For A Change articles from October 1999

For A Change archives from October 1999

Caux - a place where new beginnings happen.
October 1, 1999... In a Swiss Alpine village young Latin Americans dance to the vibrant rhythms of their continent. Under the same fairy-tale castle roofs are men and women from some of the world's tensest areas, students from Europe, South African farmers, a...

Can strategic talking help the world's cities? Mike Brown spent a week at the MRA international conference centre in Caux, Switzerland, to find out whether `honest conversation' is as useful as is claimed.
October 1, 1999... Conferences, by definition, are `talk fests'. This one promised to make an art of it--a chance for `honest conversations that include everyone and exclude no-one', to quote one of the organizers, Rob Corcoran. For 10 years Corcoran, who is...

Talk of the town in South Africa.
October 1, 1999... How did the `conservative Afrikaner right-wing town' of Middelburg become the first non-racial municipality in South Africa? And what has made Middelburg and its neighbouring city Witbank the fastest growing towns in South Africa--with a...

Promises kept for the first time in 45 years.
October 1, 1999... The city of Ramle, 50 kms west of Jerusalem, has 12,000 Arabs among its 65,000 population. For 45 years, a succession of mayors promised to develop Ramle's Palestinian neighbourhoods on the `periphery of the periphery' of the town. `Nobody...

Walking through history.
October 1, 1999... For a century African slaves were landed on the James River in Richmond, Virginia, marched across a bridge in the dead of night, and sold at the slave auctions next day. In June last year hundreds walked the same route, at night, seeking to...

Latin America on the move: a group of young Latin Americans has been working to bring change to their countries.
October 1, 1999... A group of young Latin Americans has been working to bring change to their countries. Kenneth Noble encounters them on their first visit outside their continent. Picture a theatre stage full of young Latin Americans in colourful national...

Getting the government to say sorry: the government of New Zealand has taken the unheard of step of apologizing to the Maori people - and beginning to redress their grievences.
October 1, 1999... The Government of New Zealand has taken the unheard of step of apologizing to the Maori people--and beginning to redress their grievances. The architect of this process, Attorney General Sir Douglas Graham, spoke at the Agenda for...

Why I love the Balkans: in the 1960s Ruth Mackenzie spent four years in Yugoslavia, where her husband was a British diplomat.
October 1, 1999... It is natural to love one's own country. But how can one explain an unbidden and unexpected love for a place and people with whom one's life has hitherto had no connection? This is still my feeling for the Balkans and, in particular, for former...

`Your daughter may never walk': Vladimir Devakov tells Mary Lean why he's through with being a victim.
October 1, 1999... Ukrainian teacher Vladimir Devakov thought he would never have children. `This was not based on anything objective, just the feeling that God would not give them to me,' he says. So when his wife, Tanya, told him she was pregnant he was...

Incorrigibly independent: at 18, Paul Gundersen was risking his life for his country, Finland; at 55 he was haggling with bureaucrats behind the Iron Curtain.
October 1, 1999... At 18, Paul Gundersen was risking his life for his country, Finland; at 55 he was haggling with bureaucrats behind the Iron Curtain. It was in Caux that he made the choices which formed his business philosophy, he tells Mary Lean. Finnish...

Reconciliation and transparency.
October 1, 1999... Northern Ireland, South Africa and the fight against corruption were the themes of the three `Caux Lectures' given during this summer's MRA conferences. `Decommissioning of arms will not secure peace (in Ireland) without the...

Politicians' three-point appeal.
October 1, 1999... Politicians and public figures from 20 countries who took part in a round table discussion at Caux this summer issued a three-point appeal focussing on the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the crisis in the Balkans and international debt...

Cancer and the snake ... Bombay author and journalist Russi Lala describes his 10-year battle against cancer and his journey to faith.
October 1, 1999... In his new book, `Celebration of the cells', the Bombay author and journalist Russi Lala describes his 10-year battle against cancer and his journey to faith, written in letters to a fellow cancer sufferer. Here we print edited extracts: ...

Businessmen slay monster of corruption.
October 1, 1999... When German businessman Frank Straub was recently negotiating a joint venture contract with a Bombay firm to manufacture stainless steel kitchen sinks, he was disturbed to find that the managing director's salary didn't show up in the company's...

`We were wrong, wrong, wrong'.
October 1, 1999... Veteran American journalist Charles Overby encountered more than he bargained for on a recent trip to West Africa. He met--and was challenged by--America's past. As chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Freedom Forum he had gone with...

Blackberry time.
October 1, 1999... I've just enjoyed the best cup of tea of my life--in a lighthouse on the far north-west Scottish coast--having spent six days walking around the coast and through the Highlands. These were days during which I was forced to live in the moment;...

Britain's stolen children.
October 1, 1999... It has been said that Britain is the only country to export its children. From the 17th century until 1969--when the traffic just fizzled out--some 30,000 children were `exported' to colonies and dominions of the old Empire. It...