Heidi Barathieu-Brun – Page 81 – World People's Blog

Boualaphet Chounthavong – Laos

Linked with Village Focus International VFI. – She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I enjoy my work and am happy when people feel proud of our work ». And: « The climate becomes drier, unlike the past when rainfall was consistent, now we are suffering from drought, and lack of water. Many wild animals that cannot find food start to roam around and eat the villager’s produce. If we do not take care of our own food, well, all the animals, wild boar, barking deer and other deer will eat it all ».

Boualaphet Chounthavong - Laos redim 70p.jpg

Boualaphet Chounthavong – Laos

She works for Village Focus International VFI. And with The Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network CBNRM.Net.

Her bio.

Boualaphet Chounthavong was born in 1967 in Salawan province, southern Laos, at the height of the Vietnam War. Her father was a teacher who was promoted after the war to a high-ranking post in the Ministry of Education. Her mother was a member of the Laos Women Union. Studying on a government scholarship, Boualaphet obtained her degree in medicine from the National University of Medicine in Laos in 1993.

But instead of opening a high profile medical practice in the capital, which should have earned her a convenient life as a physician, she decided to return to her rural village in Salawan province. She chose to work in a very remote and backward neighborhood in the rural areas.

Continuer la lecture de « Boualaphet Chounthavong – Laos »

Elizabeth Neuenschwander – Switzerland

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « We should remember that we will not live forever, that at one point we will pass away. And therefore, it is useless to accumulate too much for ourselves. It is better to create something valuable ».

She says also: « At home, we were never rich. And still, I realized very early on that we are all quite wealthy in Switzerland. I am convinced that we do not need everything for ourselves. So let us share with other people, living in other places that are less privileged. We should not leave people there in poverty and misery. With our wealth and know-how, we can help them to help themselves. » Under this motto, Elizabeth Neuenschwander has been working for almost 50 years and still does so today.

And she says: « I always worked best when they let me do my job and nobody asked how I did it. I went with an order and strived towards my own goals. That is my talent: working on a grassroots level where you have direct contact with the people, where you can teach them the most efficient and practical way to achieve something. That is the way I was taught, that is what made my professional life successful ».

Elisabeth Neuenschwander - Swiss two.jpg

Elizabeth Neuenschwander – Switzerland

Elizabeth Neuenschwander has spent almost 50 years of her life working abroad. She became a dressmaker and left Emmental, a remote Swiss region, at age 19. Since the late 1950s, she has worked in developing countries for different organizations: with Tibetan refugees in Nepal and India, as a nutrition advisor in Biafra and Nigeria. Those were only a few stations on her way from a dressmaker to a project manager. Since 1986, she has worked in Quetta, Pakistan, where she founded self-help projects for Afghan refugees. In 2001, the Canton of Berne gave her the renowned Trudi-Schlatter Award.

Continuer la lecture de « Elizabeth Neuenschwander – Switzerland »

Hermann Scheer – Germany

Linked with Statements at the World Future Council, (Listen to his own statement there), and with .

He is President of EUROSOLAR, General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy WCRE, President of the International Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energies, Member of the German Bundestag (english, deutsch), Publicist and author. He is honoured with the Right Livelihood Award 1999, with the Solar World Prize 1998, the Alternative Nobel Prize 1999 (mentionned here), the World Prize on Bioenergy 2000 (mentionned here), and the World Wind Energy Award 2004.

His english Homepage, and his Homepage in german.

He says: « Renewable energies are inexhaustible. They do not destroy the environment. They are available everywhere. Their use facilitates solidarity with future generations. They secure the future of humankind ». And: « … in 100 years people will say: the work is done, we are living in the Solar Age. »

hermann-scheer two.jpg .

Hermann Scheer – Germany

Listen to his 3 videos on Big Picture.

Next Events:

China Alternative Energy 2007 Conference, March 26th – 27th, 2007, Beijing. (full text). Registration, Newsletter.

Ukraine: Conference on Renewable Energy, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, April 4th – 6th, 2007, Kiev/Ukraine. (full text). (In russian).

World Sustainable Energy Forum (Homepage), July 2nd – 6th, 2007, Lucerne/Switzerland, (Registration for the Lucerne FUEL CELL FORUM 2007).

9th EUROSOLAR Conference ‘The farmer as energy supplier’, April 16th-17th, 2007, Potsdam. (full text, select english or german).

Hermann Scheer was born in 1944 and has a Ph. D. in economics and social sciences … He believes that the continuation of current patterns of energy use will be environmentally catasrophic and the end of human civilisation.

Continuer la lecture de « Hermann Scheer – Germany »

Kamal Nazer Yasin – Iran

Kamal Nazer Yasin is a pseudonym for a freelance journalist specializing in Iranian affairs.

Undaunted Iran forges ahead with nuclear program: Iran presses forward with its nuclear program, brushing off threats of sanctions from the West and a possible airstrike on its facilities by Israel, as Iranian authorities gamble on their foes promising more bark than bite. By Kamal Nazer Yasin for EurasiaNet, Febr. 22, 2007, on Internat. Relations and Security Network ISN. (full text).

