of vision from all three Abrahamic faiths, including the Bishop of London and Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, we sought to work together under one God, without comprising our beliefs as men.

At the very first meeting to include rabbis in 1995, Zaki was instrumental in bringing the meeting back together when Muslims and Jews cried an unwillingness to sit together. A fear of how their congregations would react seemed more powerful than any inherent antithesis. Zaki's constant calls for dialogue gave him the moral strength to address his reluctant peers. His humour and charm and the power of his intellect persuaded them to listen.

Through her executive role at the Interfaith Foundation, my youngest daughter Badiya came to know Zaki as a colleague and friend. It was Zaki who performed the marriage ceremony for Badiya and my son-in-law Edward in Amman last summer.

We all remember the event as one of faith and togetherness. Zaki took care to involve the entire congregation in the ceremony and to explain the significance of the loving ritual that marked the most important day in the lives of two young people. It was fitting that Zaki stood under God as the man who joined together two of his children who had grown up in very different cultures and faiths.

Zaki's pride in his own culture and traditions was undiminished by the acts of those who sought to hijack his faith and to commandeer his God. He spoke with pride and insight on Islam's Golden Age. He reminded Britain's Muslims that such feelings were not incompatible with a pride in being British.

I hope that when I speak to my grandchildren about the man I loved and respected, that I will not be speaking of a golden age that has passed. It is up to all of us to carry on the legacy of Zaki Badawi.

We must begin by educating ourselves and our children to feel the strength of our own varied identities before we can engage freely with others. Zaki the scholar, the cleric, the husband, the father and the friend - and still this was just the beginning of his story. Zaki Badawi will be sorely missed in a troubled world. His message lives on.

###
* El Hassan bin Talal is the brother of the late King Hussain of Jordan.
Source: The Independent, January 26, 2006
Visit the website at www.independent.co.uk
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 5
Zap! Pow! Islamic superheroes to save the day
Hassan M. Fattah

Dubai - For comic book readers in Arab countries, the world often looks like this: Superheroes save American cities, battle beasts in Tokyo, and even on occasion solve crimes in the French countryside. But few care about saving the Arab world.

If Naif al-Mutawa has his way, that is about to change. Young Arabs will soon be poring over a new group - and new genre - of superheroes like Jabbar, Mumita and Ramzi Razem, all aimed specifically at young Muslim readers and focusing on Muslim virtues.

Mutawa's Teshkeel Media, based in Kuwait, says that in September it will begin publishing "The 99," a series of comic books based on superhero characters that battle injustice and fight evil, with each character personifying one of the 99 qualities that Muslims believe God embodies.

A burly, fast-talking Kuwaiti with a dry wit, Mutawa, 34, said existing superheroes fall into two main genres: the Judeo-Christian archetype of individuals with enormous power who are often disguised, like Superman, and the Japanese archetype of small characters who rely on each other to become powerful, like Pokemon.

His superhero characters will be based on an Islamic archetype: by combining individual virtues - everything from wisdom to generosity - they build collective power that is ultimately an expression of the divine.

"Muslims believe that power is ultimately God, and God has 99 key attributes," Mutawa said. "Those attributes, if they all come together in one place, essentially become the unity of God." He stresses that only God has them all, however, and 30 of the traits deemed uniquely divine will not be embodied by his characters.

Still, this is tricky territory. Muslim religious authorities reject attempts to personify the powers of God or combine the word of God in the Koran with new myths or imaginative renderings more typical of the West.

But Mutawa is seeking to reach youngsters who are straddling the cultural divide between East and West. They like comics and Western entertainment, and yet are attached to their roots and intend to hold on to their customs. He, too, faced that divide, going to summer camp in New Hampshire in the 1980s - he says his parents wanted him to lose weight - while grappling with Arab culture and pressures.

In his flowing white robe and traditional Arab headdress, Mutawa looks every bit the Kuwaiti; when he opens his mouth, however, he is every bit the New Yorker who spent his formative years reading comics and much of his adult life in the United States, training as a psychologist at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York and writing a series of children's books on assimilation, race and prejudice.

"I was the kid that was thrown out of class for not being willing to accept what the teacher was teaching us about Jews," he said. "I had Jewish friends at camp, and I knew that they were not the stereotype." With three boys and a fourth child due soon, Mutawa says he wants his children to be able to find a balance between East and West.

Others too have seized on the opportunity for comics in the Middle East but not graphic representations of the principles of the Koran.

In Cairo, AK Comics has published Middle East Heroes, four larger-than-life Arab characters who face the challenges of most Arabs by day and fight for them by night.

Mutawa, an avid reader of "Archie" and other comics who has a doctorate in clinical psychology and an MBA from Columbia University, said he dreamed up his Muslim superheroes during a taxi ride in 2003 with his sister, Samar, in London.

The plot of the series, drawing on stories and history familiar to most Muslim youths, involves the wisdom and learning that characterised the Muslim world at its apogee, when it reached from northern Pakistan to southern Spain in the late Middle Ages.

The story concerns 99 gems encoded with the wisdom of Baghdad just as the Mongols are invading the city in the 13th century - in his version, to destroy the city's knowledge. The gems are the source of not only wisdom but power, and they have been scattered across the world, sending about 20 superheroes (at least in the first year, leaving another 49 potential heroes for future editions) on a quest to find them before a villain does.

"To create the new, you have to tap into the old," Mutawa says of the deep historic connections in the comic. "The real goal is to teach kids that there's more than one way to solve a problem."

The characters in "The 99" are not all Arabs, but Muslims from all over the world. Jabbar, the enforcer, is a hulking figure from Saudi Arabia with the power to grow immense; Mumita is from Portugal with unparalleled agility; and Noora, from the United Arab Emirates, can read the truth in what people say and help them to see the truth in themselves.

There's a burka-wearing character called Batina, which is derived from a word meaning hidden.

But that is where religion stops and mythology begins, Mutawa says.

"I don't expect Islamists to like my idea, and I don't want the ultraliberals to like it either," he says. So far, he has managed to get Kuwait's censors to approve the early mock-ups, he says. But to keep the orthodox at ease, he has included women in head scarves and plays it by the book as far as religion goes.

But what may give him the biggest edge is a seasoned team, including writers like Fabian Nicieza, who wrote for X-Men and Power Rangers comics, and a group of managers and advisers who are old hands in the industry.

###
*Hassan M. Fattah is a New York Times journalist.
Source: New York Times, January 22, 2006
Visit the website at www.nytimes.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

******

Common Ground News - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West, on the one hand, and the Arab and Muslim worlds, on the other. This service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.

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AfricAvenir News, 7th Febuary 2006

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Heute Mittwoch, den 08. Februar, 19.00 Uhr, lädt Africavenir International e.V. im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe african reflections in das Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte zum Dialogforum mit Susan Arndt.

Dialogforum:
Mythen von Afrika. ‘Rasse’ und Rassismus in der deutschen Afrikaterminologie

Heute Mittwoch, den 08. Februar, 19.00 Uhr, lädt Africavenir International e.V. im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe african reflections in das Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte zum Dialogforum mit Susan Arndt. Sprache war von Anfang an ein wichtiges Medium, um koloniale Erfindungen festzuschreiben, Kolonialismus zu legitimieren und weiße Mythen zu vermitteln. Susan Arndt wird am Beispiel ausgewählter Begriffe diskutieren, wie sich diese in die deutsche Afrikaterminologie eingeschrieben haben und bis heute weitgehend entnannt fortwirken.

