For A Change articles from February 2004

For A Change archives from February 2004

St Kilda's cakes.(Ear To The Ground)
February 1, 2004... A slice of 'Polish cheesecake' in the window of a cake-shop in the seaside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, roused my interest. St Kilda, once the resort of choice for Melbourne's elite, has an atmosphere of decaying grandeur. Its bars and...

Polish-Jewish dialogue.(Ear To The Ground)
February 1, 2004... In fact, Melbourne has one of the world's highest percentages of holocaust survivors. There is also a large Polish population. This has enabled a Polish-Jewish dialogue, which would be more difficult in Poland itself. During last year's...

Vietnamese journey.(Ear To The Ground)
February 1, 2004... Another important population here are the Vietnamese, who came in the Seventies and Eighties. My friend Jimmy remembers his journey as an 11-year-old with 30 others in a small boat. When the boat's engine broke down in the middle of the night,...

Politician's apology.(Ear To The Ground)
February 1, 2004... In a message to a group of 'Stolen Generation' Aboriginals, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser makes that most rare and precious statement by a politician--an apology. Acknowledging that they were removed from their families 'under policies...

The best icons have flaws.(From The Editor's Desk)
February 1, 2004... Who is your 'icon', the person you most admire in today's world? Perhaps it's David Beckham, late of Manchester United, or Posh, his glamorous wife (formerly of the Spice Girls). If you're an England rugby fan, it could be Jonny Wilkinson...

Fruits of change: Janet Paine looks back on ten years of an initiative to foster democratic values in Eastern and Central Europe.(Lead Story)
February 1, 2004... Always intrigued by a new language, I was struck by the phrase 'schimb valutar' as we walked for the first time along Stefan cel Mare, the main street of Moldova's capital, Chisinau. Every few yards it appeared on billboards and shop windows. I...

Lighting a lamp for our Earth: Alan Channer's visit to India for an environmental and cultural festival launched him on an inner journey.(Environment)
February 1, 2004... You don't rehearse life', he said. 'So we won't rehearse with the groups carrying the lanterns. They'll just flow down the hill onto the playing field and we'll see what happens.' Te Rangi Huata looked out over the green-brown hills on the...

What's God got to do with diplomacy? Former submarine commander Douglas Johnston believes that religion is 'the missing dimension of statecraft'. He tells his story to Bob Webb.(Douglas Johnston)
February 1, 2004... In the heat of the Cold War, Douglas M Johnston Jr served in the US nuclear submarine service. He sometimes pondered how he would react it ordered to fire a missile signalling the start of World War III, without evidence that an enemy attack...

Diabetes and the turquoise goddess.(People Making A Difference)
February 1, 2004... WHEN THE Italian mountaineer, Marco Peruffo, was eight he was diagnosed with diabetes. 'I was a very difficult patient. I rebelled against blood tests, was undisciplined about my diet and made a fuss about taking medicines. But my father, a...

Training for the long haul.(People Making A Difference)
February 1, 2004... WHEN LONG-DISTANCE truck driver and road haulage businessman Hakim Wais moved to Sheffield, England, from the Netherlands three years ago, he was disturbed to find high unemployment among the South Yorkshire city's ethnic minorities. Yet...

Changing the temperature.(People Making A Difference)
February 1, 2004... THE MAORI artistic director and entrepreneur Te Rangi Huata (see also p8) found his vocation as a schoolboy, when he was invited to join an international show called Song of Asia. The show, inspired by the ideas of Moral Re-Armament (now...

Removing the thorns around my heart: being mistaken for a Muslim started Wadiaa Khoury, a Lebanese Christian, on a journey towards her fellow--country people.(Turning Point)
February 1, 2004... I WAS BORN and brought up in Zahle, one of the major Christian cities of Lebanon, where the sound of church bells and chanting resonates every day. The city contains enough churches to celebrate almost every saint's day. From my early...

Aids poses new challenges for Wales-Lesotho link.(Update)
February 1, 2004... DOLEN CYMRU--the Wales Lesotho Link--grew out of a desire to see if Wales could make its own direct contribution to world understanding, in particular in bridging the North-South gap. Although a great deal of its activity is now in the fields...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... from Pat Evans, Worcester, UK Some of Oxfam's publicity on farm subsidies (FAC, Oct/Nov 2003) is misplaced. I doubt that anyone can substantiate the estimate that scrapping the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would raise per capita...

Where eagles and nightingales dare: does doing God's will mean losing your identity, asks Philip Boobbyer.(Essay)
February 1, 2004... We all want to be faithful to our 'true selves'. But how do we discover who we really are? In our individualistic western societies, this is a big question; indeed, the nature of the 'self' is perhaps the central moral and intellectual issue of...

Ten years of 'honest conversation' in Richmond.(News Desk)
February 1, 2004... TEN YEARS AGO, Richmond, Virginia, caught the attention of the USA with its bold public acknowledgement of its painful history--the capital of the Confederacy during the American Civil War was a leading exporter of slaves to southern...

Coventry continues role of peace-making.(News Desk)
February 1, 2004... THE city of Coventry in the English Midlands has had a long and honourable tradition in peace building, since its 14th century cathedral was destroyed in 1940. The city's International Centre for Reconciliation helped broker the Kaduna...

What has restored your faith in human nature?(Since You Ask)
February 1, 2004... ON A VISIT to Kenya I was given everything by people who had nothing. Many wonderful acts of kindness enriched my stay in East Africa. The memory of 30 locals, knee deep in mud, heaving my car back onto the road always brings a smile of...

The English Enigma: Hugh Williams delights in a book that traces 'Englishness' back to the days before England existed.(Bookmark)
February 1, 2004... I commend Peter Ackroyd's book, Albion--the origins of the English imagination, to all those who love the English. I commend this book to all those who hate the English. But above all I commend it to those who are frustrated that they can...

Don't just do something.(Dateline Asia)
February 1, 2004... In early 2003 the cities of New York, Chicago, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal suffered a power blackout. When the lights went out, teenagers saw the stars in the night sky for the first time. They were experiencing visual silence. I am...

Love me, love my nation?(Reflections)
February 1, 2004... WHEN I GOT married, many things in my life changed all at once. Not only was I no longer on my own but I was going to live in a country I scarcely knew, whose language I spoke badly--far from family, friends and my own familiar environment in...

Aids in African is everyone's responsibility.(Guest Column)
February 1, 2004... Anew commitment has been made by Western governments, especially the UK and US, to devote more resources to fighting HIV/Aids globally. The question on many lips, however, is why has it taken so long? Since the world became aware of the...