Catégorie : World People

Linked with Congress, banks and home owners.

Danny Schechter, nicknamed « The News Dissector, » is a television producer, independent filmmaker, blogger, and media critic who writes and lectures frequently about the media in the United States and worldwide … Schechter worked as a civil rights worker and communications director of the Northern Student Movement, and worked as a community organizer in a War on Poverty program. Schechter also served as an assistant to the Mayor of Detroit in 1966 … Schechter is also the executive editor of MediaChannel.org, for which he is the « blogger-in-chief » and writes a nearly-3000-word daily blog entry on media and society … (full text).

(He is an) Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker whose latest project takes a look at the growing problem of debt in America. The new film is called « In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Burst. » The film opens in select cities this month and next. Here now, a scene from « In Debt We Trust. » (full interview text).

He says: … « When I started to make this film people asked me, what are you doing a film about debt about? Nobody’s gonna be interested in that. Nobody wants to talk about money. This doesn’t affect anybody. What we’re seeing now is that this is one of the leading economic crises in our society. Two million Americans face foreclosure in their homes. Millions of people are straddled with debt. Credit cards started basically as a luxury; they became a necessity, and now they’re a noose for many people in our country. College students leaving school with $30,000 in debt; people unable to pay their bills » …

His Homepage, with his bio, with music and activism, and with more films and videos.

Audios and videos with Danny Schlechter on DemocracyNow. More on the same web, July 17, 2008.

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Danny Schechter – USA

Listen his audio-interview by Tavis Smiley, April 12, 2007, or read its transcript.

He writes: … Yes, Jay asked me to write because my film « In Debt We Trust » (InDebtWe Trust.org)–released in a final updated form in 2007, not 2006– was being promoted as important by KPFK. One of my concerns has been that when the film played in LA, none of the press there, mainstream or « alternative » bothered to review it or write about it. The issue was thought too obscure. Now its at the center of a global economic meltdown. The issues I raised, considered « alarmist » by some, later led to the ongoing financial crisis. That fact that it was ignored does not make my reporting inaccurate. If anything I understated the calamity to come even as I was exposing subprime lending, a subject that most of our « all around » muckrakers ignored. Others have called me prescient but not the former news editor. He knew better!
… (full text, July 6, 2008).

Homeowners ‘March’ Against Foreclosure, July 23, 2008.

His interview with Amy Goodman: … … « And South Africa, they will—I’m hoping that this film Viva Madiba will be seen in the United States eventually and in other countries around the world. It’s not just about him. It’s about the struggle of a people for freedom, a struggle that they prevailed on, and a time when so many progressive battles have been lost. And so, I think we need to respect what he’s done and try to learn from it. And that, to me, is the reason I’ve been involved in all of this. I think there are lessons in the South African struggle that apply here in the United States: non-racialism, non-sexism, unifying a people of all groups, working with labor, working with church and other progressive people, building a coalition that can win. I think that those are some of the lessons from South Africa that’s inspired me » … (full text, July 17, 2008).

Freddie Mac, When Are You Coming Back? July 14, 2008.

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Edward Wadie Saïd, MRSL (1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was a Palestinian American literary theorist, a cultural critic, a political activist, and an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and is a founding figure in postcolonial theory … Saïd was born in Jerusalem (then in the British Mandate of Palestine). His father was a wealthy Protestant Palestinian businessman and an American citizen who had served under General Pershing in World War I, while his mother was born in Nazareth, also of Christian Palestinian descent. His sister was the historian and writer Rosemarie Said Zahlan. Said referred to himself as a « Christian wrapped in a Muslim culture » … (full very long text).

He said: « With an unexceptionally Arab family name like Said connected to an improbably British first name (my mother much admired the Prince of Wales in 1935, the year of my birth), I was an uncomfortably anomalous student all through my early years: a Palestinian going to school in Egypt, with an English first name, an American passport and no certain identity at all » … (on wikipedia/Life).

Notre collaborateur et ami Edward W. Said est mort le 24 septembre 2003, de la leucémie qu’il combattait avec un remarquable courage depuis plus de dix ans … (le Monde Diplo).

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Edward Wadie Said – USA and former British Mandate of Palestinia (1935-2003)

Listen this audio: Humanism, Freedom, and the Critic: Edward W. Said and After: Andrew Rubin, 22.46 min, during the « The Legacy of Edward Said » panel at the 30th Aniversary Symposium: Arab Studies, A Critical Review, March 31, 2005.