Heute, 08. Februar, 19.00 Uhr
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
(Greifswalder Str. 4, Berlin)
Eintritt frei

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

Wir möchten noch auf einen weiteren Veranstaltungstipp hinweisen der uns besonders am Herzen liegt:

Peak Preview - Towards the African Film Summit

at HAU 2, Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin-Kreuzberg

Sunday, 12th February 2006

In April 2006 the „African Film Summit“ will take place in Johannesburg - no doubt, one the of most crucial events of the African filmindustry in years.Prior to this, the International Forum of New Cinema opens up a platform during the Berlin Film Festival to debate the European involvement. As Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno says with special emphasis on the situation in West-Africa : „To summarize the current situation, one can simply say that African filmmaking, like so many aspects of African economic activity, remains in a situation of dependence. We are dependent on European governments and other European monies for production;we are largely dependent on European technical personnel and facilities; and we are dependent on European goodwill for distribution.“ How can this cinema of dependency develop into a cinema of partnership? How crucial is the European intervention in the development of artistic and financial autonomy of African cinema? This seminar invites filmmakers, festival professionals, donors and film politicians from Africa and Europe for preliminary dicussions before the summit, offering an opportunity to discuss the current challenges as well as possible partneship models for the future.

http://africavenir.com/news/2006/02/316/peak-preview-towards-the-african-film-summit

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.

AfricAvenir News, 1st February 2006

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Studienreise ins multikulturelle Sevilla
03.-06. April 2006

Preis im Doppelzimmer: € 184,-
Preis im Einzelzimmer: € 210,-
Preis versteht sich inklusive Übernachtung, Stadtführung, Besuch einer Ausstellung, Gespräche mit NGOs.

Anmeldung: studienreisen@africavenir.org

AfricAvenir International e.V. lädt ein zu einer viertägigen Studienreise ins andalusische Sevilla Südspaniens, um vor Ort die Spuren der multikulturellen Vergangenheit dieser Region und deren Auswirkungen auf die gegenwärtige Situation - insbesondere auch die Migrationspolitik der Regierung Zapatero betreffend - zu entdecken. Zunächst wird in einer Stadtführung ein Gesamtbild Sevillas entworfen, das nicht nur die Schönheit der Stadt projiziert, sondern besonders die vielfältigen Einflüsse jahrhundertelanger Migration hervorhebt. Diese ersten Eindrücke werden in Vorträgen über die geschichtlichen Zusammenhänge und deren Einfluss auf die sprachliche Entwicklung der Region u.a. mit Historikern der Stiftung „Tres Culturas“ weitergehend vertieft. Aktuelle Standpunkte der Einwanderungspolitik sowie die prekäre Situation bisher illegal Beschäftigter in Spanien werden bei Gesprächen mit Vertretern von NGO´s und regierungsnahen Institutionen erläutert. Zeit bleib t außerdem für zahlreiche multikulturelle Genüsse kulinarischer Art im frühsommerlichen Sevilla.

Weitere Informationen unter: http://www.africavenir.com/africavenir/berlin/study-trips/sevilla-dt.php
Anmeldeformular: http://www.africavenir.com/africavenir/berlin/study-trips/Anmeldeformular_Sevilla.pdf

Eric Van Grasdorff
Sparkasse Berlin
BLZ: 100 500 00
Kto.: 920139507; Stichwort: Sevilla

Programm:

Montag 03.04.
ab13.30
einchecken im Hotel: Pension Cruces El Patio Perez Alameida, C./ Cruces 10, 41004 Sevilla; Tel. 0034 954229633 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            0034 954229633      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Stadtteil: Santa Cruz
Gemeinsames Mittagessen

17.00
Besuch in der„Casa de la Memoria de Al Andaluz”

Abendprogramm
z.B. Musica Sephardi in der “Casa de la Memoria de al Andaluz”

Dienstag 04.04.
10.00 Uhr
Gespräch mit: Mohammed Ennaji; Stiftung „Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo”
http://www2.tresculturas.org
Pabellón Hassan II, c/Charles Darwin, s/n, Isla de La Cartuja.

13.00 Uhr
Besuch des ehemaligen Kloster „Cartuja“

17 Uhr
Stadtführung: das maurische Sevilla, die Zeit der spanischen
Kolonialherrschaft, Zeichen heutiger Migration

Abendprogramm

Mittwoch 05.04.
10. Uhr
Gespräch mit: Inma Borrego von Andalucia Acoje
www.acoge.org
C/ Miguel Cid, Nº 42 Bajo

13. 00 Uhr
Gespräch mit: Asociación de Mujeres Inmigrantes Marroquíes (AMAL)
Centro Taracea, C/Alberto Lista, 16

17 Uhr
Asociación Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui
CASA DE LA PAZ, C/ Aniceto Saénz,1 local 3, (Plaza del Pumarejo).

Abendprogramm

Donnerstag 06.04.
10.00 Uhr
Gespräch mit: Künstlern die zum Thema Migration arbeiten/Besuch einer Ausstellung.

Abreise

Dialogforum:
Mythen von Afrika. ‘Rasse’ und Rassismus in der deutschen Afrikaterminologie

Am Mittwoch, den 08. Februar, 19.00 Uhr, lädt Africavenir International e.V. im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe african reflections in das Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte zum Dialogforum mit Susan Arndt. Sprache war von Anfang an ein wichtiges Medium, um koloniale Erfindungen festzuschreiben, Kolonialismus zu legitimieren und weiße Mythen zu vermitteln. Susan Arndt wird am Beispiel ausgewählter Begriffe diskutieren, wie sich diese in die deutsche Afrikaterminologie eingeschrieben haben und bis heute weitgehend entnannt fortwirken.

08. Februar, 19.00 Uhr
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
(Greifswalder Str. 4, Berlin)
Eintritt frei

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.

Kjell Skyllstad kindly wrote to us:

Dear Evelin:

In the context of the recent reactions to humiliating artworks (caricatures), I am sure HDHS can give a valuable contribution by illuminating the connection of recent events to the whole picture of humiliatory practices in relation to aggressive responses. One is reminded of the humiliating stereotypes still used in mass media portrayals of ethnic (mostly facial) characteristics of the "other".

As ever
Kjell

Sophie Schaarschmidt kindly sent us the following message on 02/02/2006:

Dear friends!

There is a lot of furious discussion going on about the caricatures in the Danish newspaper which portrayed the prophet Mohammed. Please see http://www.myblog.de/telegehirn
http://forum.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=315&page=2&pp=10
http://www.spiegel.de/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4672642.stm

I thought, maybe it would be good to post a commentary on the website of Humiliationstudies. What happened in this case has obviously to do with humiliation: the Muslims feel humiliated by the cartoons and that their religion is not dealt with in a respectful way, whereas the Europeans feel that their right of freedom of speech and press is violated and that the reaction of the Muslims goes against democratic principles (death threats etc.).

Would anyone be interested comment on that?

I think it would be good to comment on the recent situation with our view on humiliation.
Thank you.

Sophie

New Book from the Nordic Africa Institute:

Legacies of Power
Leadership Change and Former Presidents in African Politics

Pages: 352 pp Published: December 2005
ISBN: 91-7106-558-X ISSN: Price: 240 SEK/ 16.95 GBP/ 24 EURO
Size: 210 x 148 mm
Co-publisher: HSRC Press, Cape Town

For more information see below or please visit our website
http://www.nai.uu.se/publ/publeng.html

For orders please reply this email or contact: orders@nai.uu.se
You can also order through our website.

