For A Change articles from August 2005

For A Change archives from August 2005

60 years on.(Geneva Conventions protests)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The European media have been full of articles, documentaries, recollections to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II--perhaps because this is one of the last anniversaries with large numbers of the participants still around to...

Swiss shadow.(Jewish refugees treatment during World War II)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... How hard it is for all our countries to come to terms with the shadow chapters of our past. Many Swiss have been brought up on a mythologized history of a nation protected through World War II by its virtues and its readiness to defend its...

We all need heroes.(EAR TO THE GROUND)(Dietrich Bonhoeffer protestant theology)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... My hero from this terrible time is a German: Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Protestant theologian, resister of the Nazi evil, he was executed just one month before the end of the war. He memorably said: 'If you board the wrong train, it is no use running...

No island.(Switzerland democracy issues)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Through most of World War II, Switzerland was an island surrounded by the Axis powers and the countries they occupied. Today Switzerland is surrounded by the European Union. And some in Switzerland sound as if the threat was much the same! ...

Heart and soul.(people participation for political change)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... In some parts of the world, people are still risking their lives for the right to have a say in the way they are governed. Perhaps we all have something new to learn about democracy, and about a democratic debate. So many important issues...

A global challenge.(social responsibility of people for social progress)(Editorial)
August 1, 2005... We the peoples of the United Nations determined... to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,' begins the UN Charter. These words of 60 years ago are at once a declaration and a reminder that the global fight...

Jean Brown meets the women who are standing up for peace in a clean Africa.(Cover Story)
August 1, 2005... The alarm cocks of Africa call up the dawn. Across the continent the English translation of the most commonly used morning greeting, in a variety of languages, is 'Have you woken up?' Two hundred impressively awake women from 26 countries...

China woos a Japanese heart.(Yoshikazu Kato using mass media develops relations with china)
August 1, 2005... AS A four-year-old boy in Japan, Yoshikazu Kato spent his free time gazing at a world map. By the age of five, he had memorized every country's capital city. Over the last 16 years, this internationalism has continued to develop, even if the...

Supporting India's lepers.(PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE)(Gerhard Fischer)(Biography)
August 1, 2005... WHEN DR Gerhard Fischer heard he was receiving the 1997 Gandhi Peace Prize for his work with lepers in India, he had a warning for Indian Government officials. 'I told them that if I accepted, I would speak against the government's...

Those who can, teach.(PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE)(Antony Fernando)
August 1, 2005... LANGUAGE, so often a divisive element in Sri Lanka's history, could be a unifying factor, believes Dr Antony Fernando, founder of the Intercultural Research Centre in Eldeniya, Sri Lanka. The Centre is an English language school for...

Dawnecia Palmer: 'can we pray for you?' On the streets of Bristol, UK, one women is fighting crime with a silent force. Stan Hazell finds out more.(PROFILE)
August 1, 2005... Hi,' says a smiling Rev Dawnecia Palmer as she greets two young men in baseball caps on the streets of St Paul's, Bristol--a part of the city with a reputation for drug related crime and violence. 'Can we pray for you?' she asks. The Prayer...

Shining a light of hope: amidst the slums of Pune, Pamela Jenner discovers an organization which is bringing hope to the city's poorest inhabitants.(DEVELOPMENT)(Deep Griha)
August 1, 2005... Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said recently that Pune 'stands out as a great symbol of nationalism and modernization in India's quest for modern renaissance'. Home to the prestigious University of Pune--known as the 'Oxford of the East'--its...

The UN at 60: on the 60th anniversary of its creation, Sir Richard Jolly reviews the chequered history of the world's foremost intergovernmental body.(ESSAY)
August 1, 2005... This year the United Nations reaches 60. Although it has been under fire from critics for much of its life, the UN's record is much better than many realize. A recent independent report from the Secretary-General's High Level Panel on Threats,...

Back from the edge: hate of his father pushed Kofi Bassaw Quartey to crime. Now he campaigns for integrity in Africa.(TURNING POINT)(Biography)
August 1, 2005... 'NEARLY everyone has been hurt in some way or other, either by members of their family or by people close to them,' observes Clean Africa campaigner Kofi Bassaw Quartey. For him the biggest hurt was the feeling that his father had abandoned...

What book has meant most to you?(SINCE YOU ASK)(How to Change the World)(A New Day)(The Picture of Dorian Gray)(Memory and Identity: Personal Reflections)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... We asked writers to confine themselves to books published recently, or at least in the last 100 years. I CAME across David Bornstein's How to Change the World (Oxford University Press, 2004) last year. I devoured it within a day. ...

Fall out.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... AS a reader of For A Change over many years, I have enjoyed the improvements and changes in its style and presentation. I appreciate the wide ranging topics of the articles and that inclusion of advertisements have been resisted. I was...

Correction.(LETTERS)(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2005... In Reflections in our last issue, we wrongly attributed a quotation to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India. The speaker, in fact, was the Governor of Assam, BK Nehru.

Turkey asks, 'why not?' As Turkey, straddling Europe and Asia, seeks to join the European Union, Cigdem Leblebici reflects on the momentum for change in her country.(FIRST PERSON)
August 1, 2005... What is Turkey? A population of about 70 million people of diverse origins (Balkan, Caucasian, Central Asian, Kurdish, Greek, Armenian, Arabic...?) A culture forever in flux, which bears elements of hunting-gathering, pastoral,...

Lebanese visit US.(NEWS DESK)(promoting peace)
August 1, 2005... 'FORMERLY bitter enemies become promoters of peace,' announced The Washington Post in April, reporting the visit of four Lebanese to Washington DC. 'The Lebanese people have been making peace with themselves,' Muhieddine Chehab, Mayor of the...

What does it mean to be moral today?(NEWS DESK)(Initiatives of Change)
August 1, 2005... 'YOU can plan a new world on paper; but you've got to build it with people,' said former British Ambassador Archie Mackenzie at the opening of the Initiatives of Change (IofC) USA national gathering in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His words...

Reaching the kids who fall through the net: as youth crime grabs the headlines in the UK, Decio Emanuel Do Nascimento visits two organizations on the front line in Tower Hamlets, London.(LIVING ISSUES)
August 1, 2005... In the run-up to the British elections this spring, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced proposals to combat teenage violence and anti-social behaviour. These included an attempt to shame and discourage young offenders by requiring teenagers...

Finding the light in leaders.(A DIFFERENT BEAT)(Column)
August 1, 2005... Recent elections and referenda are raising questions about public attitudes to those who aspire to lead them. Kim Beazley, father of the present leader of the Australian Opposition, was himself a former cabinet minister and one of the most...

Giving hope to humanity: step four to remaking the world.(REFLECTIONS)
August 1, 2005... CARTOON CHARACTER Charlie Brown once said, 'I love humanity. It's people I can't stand!' To give hope to humanity we may just need to find a love for people. Take a leaf out of St Theresa of Avila's book. She once prayed, 'Oh God I do not...

I don't want your pity, just listen.(Christine Jacobs )(Transcript)
August 1, 2005... The day before Christine Jacobs, one of the 'stolen generations' of Aboriginal Australians, was due to speak at the launch of Australia's National Day of Healing, she was knocked down by a car and killed. Her 14-year-old daughter, Tamara, read...