In 1991, Said was diagnosed with leukaemia and afterwards he stopped giving interviews. In September 2003, nonetheless, he made a final exception and for more than three days spoke about his life and work. The Last Interview begins with a Roland Barthes quote: « The only sort of interview that one could, if forced to, defend would be where the author is asked to articulate what he cannot write. » Said’s topics and arguments in the documentary obviously much overlap with his writings in Reflections on Exile, yet they gain force by his passionate and eloquent speech (even in response to a seemingly pre-arranged set of questions) … (full text).

He said: “Sleeplessness for me is a cherished state to be desired at almost any cost; there is nothing for me as invigorating as immediately shedding the shadowy half-consciousness of a night’s loss, than the early morning, reacquainting myself with or resuming what I might have lost completely a few hours earlier. I occasionally experience myself as a cluster of flowing currents. I prefer this to the idea of a solid self, the identity to which so many attach so much significance. These currents, like the themes of one’s life, flow along during the waking hours, and at their best, they require no reconciling, no harmonizing. They are “off” and may be out of place, but at least they are always in motion, in time, in place, in the form of all kinds of strange combinations moving about, not necessarily forward, sometimes against each other, contrapuntally yet without one central theme”. (Out of Place: A Memoir, 1999).

Selected articles about, and tributes to, Edward Said published since his death (scroll down), September 25, 2004.

Continuer la lecture de « Edward Wadie Said – USA and former British Palestinia (1935-2003) »

nked with videos concerning the US, with blogpac bp, and with Finding Your Obviousmeter.

Matt Stoller writes at the progressive strategy site OpenLeft.com and is the President of the political action committee BlogPAC. He consults for the Sunlight Foundation on open government, for Actblue, and for Working Assets, a progressive phone company (scroll down to the bottom).

His video on RealNewsNetwork: Can the netroots change politics? Matt Stoller of MyDD and openleft says the netroots don’t yet have the strength to leverage real power, 6.03 min, July 19, 2008. (Netroots is a recent term coined to describe political activism organized through blogs and other online media, including wikis and social network services. The word is a portmanteau of Internet and grassroots, reflecting the technological innovations that set netroots techniques apart from other forms of political participation. In the United States, the term is used mainly in left-leaning circles … from the english wikipedia).

And a written text on the same item: Netroots Nation.

And his video: Matt Stoller: Take Back America, 3.24 min, added: June 19, 2007.

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Matt Stoller – USA

His blog: OpenLeft.com.

… The discussion of the panel (which also includes Dean Nielsen, David Goldstein, Blair Butterworth and Matt Stoller) is largely focused on the influence of the Netroots among political campaigns, specifically for the U.S. House … (full text, July 19, 2008).

On Friday, I was on the phone with Darcy Burner, who told me that she got a call from people affiliated with the conservative Jewish political group AIPAC. They told her to distance herself from the new pro-peace group J Street, which they said is full of radical leftists who believe in capitulation to the forces of the Arab world who would overrun and destroy Israel. Like most conservative arguments, it is utter nonsense backed up by a political threat designed to suppress alternative legitimate political views … (full text, June 30, 2008).

He writes: For Personal Democracy Forum’s Rebooting America, I wrote about something called an Obviousmeter: … I used the example of members being unable to post Youtube videos on their official web sites as a clear example of how Congress is unprepared for the future. As it so happens, the controversy over member restrictions on web use is now heating up … (full text, July 11, 2008). (The Obviousmeter compares cultural trends and existing power centers and asks, « Can a sixteen year old do something our government can’t? » If the answer in any particular area is yes, then that’s a place to find out where the future is going to smack us in the ass).

As Open Left blogger Matt Stoller recently predicted, 21st century politics could look a lot like the 19th century, « with a politicized business community, much stronger local political machines and engagement levels at 80 percent or 90 percent … (full text, June 30, 2008).
Continuer la lecture de « Matt Stoller – USA »

Linked with Women’s Earth Alliance WEA, and with Wiser Earth.org.

Ms. Nadya Boneva is well-known within Bulgaria and the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development. She has deep experience working within governmental, business arenas and has created partnerships among NGOs and different citizen movements living and working in rural areas of Bulgaria. She is working with many municipalities in remote parts of the country, where the communication is difficult and follow-up is essential. Nadya helped the municipalities to establish NGOs, and has worked to strengthen NGO’s capacity with training, fundraising, and running advocacy initiatives. She is a member of Women’s Earth Alliance.

Read: External evaluation of the impact of WHO environmental health policies and action plan in Bulgaria, 19 pdf pages, December 2002.