It was a widely dominant perception until the early 1990’s that African rulers do not vacate their office alive. But even in the brutal reality of African politics, transition takes place and different former presidents have dealt with how to maintain power and privilege very differently. Presidential transitions pose a dilemma in handing over the power. Incumbent rulers often are confronted with the desire of the retired president not to leave politics. The chapters to this volume consequently pay special attention to the relationships evolving between the new regimes and their predecessors. The contributors discuss the hybridal political systems that exist in post-independence Africa; the role allotted to or pursued by former African presidents; transitional politics and justice, and political stability. The book stimulates careful further observation and analyses concerning progress in this contested arena of institutionalised political power in Africa.

Professor Roger Southall is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and was formerly Professor of Political Studies, Rhodes University and has also and researched in academic institutions and think-tanks in Lesotho, Uganda, the UK and Canada.

Dr Henning Melber headed from 1992 to 2000 the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek and was a member of the President's Economic Advisory Council. Since 2000 he is the Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden.

Contents

The contested role of former presidents in Africa - Roger Southall, Neo Simutanyi and John Daniel
Soldiering on: the post-presidential years of Nelson Mandela 1999-2005 - John Daniel
Unpacking the model: Presidential succession in Botswana - Ken Good and Ian Taylor
The contested role of former presidents in Zambia - Neo Simutanyi
The politics of ‘presidential indispensability’ in Namibia: Moving out of office but staying in power - Henning Melber
‘When I am a century old’: Why Robert Mugabe won’t go - David Moore
Toxic mushrooms: The presidential third term debate in Malawi - Sean Morrow
Politics and presidential term limits in Uganda - Roger Tangri
Immunity or accountabilty? Daniel Toroitich arap Moi: Kenya’s first retired president - Tom Wolf
Troubled visionary: Nyerere as a former president - Roger Southall
Rawlings’ former presidency: A threat to democracy in Ghana? - Kwame Boafo-Arthur
An army of ex-presidents: Transitions, the military and democratic consolidation in Nigeria - Sola Akinrinade
Despot deposed: Charles Taylor and the challenge of state reconstruction in Liberia - Daniel Hoffman

Review
"An excellent, uniquely valuable addition to the literature, rich in detail and dealing with profoundly significant issues. The collection will be not only of immense interest to Africanists, but also of great relevance across a broad spectrum of research disciplines. It makes a highly distinctive contribution to the genre of transition studies in the democratisation literature"
Prof. Peter Burnell, Dept. of Politics and International Studies at Warwick University, UK

The Nordic Africa Institute
Publishing Department
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Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity
(CGNews-PiH)
January 31, 2006

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab world, and countries with significant Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication, free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and Common Ground News Service, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

**********

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. Diverse religious landscape means change, not threat by Alaa Bayoumi
Alaa Bayoumi, a researcher for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, looks at what Americans think of religious diversity in the United States. Many feel that the country is based on Christian values, and have concerns that an increase in immigrants with different religious views may change the national identity of the country. In this context, Bayoumi looks at America’s pluralistic values as a positive influence and argues that it is up to all Americans “to stand firm and united in the face of any intolerant forces that may seek to divide our nation…[and]…America’s Muslim community stands ready to do its part in strengthening our nation through creating opportunities for interfaith respect and mutual understanding.”
(Source: AMIN.org, January 22, 2006)

**********

ARTICLE 1
Might the Arabs have a point?
Patrick J. Buchanan

Washington, D.C. - Karen Hughes, President Bush's newest undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and the caretaker of America's image abroad, has her work cut out for her.

A Zogby survey of 3,900 Arabs in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates has uncovered massive distrust of U.S. motives in the Middle East.

Unkindest cut of all, Arabs would prefer that President Chirac and France lead the world rather than us, and, rather than have us as the world's lone superpower, they would prefer the Chinese.

While Arabs are not as rabidly anti-American as in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, still, by 77 percent to 6 percent, they believe the Iraqi people are worse off today, and by four-to-one, Arabs say the U.S. invasion has increased, not decreased, terrorism.

Designed by Arab scholar Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution, the survey reveals pervasive cynicism about the stated goals of George W. Bush. When asked, "When you consider American objectives in the Middle East, what factors do you think are important to the United States?" the Arab answers came as follows:

Fully 76 percent said the Americans are there for the oil, 68 percent said to protect Israel, 63 percent to dominate the region, and 59 percent to weaken the Muslim world. Only 6 percent said we were there to protect human rights and another 6 percent said to promote democracy. Asked directly if they believe President Bush when he says democracy is our goal, two of every three Arabs, 78 percent in Egypt, said that, no, they do not believe Bush.

Asked to name the two nations that present the greatest threat to regional peace, 70 percent named Israel, 63 percent the United States, and 11 percent Britain. Only 6 percent named our bête noire Iran.

Asked to name the foreign leader they disliked most, Sharon swept top honours with 45 percent. Bush took the silver with 30 percent. No one else was close. Tony Blair came in a weak third. Only 3 percent of the Arabs detest him most.

While only 6 percent agreed with al-Qaeda's aim to establish an Islamic state and only 7 percent approve of its methods, 20 percent admire the way al-Qaeda "stood up for Muslim causes" and 36 percent admire how it "confronts the U.S."

Favourite news source? Sixty-five percent named Al-Jazeera either as their favourite or second favourite. What Fox News is to red-state America, Al-Jazeera is to the Arab street.

America's standing in the Arab world could hardly be worse. And the questions the survey raises are these: Do we care? And, if we do, do not the Arabs have a point? Has not U.S. behaviour in the Middle East lent credence to the view that our principal interests are Israel and oil, and, under Bush II, that we launched an invasion to dominate the region?

After all, before liberating Kuwait, Secretary of State Baker said the coming war was about "o-i-l." And while we sent half a million troops to rescue that nation of 1.5 million, we sent none to Rwanda, where perhaps that many people were massacred.

If Kuwait did not sit on an underground sea of oil, would we have gone in? Is our military presence in the Mideast unrelated to its control of two-thirds of the world's oil reserves?

If human rights is our goal, why have we not gone into Darfur, the real hellhole of human rights? If democracy is what we are fighting for, why did we not invade Cuba, a dictatorship, 90 miles away, far more hostile to America than Saddam's Iraq, and where human rights have been abused for half a century? Saddam never hosted nuclear missiles targeted at U.S. cities.

And is Israel not our fair-haired boy? Though Sharon & Co. have stomped on as many UN resolutions as Saddam Hussein ever did, they have pocketed $100 billion in U.S. aid and are now asking for a $2 billion bonus this year, Katrina notwithstanding. Anyone doubt they will get it?

Though per capita income in Israel is probably 20 times that of the Palestinians, Israel gets the lion's share of economic aid. And though they have flipped off half a dozen presidents to plant half a million settlers in Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank, have we ever imposed a single sanction on Israel? Has Bush ever raised his voice to Ariel Sharon? And when you listen to the talking heads and read the columns of the neocon press, is it unfair to conclude that, yes, they would like to dump over every regime that defies Bush or Sharon?

Empathy, a capacity for participating in another's feelings or ideas, is indispensable to diplomacy. Carried too far, as it was by the Brits in the 1930s, it can lead to appeasement. But an absence of empathy can leave statesmen oblivious as to why their nation is hated, and with equally fateful consequences.

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* Patrick Buchanan was twice a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and the Reform Party’s candidate in 2000. He is also a founder and editor of The American Conservative.
Source: The American Conservative, January 16, 2006
Visit the website at www.amconmag.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication. No edits can be made without permission from the American Conservative.

