UNESCO Courier articles from February 2001

UNESCO Courier archives from February 2001

My mother, my mirror.(Review)
February 1, 2001... Through a kaleidoscope of memories and feelings, the author probes one of our most intense and primal relationships--that between mothers and daughters--and the dimensions it has taken in Argentina's recent traumatic history I "Once upon...

Where Drug Firms Fear to Tread
February 1, 2001... Access to medicines in poor countries has become a critical issue with the spread of AIDS and re-emergence of illnesses once thought to have been beaten. Can the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry offer any kind of response? There is a...

Staying Power: A Russian Tale
February 1, 2001... In a town of 40,000 souls, a school has managed to keep up standards on a shoe string, while in Moscow, a trailblazing principal ploughs along with his alternative approach to learning, attracting both criticism and curiosity Tatiana...

WHEN THE STATE FAILS a Survival Guide
February 1, 2001... BENEATH THE SURFACE OF PAPER STATES The map of the world is dotted with growing "grey areas"--places where might is right and poverty is extreme. In these areas the state imposes its will, fleeces its subjects or simply ceases to exist. A...

The State: Rising from Below?
February 1, 2001... Grassroots organizations might be filling in for failed states, but for the rule of law to take effect, government and communities have to work hand-in-hand At the beginning of the 20th century, less than a tenth of the world's population...

Colombia: "A Culture Built on Illegality and Force"
February 1, 2001... In the absence of a legitimate state, guerrillas, paramilitary forces and organized crime have each managed to lay down their law, says Colombian economist and philosopher Libardo Sarmiento Violence in Colombia claimed 38,000 lives last year...

Money Rules in Mogadishu
February 1, 2001... How does a country Live without a government for ten years? In the Somali capital, self-made businessmen with the help of unsparing Islamic courts are trying to prove that they have more might than the warlords Flash back ten years, when...

Bumba: The City Where Cyclists Are Heroes
February 1, 2001... Once supplied by the Congo River, this city controlled by rebel groups has lost its vocation as one of the country's bread baskets. Instead, cycling shopkeepers travel perilously to bring back prized goods from afar, while the Internet offers a...

Haiti: Alone on the Hill
February 1, 2001... The inhabitants of the Port-au-Prince slum of Martissant have created a mosaic of community groups to fill in as best they can for a crying absence of public services Things are going from bad to worse in Martissant. It's the same all over...

Going the Cooperative Way
February 1, 2001... The El Mezquital slum may still be a target for gangs, but its inhabitants have devised some of Guatemala City's best-run community projects, giving access to clean water, health centres and schools "Gangsters kill three youths in El...

Afghanistan: In the Valley of Drought
February 1, 2001... Throughout this nation shattered by years of war, traditional village assemblies have continued to gather, proving their deep commitment to bettering everyday life It's five in the morning. The day dawns in the Jalrez Valley. Along the base...

Troubled Lands Where Criminals Are King
February 1, 2001... Organized crime can take root in all kinds of states but finds a ripe breeding ground in crisis-ridden countries, says Alex Schmid from the United Nations' Terrorism Prevention Branch When the state weakens, doesn't organized crime often...

Beating Global Warming with Nuclear Power?
February 1, 2001... The nuclear power industry claims it holds the keys to reducing the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Opponents are striking back with their own arsenal of facts and figures For several years, the nuclear energy industry has...

Shinto and Shoguns: A Return to Itsukushima
February 1, 2001... At first sight, Itsukushima appears to be one island among many dotting Japan's Seto Inland Sea. Yet a novelist returns to the cherished site of a venerated shrine where Shinto rituals set the skies and waters ablaze with music and the echo of...

Fleeing the Dot.com Era
February 1, 2001... The Internet has been proclaimed as the supreme network, the place where one day all human beings wilt communicate. So who are these strange people switching off in droves? Two years ago, one of the scientists behind the original computer...

Choi Yul the Greening of Korea
February 1, 2001... Choi Yul spent his prison years strengthening his grasp of environmental problems. Today, the country's leading green activist is rallying the South Korean people against polluting industries. Together, they have scored victories against both...