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Nadya Boneva – Bulgaria

She is of the Board of Directors of the Regional Environment Center REC .

CONCORD Development Education Forum, Action Plan 2008: Development education is an active learning process, founded on values of solidarity, equality, inclusion and co-operation. It enables people to move from basic awareness of international development priorities and sustainable human development, through understanding of the causes and effects of global issues, to personal involvement and informed action.
Development education fosters the full participation of all citizens in world-wide poverty eradication, and the fight against exclusion. It seeks to influence more just and sustainable economic, social and environmental, human rights based national and international policies … (full long text).

She writes: … 8. Outputs, Outcomes and Dissemination, page 27:

• Explain differences in actual outputs against those agreed in the initial ‘Project Implementation Timetable’ and the ‘Project Outputs Schedule’, i.e. what outputs were not or only partly achieved? Were additional outputs achieved? There are no changes in the actual outputs compared to the initial Project proposal during the reporting period.
• Provide details of dissemination activities in the host country during the year, including information on target audiences. Will dissemination activities be continued by the host country when the project finishes, and how will this be funded and implemented?
• More than 100 people participated in the public discussion of National Action Plan for Biodiversity and 80 people participated in the launch of National Action Plan for sustainable land management. The project products are listed on the web sites of TIME Eco projects Foundation with 5000 visitors visiting the site and Web page ekoobrazovanie.net in russian language, (see also the english site Education for sustainable development), specially dedicated to nature conservation, education, environmental education and education for sustainable development. The hosting and web page maintenance will be continued after the project completion by the Bluelink network and TIME Foundation content manager. The publication of ECOPOLIS newsletter will continue after the project implementation. TIME Foundation has been producing this newsletter for more than 8 years so far. Other dissemination activities are listed above – for example the teachers workshops forthcoming National Conference … (full long text of 27 pdf pages concerning the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species, Annual Report, April 2005 – March 2006).

Continuer la lecture de « Nadya Boneva – Bulgaria »

Linked with The Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. Linked also with another dancer, Tripurari Sharma – India, and her dancer school, the National School of Drama – New Delhi.

Mallika Sarabhai [Born 1954 (to be confirmed)] is one of the most renowned Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancers in India today.[1] Multi-faceted Malika holds a MBA and a doctorate from IIM Ahmedabad and has experience in acting, film-making, editing, and television anchoring. Mallika is the daughter of reputed dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai and renowned scientist Vikram Sarabhai. She started to learn dancing when she was quite young and started her film career in parallel cinema, when she was just 15. Mallika played the role of Draupadi in the Peter Brook’s movie The Mahabharata. Mallika has won many accolades during her long career, the -French Palme d’Or being one of them, which she won for the Best Soloist Artist. As well as a dancer, Sarabhai is a social activist. She, along with her mother, manages the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts located at Ahmedabad. She made headlines when she complained that the Narendra Modi government of Gujarat was harassing her due to her public criticism of their role during the 2002 riots; the government in late 2002 had accused her of human trafficking. The Gujarati government dropped the case in December 2004. Her son Revanta and daughter Anahita are upcoming classical dancers … (full text).

See the Videos: An Evening of Classical Indian Dance (Mallika & Group), 7.04 min (scroll down); Mallika Sarabhai‘s Interview, 30 min, Mar 22, 2008.

She asks: « Why am I being crucified ».

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Mallika Sarabhai – India

False Case Against Mallika Sarabhai, a letter From Mallika Sarabhai, not dated.

… In the 90s she had choreographed V for … lashing out at the violence in society; violence against women and human beings in general has been the focus of many of her works. “Capitalism and globalisation are by definition violent. Globalisation rapes the earth. Violence is also usually about making money. Anyone who feels powerless will take it out on someone…there is an ‘eat me’ chain out there.” Media’s glorification of consumption only adds to this, she avers. “We are pushing toward a less equitable society. Nobody glorifies kindness” … (full text).

Find her on Google Video-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search; on PIPL; on FANDANGO.

… Here is a previous example of the price that Sarabhai has to pay fro speaking up against Modi. (full text).

… In Indian dance there is no great tradition of creative choreography. It was Mrinalini Sarabhai who first used the Bharatanatyam vocabulary to speak of moods and themes other than the traditional devotional ones. She talked of bride burning and of pollution in her dance dramas. Mallika performed in these and absorbed the ideas but it is only in the last decade that she has started to choreograph herself, her company and even her mother. As she started to crystallize what it was she wanted to express through her work she drew on many elements to create her choreographic vocabulary … (full text).