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ARTICLE 2
Is democracy empowering Islamists?
Howard LaFranchi

Washington, D.C. - Palestinian voters availed themselves of the time- honoured democratic right to "throw the bums out" in their first legislative elections in a decade Wednesday - exactly the kind of action implicit in President Bush's push for democracy in the Middle East.

But by snubbing the Fatah Party of US-supported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in favour of the radical Islamist group Hamas, Palestinians also put the Bush administration in a difficult spot.

The US might now seem hypocritical to many Arabs - encouraging democracy in the Middle East, while rejecting the choices that result from its exercise. At the same time, questions mount over whether Mr. Bush's campaign for democracy is encouraging the empowerment of Islamist militants across the region.

"This [election result] is really going to scare ... other governments in the region, and the Egyptians in particular are going to tell the US, 'We told you so,' " says Arthur Hughes, a former deputy assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs. "They'll see this as more evidence of what comes from our pressure to open up their societies, but they won't acknowledge that their hard-line tactics are what are leading to the growth" of Islamic extremism.

The Palestinian results, which give an organisation on the US list of terrorist groups a majority in the 132-seat Legislative Council, are part of a trend across Muslim countries, experts say.

"The victory of Hamas cannot be seen in isolation from the major accomplishments of Islamists across Muslim lands," says Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. "There's a pattern here of Arab and Muslim electorates fed up with the secular governments that have failed to deliver the goods, both in economic terms and protecting the security of the homeland."

The "irony," Mr. Gerges adds, is that the Bush administration's championing of the Middle East's democratisation has allowed the radical Islamists to "flex their political muscle" - from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Lebanon and Iraq.

Some historians argue that radical groups' entry into mainstream politics has led them to moderate their stances: The Irish Republican Army or former guerrilla groups in Central America are often cited as examples.

Others, though, say this moderating process, if undertaken at all, takes time - and does not happen in a vacuum. The US, they add, is going to have to decide how to deal with the Palestinians and the Middle East peace process in a period of deep uncertainty for the region.

Bush reiterated this week that the US will not work with Hamas unless it dramatically modifies its behaviour and removes from its platform a call for the destruction of the state of Israel. At a news conference Thursday, he said a political force like Hamas, one with an armed wing that advocates violence against Israel, "is a party with which we will not deal."

Soon after the election results became known, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Palestinian President Abbas and, according to Palestinian sources, praised Palestinian democracy and pledged US support for Mr. Abbas and his policies.

Few analysts expect the Bush administration to make bold moves with so much on the ground in flux. Not only are the Palestinians embarking on the hard task of forming a government from outside the president's political circle, but Israel - still digesting the departure of Ariel Sharon from the leadership scene - is heading for elections on March 18.

The US could simply suspend contact with - and financial assistance to - the Palestinian Authority over the rise of Hamas to the government. But "the stakes are too high on the ground to simply walk away," says Haim Malka, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The alternative, he says, is for the US to work exclusively with the office of the president - provided Abbas remains in office.

Bush "left the window open" for the US to work with Hamas - provided Hamas renounces violence and reverses its stance toward Israel, Mr. Malka notes. But that kind of fundamental shift takes time, he says - and events are not apt to wait.

Some analysts worry that turmoil among Palestinians - and a radical government at the helm - will prompt Israel to shift toward more radical policies itself. A unilateral decision to include blocks of West Bank settlements inside its final borders is the kind of action Israel might take in response to Hamas's rise but which would inflame the situation, experts say. Certain actions "would virtually rule out ... arriving at a two-state solution, and if that disappears you just have conflict without end," says Mr. Hughes, now a scholar at the Middle East Institute here.

At Thursday's press conference, Bush said the election is a "wake-up call" to the old guard Palestinian leadership. Others say it also blew a whistle in Washington. "We're seeing that, for now, the only alternative to secular regimes in the Middle East are the Islamists," says Malka. "They're the only ones who have legitimacy among the people."

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* Howard LaFranchi is a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, January 27, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission can be obtained from the Christian Science Monitor by contacting lawrenced@csps.com.

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ARTICLE 3
~YOUTH VIEWS~
Online dialogue increases understanding between American & Middle Eastern youth
Matthew Cappetta

Medford, Massachusetts - I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Soliya Connect Program, an online Western-Islamic dialogue program that uses teleconferencing, instant messaging, and live video to allow American and Middle Eastern students to come together online to discuss current events and build cultural understanding. I am confident my idealism about the possibility for compassion and tolerance through dialogue is justified because the rapport and understanding we developed is evidence that discussion and frank, honest sharing can help resolve the current misunderstandings between these cultures, and eventually pave the way for a more just and equitable world. As soon as we start to realise that the invisible borders between us are no more than a manifestation of our own fears and uncertainties, the process of dialogue becomes that much more promising. There is only one requirement for this process to begin – a mutual desire for reconciliation.

Sometimes it seems that perspectives that resist war and focus on non-violence or peace do not help much with regard to the massive cultural misunderstandings that exist between the Middle East and the United States. I would not suggest that these tactics are applicable to all situations; however, I think they can provide a framework that moves us away from the detachment from, and ignorance of, the “other” we so often have in daily life. When political, religious, cultural, or ethnic dissimilarities define how we relate to one another, there is no doubt in my mind that an egregious error has occurred. Furthermore, when these differences lead to a lack of understanding or are expressed in the form of intolerance, we must all be held accountable.

As I have come to realise during my dialogue sessions every Thursday morning, there is so much we can indeed learn from each other. Much of the Soliya program focuses on the media, and its effects on viewers. Once we realised how strongly we had all been conditioned to view the other side through the one-sided portrayals of the television, we were able to see each other in a new light and to discuss issues, despite our disagreements, with real honesty. I think the Middle Eastern participants came to understand our American fear of terrorism, and the unique horror of 9/11 for us, for instance, and we, as Western participants, began to understand their fears in turn, and to see the U.S. as they sometimes see it, as a gargantuan and frightening power with apparently little respect for any other country’s opinions.

We proved that, given the right circumstances, people are indeed willing to discuss the issues, and to do so with the utmost respect and admiration for one another regardless of culture or religion. To those who would claim that there can never be any understanding or “bridging of the gap” between these cultures, I can testify that there is hope, more than many realise. We were able to work toward mutual understanding, and in doing so may have perhaps laid the foundation for better relations in the future.

I know some will say this is a naïve view. But maybe that’s what we all need; maybe if we could all begin to think and act with innocence, curiosity, and trust, the way the world works might be entirely different. I am confident that people would start to see the “conflict” between the West and the Muslim world for what it truly is – a breakdown in understanding and a lack of concern for the other.

I do not claim to be an expert on the topic of the relations between the U.S. and the Middle East by any means. In fact, I cannot say that I fully understand half of the reasons why there is such conflict and misunderstanding. What I can relate to and find hope in, however, is human respect and compassion at all levels. My experiences with the Soliya program have only confirmed this belief. As long as people continue to share in the search to find a solution, the prospect of bridging the gap between the U.S. and Muslim worlds is entirely real.

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* Matthew Cappetta is a student at Tufts University. He wrote this article as part of the Soliya Western-Islamic student dialogue program.
Source: Common Ground News Service, January 31, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
The wrong way to promote one’s cause
Abeer Mishkhas

Riyadh - Al-Jazeera TV showed a silent film of the kidnapped American reporter, Jill Carroll, making what might have been a plea. She is not the first journalist to be kidnapped in Iraq or in other war zones; nor, sadly, will she be the last. Simply because there are criminals who think they can change government policy by killing innocent people. Whatever their motives or their reasons — even if they are protesting occupation — the horror of their crime blackens their cause and destroys their points, if they have any. The truth is that they do not target Western journalists; they target any civilian who comes by chance in their way. In Carroll’s case, an Iraqi translator accompanying her was shot twice in the head. For what reason?