Read: IRAN, RAFSANJANI PRESSES POLITICAL OFFENSIVE AGAINST PRESIDENT, STRESSING MODERATION, by Kamal Nazer Yasin Febr. 21, 2007. Excerpt: … « This is the first time after the [presidential election] victory of the neo-conservatives over a year and a half ago that an individual from Iran’s political class has articulated a coherent set of policy statements in direct opposition to the present government, » noted a Tehran political scientist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The political scientist added that opposition to Ahmadinejad’s policies had been rising, but, until now, presidential opponents lacked a figure around which they could rally. « Many people from elite circles are unhappy with the president’s stand on a range of topics – from Iran’s nuclear program to his denial of the Holocaust to his economic policy. What [Rafsanjani] has done is to tap into this sense of unease and use it to rally all the disaffected factions under his own leadership » … (full text). (same in russian).

FEAR OF ISOLATION PROMPTS IRANIAN SHI’AS TO REACH OUT TO SUNNIS, by Kamal Nazer Yasin Febr. 7, 2007. (full text). Same on: SperoNews, Febr. 12, 2007.

Read: FOES TAKE AIM AT AHMADINEJAD, by Kamal Nazer Yasin Jan. 30, 2007 (text).

Sorry, no photo of Kamal Nazer Yasin (a pseudonym), also no bio nor any other personal information can be available.

Continuer la lecture de « Kamal Nazer Yasin – Iran »

Manfred Max-Neef – Chile

Linked with The Max-Neef Model of Human-Scale Development, with the Centre for Development Alternatives CEPAUR, Chile, with WHY ARE WE WHERE WE ARE? and with Statements at the World Future Council.

He classifies the fundamental human needs as: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, recreation(in the sense of leisure, time to reflect, or idleness), creation, identity and freedom. Needs are also defined according to the existential categories of being, having, doing and interacting, and from these dimensions, a 36 cell matrix is developed which can be filled with examples of satisfiers for those needs. (full text, scroll down).

He says: « There are two separate languages now – the language of economics and the language of ecology, and they do not converge. The language of economics is attractive, and remains so, because it is politically appealing. It offers promises. It is precise, authoritative, aesthetically pleasing. Policy-makers apply the models, and if they don’t work there is a tendency to conclude that it is reality that is playing tricks. The assumption is not that the models are wrong but that they must be applied with greater rigour… While the many deficiencies and limitations of the theory that supports the old paradigm must be overcome (mechanistic interpretations and inadequate indicators of well-being, among others), a theoretical body for the new paradigm must still be constructed ». (text).

Listen to his 3 videos on Big-Picture.
Listen to his video on World Future Council.

Manfred Max-Neef - Chile two.jpg

Manfred Max-Neef – Chile

Read: The Barefoot Economist, transcript of the Broadcast on Saturday 9/03/2002.
Read: The Natural Step’s fourth Condition for Sustainability and Manfred Max-Neef’s basic Needs Analysis.
Read: The beat of a different drummer, same in spanish.
Read: Report: Transdisciplinarity in Progress.
Read: Economic growth versus genuine progress, an obsession with GDP growth could backfire.
Contemplate: Human Needs Graphic;
Read: Guest Lecture on Sustainable Wealth Creation.

Continuer la lecture de « Manfred Max-Neef – Chile »

Bihodjal Rahimova – Tajikistan

Linked with UNIFEM, and with ‘Centra Asia – Tadjikistan – Dushanbe‘ on our AEHRF pictures blog.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « My dream is to strengthen peace in my country forever, to make the life of women and children free of violence, to help my people surmount this transition period, and survive the economic crisis ».

Bihodjal Rahimova - Tajikistan rognÃ©.jpg

Bihodjal Rahimova – Tajikistan

She works for UNIFEM.

Bihojal Rahimova (born 1941) is a national adviser of the Unifem Project « Rights for the Land and Economic Safety of Rural Women » in Tajikistan. Owing to her efforts there have been significant changes in land reform legislation as well as in the state program on equal rights and possibilities for men and women. She pays special attention to the issues of access to land and credit for rural women. She brings to this task long experience as an important political figure in the Soviet Union and a profound concern for the rights of women. (Read all on 1000peacewomen 2005).

Go to Political Heroes.

links:

Women organizations in Tajikistan; and its directory;

Political heroes, (show them all);

Country Briefing Paper—Women and Gender Relations in Tajikistan.

Sorry, I can get no other information in english on Bihodjal Rahimova – Tajikistan.

Gavkhar Juraeva – Tajikistan

Linked with European Journal of Migration and Law, and with ‘Centra Asia – Tadjikistan – Dushanbe‘ on our AEHRF pictures blog.
She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « It is very easy to hurt those who are unprotected, and very difficult to secure their safety, liberty, and happiness ».

Gavkhar Juraeva - Tajikistan redim 60p.jpg

Gavkhar Juraeva – Tajikistan

She works for Migration and Law (ref. on Queen Mary University, London),
and for Loik.