… Mallika Sarabhai, who is under proceedings of Indian justice system, November 19, 2003 … (full text).

… Always an activist for societal education and women’s empowerment, Mallika began using her work for change. In 1989 she created the first of her hard-hitting solo theatrical works, Shakti: The Power of Women. Since then Mallika has created numerous stage productions which have raised awareness, highlighted crucial issues and advocated change, several of which productions have toured internationally as well as throughout India … (full text).

Does Gandhi still live in modern India? July 10, 2008.

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Linked with Nieman Watchdog, with Cruelty as a weapon of war, and with Ten lessons from recent torture hearings.

Alberto J. Mora is a recently retired General Counsel of the U.S. Navy. He led an effort within the Defense Department to oppose the legal theories of John Yoo and to try to end coercive interrogation tactics at Guantanamo Bay, which he argued are unlawful … (full long text).

His Campaign against coercive interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay.

He says: … « This responds to your request at reference (a) for a statement that chronicles any involvement by the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counself (OGC) or me personally in the development of the « interrogation rules of engagement » (IROE) for Operation Enduring Freedom. The following narrative adopts a slightly broader focus. It seeks to describe any such knowledge or involvement as OGC or I had on any impact of the interrogation techniquest used of contemplated following September 11, 2001, including participation in legal analysis or discussion of such issues. In the end, it is largely an account of my personal actions or knowledge. Unless otherwise indicated, the use below of the term « OGC » includes my personal knowledge or activity as well as that of other OGC attorneys or personnel. Before discussing the specifics of this involvement, four key factors or events warrant mention by way of background: … (full statement text, July 7, 2004).

Alberto J. Mora’s Memorandum for Inspector General, Dept. of the Navy, June 18, 2004.

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Alberto J. Mora – USA

Listen the Audio: Dan Rather Interviews Alberto J. Mora, Former U.S. Navy General Counsel, 43.45 min, Nov. 2, 2006.

… For his efforts, Mora was honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2006, which is administered by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation … (wikipedia/aftermath).

Alberto Mora, the former general counsel for the U.S Navy said torture has not prevented attacks or made the country safer. In fact, the short and long term costs of torture weaken the United States’ defenses by hurting alliances needed for the war on terror, he said. Virtually all countries the United States wants to ally with during war consider torture criminal, Mora said … (full text, this article is not dated).

In December 2002, Alberto J. Mora, then general counsel of the United States Navy, was alerted by Navy investigators to reports that detainees held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay were being subjected to cruel and unlawful interrogation practices … (full text on John F. Kennedy Library Foundation).

He says also: … “Our nation’s policy decision to use so-called ‘harsh’ interrogation techniques during the war on terror was a mistake of massive proportions” … (full text, July 16, 2008).

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Linked with Sudan and the International Criminal Court: a guide to the controversy, and with Social Science Research Council SSRC. Added Aug. 25, 2008: and linked with Justice Africa, London.

Alex de Waal is a British writer and researcher on African issues. He is a fellow of the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University, as well as program director at the Social Science Research Council SSRC in New York City. De Waal is also a co-director of Justice Africa, London. De Waal received a D.Phil. in social anthropology at the University of Oxford for his thesis on the 1984-5 Darfur famine in Sudan. The next year he joined the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, only to resign in December 1992 in protest for HRW’s support for the American military involvement in Somalia / Unified Task Force. He was the first chairman of the Mines Advisory Group at the beginning of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1997 to 2001, he focused on avenues to peaceful resolution of the Second Sudanese Civil War. In 2001, he returned to his work on health in Africa, writing on the intersection of HIV and AIDS, and poverty and drought. In 2004, he returned to his doctoral thesis topic of Darfur as the conflict there worsened. During 2005 and 2006, de Waal was seconded to the African Union mediation team for Darfur … (full text).

He says:  » … I joined the peace process late, as an adviser. The Sudan government objected to me and I was smuggled in as a personal advisor to the chief mediator, Salim Salim. I didn’t dictate that process. My advice was sometimes followed, more often not. I declined the invitation to join the last mediation in Sirte [Libya] because the advice I have been giving was not followed at all. I and others involved have scrutinized and criticized every aspect of the process. Knowing how agonizingly close we came to an agreement in Abuja, and looking at the small things that might have made the difference, I search my memory and conscience every day to examine what I might have done differently … (full interview /debate text, 7 pages, 2007).