No one knows. The chaos has become so widespread and so common that logic long since ceased to apply. A report by a German press agency said that Iraqi translators were becoming scarce, that most of them have decided to quit their jobs because they have become targets. Some of them have left their homes and tried to find shelter with the American forces; others simply move often from one place to another. In such a situation as this, I cannot help but think that the absence of journalists in Iraq will obscure the facts more than ever. All will be vague and uncertain because there will be no one there to report accurately on what is going on.

The public’s right to the truth will fall victim to zealots and hatemongers — and even armies themselves since there have been cases of journalists being hit by “friendly fire.” It is tragic that the zealots and hatemongers do not realise that if they do have a case, their chance to present that case to the world lies with journalists. Kidnapping and killing journalists does not topple governments; ransoms are never paid, demands never met and yet the kidnapping goes on.

The kidnappers take different names — from Supporters of Islam to Revenge Brigades. The names of course mean nothing and definitely do not mean that there is an actual group which goes by that name. We simply do not know who these people are or what they want. If they are Muslims who are fighting Americans, they negate their purposes by killing and kidnapping Muslims and Arabs. And most of the time the people they kidnap have nothing to do with the military situation; they are often people who are working on civil projects, or journalists, or maybe people such as the translator who was murdered for no apparent reason. The attackers always choose a soft target; they never go for the people they say they are fighting. The easy way is to kill an unarmed person who is quietly doing his or her job, a person who might in fact believe in justice and peace and who often has no political agenda. He or she just happens to be in the place some fanatic decides to blow up.

In a British magazine I read an interview with a Jordanian woman whose recent wedding was so savagely devastated by suicide bombers. She spoke of the horror of that day and of the family members she lost. Both her parents along with 27 of her and her husband’s relatives and friends. What could possibly justify such pointless savagery? What could possibly justify such baseless carnage? Reading that story, I simply could not begin to imagine what she has gone through. Losing a member of one’s family is a painful experience and sometimes takes months or years to come to terms with. In this case, the poor woman lost her parents, relatives, family and friends — all on a day that should have been special and happy for her and them. She said that when she saw the female bomber on TV who failed to detonate her explosives, she wanted to seize her and ask why she had participated in such a thing and what she thought she was doing.

Is the point to all these killings to make journalists flee Iraq and contractors, engineers and other civilians stop going there? Would that help the situation? Would it end anything? The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a statement demanding the immediate release of Jill Carroll, pointing out that her kidnapping will not change American policies. On the contrary, such acts will enrage the American public against Arabs and Muslims. As basic, as clear and as evident as this message is, I fear it will fall, like so many others, upon deaf ears.

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* Abeer Mishkhas is a female journalist in Saudi Arabia.
Source: Arab News, January 19, 2006
Visit the website at www.arabnews.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication.

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ARTICLE 5

Diverse religious landscape means change, not threat
Alaa Bayoumi

Washington, DC - All too often, we see religious differences turn into a source of division within a society. But that need not be the case. Religious diversity, when properly understood and promoted, can in fact help strengthen a society’s identity and unity.

A forward-looking attitude on religious diversity is important because religion is important to most people and most societies. When a nation’s religious landscape changes, its national identity cannot remain static.

In America, we have a strong sense of our religious heritage. We also take a lot of pride in being a pluralistic nation. In the last third of the 20th century, 22 million immigrants entered America. Many of these immigrants were Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or members of other faiths.

Unfortunately, the spread of these “new” religions tends to raise concerns among a minority of Americans who believe in a zero-sum version of inclusion.

A recent study by Robert Wuthnow, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton, makes it clear that America is viewed by many as a Christian nation that should be concerned about the growth of minority faiths. In “America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity,” Wuthnow writes:

“We have formulated understandings of who we are individually and as a nation.

These understandings have characteristically assumed that American culture and identity, including its distinct purpose in the world and the moral fibre of its people, are explicitly or implicitly related to Christian values.”

To validate his findings, Wuthnow conducted interviews with religious leaders and surveyed 2,910 adults to determine what Americans think about religious diversity.

Survey results showed that half of the adult population believes that this nation was founded on Christian principles and that America has been strong because of its faith in God. That figure jumps to 68 percent for Christian “exclusivists.”

The survey also showed that 50 percent of Americans believe that religious diversity has been good for America and that our nation owes a great deal to its immigrant population.

On the flip side, the survey revealed that 24 percent of Americans believe immigrants have to give up their ways and learn to be like Americans and that about one-third would not welcome a more prominent presence for Hindus or Buddhists in America. More than 40 percent of respondents had negative perceptions of the growth of Islam in America.

For example, the survey showed that 38 percent of the American public would support the idea of “making it harder for Muslims to settle in America.”

Twenty-three percent of respondents would like to make it “illegal for Muslim groups to meet in America” and 41 percent would feel “bothered” if Muslims wanted to build a large mosque in their community.

In response, Wuthnow urges Americans from all faiths to deal with religious diversity and its challenges from a more “reflective” pluralistic perspective. He says we should admit that religious diversity is a challenge, that religions are different and that we all need to deal more seriously with these differences in order to overcome them.

To accomplish that societal goal, we should all learn more about each other, build personal relationships with people of other faiths, emphasise respect in all circumstances, view compromise and non-violence as the only acceptable ways to deal with our differences, and build strong institutions that can protect and spread a pluralistic vision of religious diversity.

Fortunately, our constitution and political culture are on the side of pluralism. Our laws protect all religions and our culture teaches us to look to ourselves as a religiously diverse nation that should set an example for the rest of the world.

It is up to us to stand firm and united in the face of any intolerant forces that may seek to divide our nation. Failure to do so will jeopardise our role as a model for tolerance and human rights.

America’s Muslim community stands ready to do its part in strengthening our nation through creating opportunities for interfaith respect and mutual understanding.

###

* Alaa Bayoumi is a researcher for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties group.

Source: AMIN.org, January 22, 2006

Visit the website at www.amin.org

Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.

Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication.

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We thank Daedalus for permitting us to publish Donald E. Brown's article:

Brown, Donald E. (2004)
Human Universals, Human Nature & Human Culture
In Daedalus, 133 (4, Fall), pp. 47-54.

HUMAN UNIVERSALS, HUMAN NATURE, HUMAN CULTURE

By Donald E. Brown

Human universals--of which hundreds have been identified--consist of those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and mind that, so far as the record has been examined, are found among all peoples known to ethnography and history. After presenting some of the basic conceptions and problems concerning such universals per se--their kinds and causes and the methodological and disciplinary considerations that have shaped their study, this paper explores some of the issues in how human universals relate to human nature and human culture. Particular attention will be given to those universals that are directly related to, or actually comprise, human nature. In addition to the intrinsic interest such universals invoke--because they underlie all human activities--they also promise to yield to a more theoretically informed framework for their study than has been the case for human universals in general. Examples of universals will be given along the way.

