For A Change articles from August 2003

For A Change archives from August 2003

Ear to the ground.(Australia)
August 1, 2003... 'Welcome, stranger!' Human nature is an odd and contrary beast. Migrants sometimes resent the newcomer, forgetting perhaps their own difficulties as newcomers--even in Australia, a nation developed by immigration. This has been sadly...

Honestly?(From The Editors' Desk)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... Let's admit it. How many of us have been tempted to fudge our tax returns, travel without a ticket or to hang onto change we have been given in error? A recent European opinion poll, for the Reader's Digest, found that 46 per cent of Britons...

The voters who won't stand for corruption: citizens' movements have played an important part in cleaning up general elections in several countries. Brian Lightowler charts their development from 1988 to the present day.(Lead Story; includes related article: Fact file)
August 1, 2003... In 1988 high level police and government corruption in the Australian State of Queensland began to unravel before the glare of the media and a stunned public. The revelations at a Public Enquiry into Police Corruption, headed by Tony...

Reaching out to asylum seekers.(People: making a difference)
August 1, 2003... Over the last six years, the Asylum Seekers Centre in Melbourne, Australia, has distributed over A$250,000-worth of aid. Its founder, David Spitteler, has spoken to over 205 churches of all denominations, and to schools, radio stations and...

Crossing the generation gap.(People: making a difference)
August 1, 2003... Petty vandalism was on the rise in our village, Bradley in Yorkshire. Teenagers hanging out on the street by our one village shop were becoming an increasing concern. Milk bottles were smashed and letterboxes were rattled. Bikes played 'I dare...

Yes from the heart of Europe.(People: making a difference)
August 1, 2003... The people of Lithuania, the biggest of the three Baltic states, are the first former Soviet subjects to vote to join the European Union. Over 65 per cent of the population turned out for the referendum in May in which around 89 per cent voted...

Why we all need committed somebodies; Prof Richard Whitfield argues that we must get our relationships right if we are to give the next generation a fair chance in life.(FAC Essay)
August 1, 2003... The link between morality and human emotions, in the context of the nurture that babies, children and young people need, has been seriously neglected. Yet few things have a greater impact on the way that life is likely to turn out for both...

The hands that unleashed thunder: Brutal honesty and an unswerving commitment to his ideals have driven Letlapa Mphahlele into areas most people would turn away from in horror--and onto an extraordinary journey of reconciliation. He talks to Anthony Duigan.(Profile)
August 1, 2003... When he smiles, his whole face lights up and you feel an immediate connection, a warmth of one human being to another. Open. Charming. Easy to like. But behind this, Letlapa Mphahlele, South African liberation fighter, carries the shattering...

Word-blind: Einar Engebretsen drove his teachers to despair. 30 years later he discovered why.(Living Issues)(Column)
August 1, 2003... The teacher leant over her desk and pointed a white, quivering forefinger at the boy in the third row. In a falsetto voice she declared: 'You, Einar, are stupid!' This educational stimulus came early in my academic career and I responded...

Bringing Eden to earth: Sandy and Caz Hore-Ruthven visit a tourist trap with a message.(Sustainable Development the Eden Project, Cornwall, England)
August 1, 2003... The Eden Project in Cornwall, England, was named after the ancient biblical paradise, lost through original sin. Today, many would say we are in danger of losing our present Eden, the natural world. The philosophy of the Eden Project...

Police chief engages in Welsh dialogue.(Newsdesk)
August 1, 2003... How to resolve tensions in and between communities was the subject of a dialogue held in North Wales in April. It is an issue that concerns many Welsh-speaking communities who feel that their way of life is threatened by large numbers of...

'Africa in search of good governance'.(Newsdesk)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... 'Africa in search of good governance' was the theme of a conference organized by Initiatives of Change in May in Ghana. Guests included the Attorney General of Ghana and the President of the All Africa Conference of Churches, as well as...

Hitching a miracle.(Turning Point)
August 1, 2003... Canadian novelist and newspaper columnist David Jenneson was just 18 in August 1967, when he had an experience that was to play a major role in his life. Earlier that summer he and seven friends had set out to hitch-hike their way to...

Fathers and sons: Finlay Moir's attitude to his son changed when he asked his own father for forgiveness.(First Person)
August 1, 2003... I am now 80. I was 17 when I answered a knock at the door one evening to find a tall police inspector standing there. Having satisfied himself as to my identity he asked if he could come in. I had had a row with my father the night before...

Is fundamentalism the problem? Pierre Spoerri reads a book which sheds light on one of the key issues of our age.(Bookmark)(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... In each period of history, words or expressions have appeared that have stirred, excited and polarized people. The classic examples are 'liberty', 'equality', 'fraternity'--the watchwords of the French Revolution. Such words can motivate people...

Facts and fiddles.(Webbsite)
August 1, 2003... If there were a media Richter scale, the New York Times' Jayson Blair affair might well have set a new shock record. The Times' disclosure of how for years Blair, 27, deceived and tricked his readers and editors alike sent shock waves through...

In real time.(Reflections)(Brief Article)(Poem)
August 1, 2003... In real time I'd like to wait for you like a child for her parent like a lover at the airport like an old man for his family after a long parting with joy, excitement knowing you will soon be here and...

Beheading the monster of corruption.(Guest Column)
August 1, 2003... In 1991 a Kenyan friend, Joe Githongo, invited me for lunch with the regional director of the World Bank, Peter Eigen. The subject: would it be possible to form an international anti-corruption organization, along the lines of those NGOs which...