For A Change articles from August 2006

For A Change archives from August 2006

Ear to the ground.(Egremont, Massachusetts)
August 1, 2006... Fire! Egremont is a town of 1,033 people, made up of two villages and governed by three 'Selectmen' (although right now one of them is a woman). Most of the town committees are composed of volunteers. My husband served on the Board of...

Getting down to reality.(FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK)
August 1, 2006... OK, I draw the line at Big Brother--and I'm ashamed of my sneaking weakness for I'm a Celebrity, get me out of here!, in which a group of celebs eat creepy crawlies and brave snakes in the Australian jungle. But I have to admit to...

Answering Dresden's call: Philip Boobbyer discovers how the rebuilding of an historic German church, destroyed by British bombers during World War II, is healing old wounds.(LEAD STORY)
August 1, 2006... THE DESTRUCTION of Dresden by Allied bombers in 1945 has become a worldwide symbol of the horrors of 'carpet bombing'. But could Dresden now become known as a focal point of reconciliation? The answer is 'yes', according to Alan Russell,...

Margaret's secret war: Margaret Jackson was in on the birth of European unity. She talks to Michael Smith.(Interview)
August 1, 2006... FOR OVER 50 YEARS Margaret Jackson lived with a secret. Only recently, since the lifting of a Foreign Office ban, has she been free to talk about her wartime service in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the clandestine force set up in...

Standing up for the ghetto.(people making a difference)
August 1, 2006... JAIR HERNANDEZ BARONA looks around the office in London where he is going to talk about his work as a human rights activist, then he points to his bag and observes: 'This is my office, it's all I take on the streets'. He was born in Cali,...

India I care.(to bring ethical values to Indians)
August 1, 2006... IF ONLY WE LIVED IN A WORLD where people didn't drop litter, tell lies, cheat... but we do. In India, however, a group of people involved with Initiatives of Change (IofC) have launched a national campaign to turn the tide against corruption,...

Harnessing the power of Boaz and Ruth: Karen Elliott Greisdorf discovers a programme which is revitalising old furniture, broken lives and a whole neighbourhood.(BUILDING COMMUNITY)
August 1, 2006... KELVIN COLEY MEANS BUSINESS. Not a customer comes in nor an item goes out of the showroom he manages without his notice. The 4,500 square foot storefront in Richmond, Virginia, USA, showcases the revenue-driven business initiatives of an...

Black sunshine in Wagga Wagga: Ron Lawler meets a group of young Aboriginal people who are changing their town.(YOUTH EMPOWERMENT)
August 1, 2006... THE FRONT COVER of the local phone book is a certain way to get your face recognised by all in your community. Luke Penrith (24) and his mates in the Black Suns have found this in the past 12 months. Three years ago, Penrith and a group of...

I give up! Jessica Fleischer couldn't live without a cigarette. Or could she?(LIVING ISSUES)
August 1, 2006... UNTIL LAST NOVEMBER my life was built around cigarettes. They were my reason for getting out of bed--and for reading, walking, studying, eating, going out with friends, having friends.... I went to all the places where I was allowed to smoke...

A different light on Bolivian politics: why is Bolivia's controversial new President so popular in his country?(Evo Morales )
August 1, 2006... ON 18 DECEMBER 2005, Evo Morales made history by becoming Bolivia's first indigenous President. Morales' victory, which captured 54 per cent of the vote, is a milestone in Bolivian and South American history. It brings hope to indigenous...

Time to take a new look at Islam: Hennie de Pous reads a controversial report on Islam, and concludes that its critics were missing the point.(ESSAY)
August 1, 2006... EARLIER THIS YEAR the Scientific Council for Government Policy in the Netherlands (WRR) published a controversial report: Dynamics in Islamic Activism. It focused on Islam's points of contact with democracy and human rights, and recommended...

Wales-Lesotho twinning comes of age: twenty-one years after it was launched, the world's first nation-to-nation twinning is moving up a gear.(Dolen Cymru )
August 1, 2006... When Dolen Cymru (the Wales-Lesotho Link) was launched in 1985 (see FAC April 1988), Wales had no representative assembly of its own and no immediate prospect of one. Over the years the unique country-to-country link with the Kingdom of Lesotho...

Correction.(UPDATE)(Correction notice)
August 1, 2006... Correction: the photograph of India on p2-3 of our June/July issue should have been credited to Panos. We apologise for this omission.

London's taboo-breaking tent.(A DIFFERENT BEAT)(The Tent)
August 1, 2006... DWARFED BY HIGH-RISE buildings in the City of London is a structure that would not look out of place in the North African desert. 'The Tent', which has just been opened by the Prince of Wales, stands in the garden courtyard behind St....

Kicking the self-blame habit.(REFLECTIONS)(Viewpoint essay)
August 1, 2006... I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED MY FAITH to be relevant and longed to be an encourager to young people on their spiritual journeys. Even though I have given my life, as best I know, to what I understand of the Almighty's plan I have often felt that...

Time to leave our intellectual ghettos.(Muslim, non-Muslim relations)(Column)
August 1, 2006... We all oppose the clash of civilisations. But if you listen to people on the ground here in Europe, in the States, and in the Islamic-majority countries, there is a definite feeling of 'us' versus 'them'. We deny the reality of this theory...