KINDS OF UNIVERSALS

To begin with a few examples of human universals, those in the cultural realm include myths, legends, body adornment, daily routines, rules, concepts of luck and precedent, and the use and production of tools; in language there are grammar, phonemes, polysemy, metonymy, antonyms, and an inverse ratio between the frequency of use and the length of words; in the social realm there are a division of labor, social groups (including thinking of them as entities or agents), age grading, the family, kinship systems, ethnocentrism, play, exchange, cooperation, and reciprocity; in the behavioral realm there are aggression, gestures, gossip, and facial expressions; mentally there are emotions, dichotomous thinking, wariness around or fear of snakes, empathy, and psychological defense mechanisms.
Many universals do not fall neatly into one or another of these conventional realms, but cut across them. Kinship terminologies (in English, the set of terms that includes "father," "mother," "brother," "sister," "cousin," etc.) are simultaneously social, cultural, and linguistic. The concept of property is social and cultural. Revenge is both behavioral and social. Lying and conversational turn taking are simultaneously behavioral, social, and linguistic. Many behavioral universals almost certainly have distinctive--even dedicated--neural underpinnings, and thus are universals of mind too.
A distinction among universals that figures large in anthropological thought is the distinction between “emic” and “etic.” These terms--taken from the linguistic terms “phonemic” and “phonetic”--distinguish features that are overtly or consciously represented in a people’s own cultural conceptions from features that are present but not a part of the overt or conscious local cultural conceptions. Thus every people has a language with grammar, but not all peoples have an overt cultural representation of the idea of grammar. Having grammar is an etic fact. If it is culturally represented, then it is an emic fact too. Etically, everyone has a blood type, but having blood types as a part of culture--as in the case of those Japanese beliefs that link blood types with marital compatibility--is far from universal. The general point is that emic universals are probably much rarer than etic universals. Etically, everyone has a father; but a single kin term designating just this kinsman--as the English term “father” does--is not an emic universal.
Many universals subdivide into yet others. Thus tools are a universal but so too are some general kinds of tools (pounders, cutters, containers, etc.). The facial expression of emotion is a universal, but so too are smiles, frowns, and other particular expressions.
While some universals are or seem to be relatively simple, others are complexes or syndromes (no implication of illness intended). Ethnocentrism and romantic love are examples: both are best understood as complexes or syndromes rather than simple traits or behaviors.
Many universals have a collective rather than individual referent. Thus music and dance are found in all societies, but not all individuals dance or make music. Child-rearing occurs in all societies, but not all persons rear children.
Yet other universals are found in all (normal) individuals, although sometimes only in one sex or the other or in particular age ranges. Thus women everywhere predominate in child care and on average are younger than their mates. Children everywhere acquire language with prodigious skill, but adults do not. On the other hand, above the age of infancy everyone employs gestures and such elementary logical concepts as not, and, or, kind of, greater/lesser, part/whole, etc.; everyone classifies; everyone has likes and dislikes.
Universals at the level of the individual are particularly likely to be close to human nature or to be actual elements of human nature--at the core of which are the evolved problem-solving mechanisms that constitute the human mind. Universals of this kind--innate universals--raise some important methodological and disciplinary issues that will be addressed below. But let me first present what may be called the different formal distinctions among universals. These formally distinct kinds include absolute universals, near universals, conditional universals, statistical universals, and universal pools.
The definition I gave at the outset refers to absolute universals. A near universal is one for which there are some few known exceptions or for which there is reason to think that there might be some exceptions. Fire making and keeping domestic dogs are two near universals, as there were good reports of a very few peoples who used fire but did not know how to make it, or who did not possess the dog. Many traits are described as “universal or nearly universal” to express a note of caution (given the sampling problems to be described below). Thus the emphasis in rituals around the world of percussion or deep-noted instruments and of the colors red, white, and black should probably be described as universal or nearly universal. The causes of near- and absolute universals may be quite similar.
A conditional universal (also called an implicational universal) is an “if-then” universal: if a particular condition is met, then the trait in question always accompanies it. Such universals are analogous to the facultative adaptations of evolutionary biology, of which callusing is an example. Not all individuals have calluses, but if there is sustained friction on particular locations of the hand, say, then calluses develop. Conditional universals are particularly well documented in linguistics. An example from culture is that if there is a cultural preference for one hand over the other then it will be the right hand that is preferred (as is the case in western culture, where the right hand is used in greetings and taking oaths). It is the rule or underlying causal mechanism that is the real universal in such cases.
A statistical universal is one that may be far from absolutely universal but that occurs in unrelated societies at a rate that seems well above chance. An example is the words used for the pupil of the eye. In a surprisingly large number of unrelated languages it is a term that refers to a little person. The apparent explanation for this is that everywhere people looking closely at other peoples’ eyes see a small reflection of themselves, so that in one society after another this common experience has somehow influenced the naming of the pupil. Although it is something of a stretch to think of these kinds of phenomena as universals, the explanation for them is not culturally particular but, rather, is in terms of a universal experience. Of course statistical- and conditional universals may combine (a great many anthropological generalizations are of this form).
A universal pool refers to those situations in which a limited set of options exhaust the possible variations from one society to another. The international phonetic alphabet, which does not really cover all the possibilities, nonetheless serves to express the idea: it consists of a finite possible set of speech sounds or sound contrasts, a selection from which is found in each actual language. Early in the past century an analysis of kinship terminologies showed that a quite small set of semantic contrasts accounted for the differences in kin terms in all or nearly all societies (a few further contrasts have been added since). Examples of the semantic contrasts are sex, which distinguishes "brother" from "sister," "father" from "mother," etc. and generation, which distinguishes "son" from "father," "father" from "grandfather," etc.

METHODOLOGICAL AND DISCIPLINARY ISSUES

There are severe methodological limitations on what can be known about universals in general. No one can really know the conditions in all societies, so that any statement about universality is based on some sort of sampling. In most cases this sampling has not been rigorous. Furthermore, the precision with which a real or alleged universal has been described often leaves much to be desired, in part because the original reports or descriptions were provided by different observers and sometimes at widely spaced intervals in time. Thus the confidence one can have in particular claims of universality is quite variable. Given the costs involved in studying even a single society, this range of problems will persist.
However, it should be noted that a sample as small as two societies--so long as they are very different--can be highly suggestive. Thus one can view the documentary film entitled “First Contact” and make one’s own observations about what is common to two highly diverse societies: one’s own modern society and a previously uncontacted highland New Guinean society. The film footage for this documentary was taken by Australian prospectors in the 1930s, when they were the first outsiders to enter a high and isolated valley. The differences between the Australians and the New Guineans are striking, and yet the two also showed much in common, much of which would be difficult to trace to cultural borrowing.
In spite of its professional charge to study all cultures, which uniquely qualifies anthropology to both identify and verify universals, some anthropological conceptions and practices have not been congenial to the study of universals. Notably, anthropological attention has been riveted more surely by differences between societies than by their commonalities. Moreover, such attention as anthropologists have given to universals has tended to be limited to surface or manifest universals, those readily available to observation or readily expressed by their informants. Innate universals tended to be neglected (in extreme cases their existence was denied). This neglect was to a large extent overt and principled, seeming to follow logically from the view of culture that anthropologists held throughout much of the twentieth century, a view that seemed to be supported by exaggerated (and in some cases false) reports of the extraordinary extent to which cultures differ and shape human behavior, a view that was construed to indicate that there must be few if any universal features of the human mind.
As a result, the anthropological study of universals has been spotty at best, unified neither by theory nor by sustained attention. There is, thus, ample reason to suspect that a great many more universals have yet to be identified.
In contrast to anthropologists, psychologists have been much more open to the discovery of presumably universal features of the human mind. But only rarely have psychologists conducted their research outside the modernized and mostly western world, so that the cross-cultural validity of the numerous mental processes and traits that they have identified is often in doubt. And some cross-cultural research has indeed shown that psychological phenomena that one might think are unaffected by cultural differences--the perception of certain optical illusions, for example--are in fact not universal (many other examples could be given). More will be said about conceptions of culture, and the possibility of theoretically guiding the study of innate universals, in a later section.