An art historian and area studies expert by education, and an editor, writer of documentary and feature films, and political mediator by profession, Gavkhar Juraeva is devoted to serving the truth, and with it, those who suffer and need her help. In the post-Soviet period, when a bloody civil war broke out in her country, she served as a mediator and sought to protect those who suffered at the margins, on both sides of the conflict. She was forced to leave her country in 1992. Gavkhar continues her fight from Russia, her adopted home. She is a writer, editor, and critic. (Read all on 1000peacewomen 2005).

Continuer la lecture de « Gavkhar Juraeva – Tajikistan »

Viloyat Mirzoyeva – Tajikistan

Linked with UNIFEM, and with ‘Centra Asia – Tadjikistan – Dushanbe‘ on our AEHRF pictures blog.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « In my life I try to follow the commandments of Mother Teresa: Despite everything, always do good to people ».

Viloyat Mirzoyeva (born 1952) heads the Women in Development Bureau and the NGO Gender and Development, both of which promote equal rights for women in society. She trains leaders of governmental and non-governmental women’s organizations. As a result of her work, hundreds of women are successfully working in various areas of society. She has helped Tajik women create NGOs that aim to solve gender problems in Tajikistan. (Read all on 1000peacewomen 2005).

Viloyat Mirzoyeva – Tajikistan

She works in cooperation with the Women in Development Bureau WID (1), and for Gender and Development (2).

The Youth Committee under the Tajikistan government, UNFPA office in Tajikistan and the Gender and Development Public Association opened a youth center in the Tajik southern city of Kulob, the Asia-Plus reported May 22. As Viloyat Mirzoyeva, chairwoman of the Gender and Development Public Association, told Asia-Plus it is already the fourth such a center in the republic. According to her, the Center will be engaged in solving issues related to reproductive health and family planning. (text).

Continuer la lecture de « Viloyat Mirzoyeva – Tajikistan »

Pier Paolo Pasolini – Italia (March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975)

Linked with A Mad Dream.

He says: ”We should not confuse ideology with message, nor message with meaning. The message belongs in part – that of logic – to ideology, and in the other part – that of irreason – to meaning. The logical message is almost always evil, lying, hypocritical even when very sincere. Who could doubt my sincerity when I say that the message of Salò is the denunciation of the anarchy of power and the inexistence of history? Nonetheless put this way such a message is evil, lying, hypocritical, that is logical in the sense of that same logic which finds that power is not at all anarchic and which believes that history does exist. The part of the message which belongs to the meaning of the film is immensely more real because it also includes all that the author does not know, that is, the boundlessness of his own social, historical restrictions. But such a message can’t be delivered. It can only be left to silence and to the text. What finally now is the meaning of a work? It is its form. The message therefore is formalistic; and precisely for that reason, loaded infinitely with all possible content provided it is coherent – in the structural sense ». (full text).

Read: Oedipus Rex by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Look at: Italian pictures show on pasolini.net.

Pier Paolo Pasolini - Italia (March 5, 1922 - November 2, 1975).jpg

Pier Paolo Pasolini – Italia (March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975)

Restoring Pasolini: Thirty years later, new questions arise about who murdered the Italian cultural genius.
Pasolini death inquiry reopened.

Success and charges: In 1954 Pasolini, who now worked for the literature section of the Italian State radio, left his teaching job and moved to the Monteverde quarter and published La meglio gioventù, his first important collection of dialect poems. His first novel, Ragazzi di vita, was published in 1955.

Continuer la lecture de « Pier Paolo Pasolini – Italia (March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975) »

Peter Waterman – England

Linked with The Voice of the Turtle, with Reflections on an Emancipatory Labour Internationalism … , with Surpassing the binary opposition between reform and revolution.

He says (about Archaic left challenges … ): ”… It is a counter-hegemonic movement from the period of national-industrial-colonial capitalism. This was a machine-age capitalism, and it gave rise to mechanical interpretations of Marxism. MR belongs, more specifically, to the ‘Marxist-Leninist’ (Maoist) tendency and is linked (in more than a cyberspace sense) with the International League of Peoples Struggles, (ILPS) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This movement considers discussion and analysis of the rights and wrongs of globalisation to be a derogation from a 100-year-old Leninist theory of imperialism. It is therefore suspicious of or hostile to the anti-globalisation movement. The only concession it will make to the new movement is that it has managed to capture a widespread and multifarious discontent internationally. It therefore becomes a suitable object for penetration and/or competition. This movement pursues a Marxism of binary opposition, a Manichean Marxism with oppositions … « . (full long text).

Read: Global Social Labour Movement, Updated June 30, 2006.

Peter Waterman - England one redim 70p.jpg

Peter Waterman – England

Read: From Decent Work to The Liberation of Time from Work.

Abstract: The traditional international union organisations are currently engaged in a series of ‘social partnership’ initiatives at global level. Prominent amongst these is that addressed to ‘global governance’. This project comes from outside and above the unions, is addressed to the existing hegemonic interstate instances, and is carried out primarily by lobbying.

Continuer la lecture de « Peter Waterman – England »