CAUSES

A relatively small number of causal processes or conditions appear to account for most if not all universals. These processes or conditions are 1) the diffusion of ancient (and generally very useful) cultural traits, 2) cultural reflection of physical fact, 3) the operation and structure of the human mind, and (behind the latter) 4) the evolution of the human mind.
Some universals--the well-authenticated examples are tool making, the use of fire, and cooking food--can be traced to such a great antiquity that it is sometimes proposed that they existed in the very earliest human populations and spread with humans to all their subsequent habitats. At any rate, some universals are very ancient and they are very useful, leaving it understandable that they might readily have spread as cultural traditions to all human societies.
As for cultural reflection, I have already mentioned the case of terms for the pupil of the eye, which is based on a literal reflection. I have also mentioned kin terms, which everywhere reflect the relationships entailed by the bare facts of sexual reproduction (which, for example, everywhere generate parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, marital/mate relationships, and the various compounds of these relationships). Kin terms often include more than what is entailed by reproduction and sometimes omit some of the entailments, but in every language there is a substantial mapping of the locally named (emic) relationships onto actual (etic) kin relationships. Similarly the naming or classification of plants and animals shows substantial mapping onto (scientific) zoological and botanical classification. The near universal preference for the right hand that was mentioned earlier is probably a cultural reflection of the fact that in all societies most people by far are right handed and the right hand seems so much “better.” In all these cases the “world out there,” so to say, is reflected in the cultural conceptions of each people--even though the reflections are not one-to-one and thus do vary in many ways from one society to another.
Finally, there are those universals whose causes lie more or less directly in the nature of the human mind, or that are features of the human mind. The latter in turn trace causally to the evolutionary past of humanity as a species. These universals of mind require a more extended discussion.
Recalling what was said earlier about disciplinary differences, it should be noted that the socio-cultural anthropologists who, due to their comparative studies of all human societies are most qualified to document universals, are not as a rule well qualified to explain them. By training, most socio-cultural anthropologists are neither psychologists nor biologists. But psychobiology and evolutionary psychology surely are crucial in explaining many innate universals (and in providing guidance in the search for further such universals). The reasoning is simple: whatever is constant through the many environments in which humans live must be due to something that goes with them wherever they go; that would certainly include human nature. Psychobiology and evolutionary psychology are the tools for understanding human nature.
Although much of the entire body of findings on the mind, as determined by psychology, is potentially universal, it would be a massive undertaking to assess their validity cross-culturally. This task can be meaningfully reduced, however, by limiting it not to all that the mind can and does do, but to determining those features of mind placed there by natural selection; that is, by focusing on those mechanisms that are natural units of mind--the problem-solving adaptations that make it up--rather than pursuing an indiscriminate study of any or all the effects that the mind can produce. This is the more focused--and more theoretically informed--task of evolutionary psychology as opposed to psychology in general.
Examples of universals of psyche or mind that were determined by cross-cultural study but without evolutionary theorizing are dichotomization or binary discriminations, the language acquisition device (as described by the linguist Noam Chomsky), emotions, classification, elementary logical concepts, psychological defense mechanisms, ethnocentrism or in-group bias, and reciprocity as a mechanism for bonding individuals to one another.
Among the universals identified more recently through testing evolutionary propositions are a facial-template-constructing mechanism that generates a preference for faces that are near the population mean, a social-cheater-detecting mechanism, a mental mechanism for thinking about “human kinds,” and a preference in males for skin colors in females that are lighter than the mean (because in the past it correlated with fecundity). Incest avoidance--a phenomenon found in many animal species as well as humans--straddles the boundary, as it is an evolution-minded re-thinking of what for long was one of the most frequently discussed and prototypically cultural human universals: the incest taboo. Similarly, the sentiments generated by kinship and reciprocity were long recognized by some anthropologists as universal but only received a sound theoretical understanding when evolutionary biologists illuminated their crucial role in providing solutions to the Darwinian puzzle of how altruism could evolve.
The determination and causal explanation of innate universals, predicted or illuminated by evolutionary theory, is probably the most active area in the study of universals at present. But a pursuit of causation in the other direction is vigorously underway too: since it follows that features of human nature must provide a continuous and pervasive structuring of human thought and activity--and hence of society, culture, and history, however much variation they exhibit--the findings of psychobiology and evolutionary psychology have clear implications for socio-cultural particulars too. Research or analysis that involves partitioning or breaking down socio-cultural particulars into the universal elements of which they are compounds will be discussed in the next section.

INNATE UNIVERSALS AND CULTURE

In turning now to culture in relation to universals, I will ignore those universals that presumably are cultural--such as the ancient and useful inventions and the cultural reflections--and will focus instead on those that are or may be innate universals. Hereafter, “universals” refers to those only.
Culture is usually defined by anthropologists in terms that distinguish it from nature, often as a radical contrast: culture versus nature. Definitions of culture generally stress patterns of behavior, thought, feelings, and artifact that are passed on from individual to individual, group to group, generation to generation extrasomatically--meaning patterns that are not in our genes, patterns that must be learned. Another important part of the culture concept is the observation that, overwhelmingly, any particular individual receives culture. What the individual can add to it or change is miniscule.
Although not a part of its definition, an important association with culture has been variability, indeterminacy, arbitrariness. The various peoples of the world do have substantial cultural differences, and some differences seem to have no rhyme or reason. This tendency to variability and indeterminacy is often contrasted with the fixity of nature, as in the fixity of animal instincts.
At their extreme, these conceptions of culture led to the view that the mind is fundamentally a "blank slate" and that the study of culture can be conducted with little or no attention to the human mind (or to the individual).
These aspects of anthropological thought were not congenial to the study of universals, and have posed two particular problems. One concerns the boundary between nature and nurture. The other is the matter of how the constants of human nature--whatever they might be--could produce or participate in the obvious variability of culture. Let me treat the former first.
Whatever contrast there may be between culture and nature, cultural patterns must initially be created by humans. Furthermore, cultural patterns must not only be created by humans, they must subsequently be conveyed, received, and given expression in processes constrained and shaped by the mental and physical traits that make up the human organism. In other words, human nature is essential to human culture--in origin and as an ongoing process. Perhaps no one denies this, but there has been great disagreement concerning how, when, to what extent, and in what ways human nature manifests itself in cultural matters.
Let me use an analogy to suggest how culture and nature run together. As I sat in my office composing these sentences, employing and surrounded by artifacts that did not exist during the period in which humans evolved, much of what was around me and much of what I was doing would well fit the description of culture. The very desk in front of me was built by humans according to a pattern devised by humans. But the grain in the desk’s wood always runs in whichever is the long dimension of each piece. The wood itself was once a natural object, and still retains some of its natural features. So the principal ingredients of the desk are natural and the nature of those ingredients figures into how the pieces are assembled and employed. Thus nature and culture combine in the desk. Similarly, as I put together my thoughts in language, planning to communicate with other humans by means of a paper that is clearly a cultural artifact, trying to make myself comfortable at the same time, I was also doing many natural things. As I articulated my thoughts and words, an enormous amount of mental and physical activity went on silently inside me almost entirely beyond the range of consciousness. That is nature, human nature.
Some definitions of culture do acknowledge this continuous intermixing with nature. The philosopher-anthropologist David Bidney, for example, argued that culture should, at least in part, be understood “as the dynamic process and product of the self-cultivation of human nature.” Others speak of culture within nature instead of culture versus nature--that is, culture is a product of human nature. Some have equated culture with “life way,” a term that makes no reference to it being extrasomatic and that is therefore apt for combining nature and culture. Others have seen culture as a control or correction of certain features of human nature. Yet others see culture as an extension of the human mind and body. One can think of culture as a kind of judo, in which the features of the mind and body are channeled and amplified into particularly efficient uses.
As a result of this intermingling of nature and culture, anthropologists (and others) are led to continuous uncertainty or disputation about which is which or where one leaves off and the other begins. These disputes can be scientifically beneficial, so long as there is no insistence on behaviors being radically separated, either-or culture or nature.
In sum, there may be good reason to distinguish the cultural in human affairs, but in almost everything that humans do and make it is as useful to insist on it being either culture or nature as it would be to insist that water is either hydrogen or oxygen.
But how can the constants of human nature be reconciled with the manifest variability of cultures or, for that matter, with the manifest variability of human behavior? Let me give five answers.
1) In any discussion of human nature a particularly crucial distinction must be made between "functions" and "effects." The set of mental mechanisms that comprise the human mind, and thus are fundamental to human nature, were designed by natural selection to solve particular problems that were recurrent in our evolutionary past and that are presumably finite in number. Solving these problems are the respective functions of those mechanisms. However, a mechanism designed to discharge a particular function may have side effects or byproducts. Thus, the shape of the outer ear was designed by natural selection to gather sound waves but may also be used to support glasses or pencils. Similarly, our fingers were not designed to type, but can do it. The anthropologist Lawrence Hirschfeld has proposed, on the basis of experimental evidence, that there is a mechanism in the human mind dedicated to processing information on human types, such as kin types, the sexes, and occupational types. While this mechanism must have evolved in conditions in which racial differentiation was rarely if ever perceived (due to the short distances our Stone Age ancestors could have traveled), it has left the human mind effectively “prepared” to think about races in particular ways. Thus racial thinking has flourished in recent times because it “parasitizes” a mechanism that was designed for other purposes.
In the case of humans, mental mechanisms are numerous and their effects--which presumably include a great many emergent properties stemming from the interaction of the various individual mechanisms--are either potentially infinite or at any rate infinitely divisible. In spite of the infinity of possible behavioral effects, the mechanisms do leave traces of their existence: some are relatively obvious (as in the uniformity of smiles and frowns), some possess enough observable irregularity to fuel the nature-nurture debates (as with many sex differences), and some reveal themselves only through unusual observational situations, as in extensive cross-cultural observation or psychological experimentation. At any rate, the range of effects that may become culturally patterned is thus large.
2) Many mental mechanisms motivate us toward goals (mating, ingesting food, etc.) without specifying the means. We may meet these goals through a potentially infinite variety of means. While the many means are observable, the few goals must be inferred. The range of means that may become culturally patterned is again large.
3) Some mental mechanisms involve calibration to environing conditions. The resulting behaviors are variable by design, though the underlying mechanism is unitary. The variable responses may well appear to be cultural. For example, as mentioned earlier there is evidence to suggest that humans have an evolved mechanism for detecting and preferring faces that, for many of their features, are near the mean (or average) of what one sees. Since the mean may vary from one population to another, the resulting standards of beauty would vary too, and this could easily be interpreted as a cultural difference.
4) Many adaptations may in some circumstances conflict with each other, so that the resulting behaviors are compromises. Purely local conditions may favor compromises in one direction rather than another. Various peoples thus ignore the pangs of hunger and thirst for a time to maintain the approval of their fasting fellows.
5) As wondrously precise as genetic replication is, the genes that program the structure and operation of our minds (and bodies) do so in interaction with the genes' environments, which can and do vary. This, in turn, results in structures and operations that differ in varying degrees from one individual to another and from one population to another. In this context it is important to note that recent human environments, in almost all parts of the world, present many conditions that are quite unlike those that prevailed over the long period in which human nature evolved. Many modern behaviors--epidemic obesity in environments rich in processed foods comes to mind as an example--may have their analogues more in the bizarre behaviors of animals in zoos than in what the same kinds of animals do in their natural habitats. Clearly, local environments account for many of what are seen as cultural distinctions between one society and another.
In sum, observable variation in behavior or culture is entirely compatible with a panhuman design of the mind (barring sex and age differences that are equally likely to reflect evolutionary design).
Finally, let us return to the notion that innate human universals continuously and pervasively structure human culture (and society and history). To the extent that this is so, we should be able to do a sort of back engineering on features of society or culture that allows us to break them down into their component elements or trace their roots back to the features of human nature that gave rise to them. This is not a new idea, in part because in some cases the task seems easy. What is the alternative, for example, to concluding that writing, the printing press, the telegraph, the telephone, the word processor, and more are extensions or augmentations of speech?
Around the beginning of the 20th century, similar thinking--about what were then called “elementary ideas”--led to the conclusion that the spear is an augmentation of the arm. What would be the alternative explanation for literally millions of songs, poems, stories, and works of art, from many parts of the earth and over long periods of time, that celebrate the attractions between men and women--except the mind’s preoccupation with the topic? Perhaps the entire cosmetics industry flows from the same cause. Ronald Hyam, a historian of colonialism, has even argued that the sexual drive was as potent a motivator of colonialism as was economics. The virulent nationalisms and racisms of modern times may well be “hypertrophies” of an ethnocentrism that for many millenia played itself out on a much smaller scale.
Near the middle of the past century what I believe was one of anthropology’s great achievements appeared in Ralph Linton's book on culture history entitled The Tree of Culture. It assembled information about where and when cultural inventions arose around the world. But what was omitted were the roots of that tree in human nature. The task of tracing those roots--in literature, the arts, history, and human affairs in general--is now well begun. We can look forward to the time when a great many cultural features are traced beyond the time and place of their invention to the specific features of human nature that gave rise to them, or for which they are augmentations. In order to do this we need not only a close examination of culture but an expanding knowledge of what the full complement of features of human nature might be. The study of human universals is an important component of that task.

SUMMARY

This paper has attempted to present some of the principal issues in the study of those traits that are common to all human cultures, societies, and languages, and to the minds and behavior of humans everywhere. Hundreds of such traits are known, and all or most can be traced to a very few causal processes, notably including the evolved nature of the human mind. There is reason to suspect that the number of universals should be much higher, because their discovery and verification has hitherto suffered a sort of two-way bind. On the one hand, anthropologists have shown more interest in differences than commonalities, and have not been well prepared to study the major class of universals that comprise the human mind. On the other hand, psychologists, while focused on the human mind, have too rarely sought cross-cultural validity for their findings. While it is not feasible to test all psychological findings in cross-cultural settings, this paper argued that research focused on those features of mind that were placed there by natural selection is feasible. Evolutionary psychology is the framework in which this research may be, and is being, conducted. The insights into human nature that result from this research are in turn providing insight into the motivation, origin, or character of a wide variety of human activities--and into the particulars as well as the universals of human culture.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper (and most of my previous work on universals) has benefited from comments by Donald Symons.

REFERENCES

References for the assertions made in this paper may be found in

Brown, Donald E. 1991 Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill (and Temple University Press).

1999 Human Nature and History. History and Theory 38 (4):138-157.

2000 Human Universals and Their Implications. In Being Humans: Anthropological Universality and Particularity in Transdisciplinary Perspectives. Ed. by Neil Roughley. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Pp. 156-174.