His blog: Making Sense of Darfour.

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Alex de Waal – England

The CCI accusation of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir:

• Today in Despotism: ICC says Sudan’s president used rape as weapon of war, July 14, 2008;
• Video: Sudan to Take `Legal Steps’ to Challenge Indictment (Update1), July 14, 2008;
• Sudan to Take Legal Steps’ to Challenge Indictment (Update1), July 14, 2008;
• African Union: Suspend Sudan genocide charge, July 15, 2008;
• … and all the today’s 3906 articles about the same item, by Google-search.

Alex de Waal, a former adviser to the African Union and co- author of « Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, » said an indictment of al-Bashir may jeopardize the country’s peace process. In 2005, Muslim northern Sudan and the mainly Christian and animist south signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a 21-year civil war … (full text, July 15, 2008).

It is said: There are many who live by writing, which is brave enough, but few who write to keep people alive. Alex de Waal is in the latter category, an indefatigable writer with an urgent message: There are tribes in mortal danger, whole populations marked for genocide … (full text, June 22, 2008).

He writes: … Over long months of negotiation, we in the Mediation could not find a consensus. The warring parties were too far apart. The Movements, especially, hardly shifted from a maximalist negotiating position. Instead we proposed a position in between. There was an intense debate within the Mediation on how to handle this and what positions to propose. The first reaction of the Movements and their sympathizers is that the AU proposals fall well short of their legitimate demands and are a sell-out to Khartoum. I urge them to read the text carefully, to examine what actually they gain … (full text, May 4, 2006).

Justice Off Course In Darfur, June 28, 2008.

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Linked with The Med Union, dividing the Middle East and North Africa.

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya est auteur indépendant à Ottawa, spécialisé dans les affaires du Moyen-Orient et d’Asie Centrale. C’est un Chercheur Associé du Center for Research on Globalization (CRG). Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya est un collaborateur régulier de Mondialisation.ca. … (full text).

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a writer and geopolitical analyst based in Ottawa who specializes on the Middle East. He is currently Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization … (Global Research.ca, scroll down).

He writes: … It is no mere chance that before the upcoming summit in Tehran that three important post-Soviet organizations (the Commonwealth of Independents States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the Eurasian Economic Community) simultaneously held meetings in Tajikistan. Nor is it mere coincidence that the SCO and CSTO have signed cooperation agreements during these meetings in Tajikistan, which has effectively made China a semi-formal member of the CSTO alliance. It should be noted that all SCO members are also members of CSTO, aside from China … (full text).

Opening a Pandora’s Box: Kosovo « Independence » and the Project for a « New Middle, Febr. 20, 2008.

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sorry, no picture found of Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Canada

The March to War:

• NATO Preparing for War with Serbia? October 21, 2007;
• Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean, October 1, 2006.

He writes also: According to a wide range of reports, several nuclear bombs were “lost” for 36 hours after taking off August 29/30, 2007 on a “cross-country journey” across the U.S., from U.S.A.F Base Minot in North Dakota to U.S.A.F. Base Barksdale in Louisiana. [1] Reportedly, in total there were six W80-1 nuclear warheads armed on AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles (ACMs) that were “lost.” [2] The story was first reported by the Military Times, after military servicemen leaked the story. It is also worth noting that on August 27, 2007, just days before the « lost » nukes incident, three B-52 Bombers were performing special missions under the direct authorization of General Moseley, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force. [3] The exercise was reported as being an aerial information and image gathering mission. The base at Minot is also home of the 91st Space Wings, a unit under the command of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) … (full text).

EUROPE AND AMERICA: SHARING THE SPOILS OF WAR.

The Levant could be the starting point of a major international conflict with global ramifications and which could quickly spin out of control. Such a conflict could even involve the use of Israeli or American nuclear weapons against Iran and Syria. Syria has additionally declared that it is preparing for an inevitable war with Israel despite the fact that it believes that the chances of a war in 2008 are slim. In the scenario of a war against Iran, the reaction of Syria will be pivotal. Damascus plays a central role and how it acts and reacts will have a definitive impact on Israeli military strategy in regards to Iran. It is in this context that Israel, the U.S. and the E.U., with the help of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, have been attempting to undermine and ultimately destroy the alliance between Syria and Iran. This is part of a geo-strategic stride to foreclose the possibility of a Mediterranean battle-front that might emerge in the Levant as a result of an attack on Iran … (full text).

The Mediterranean Union … on misc.activism.progressive.

Continuer la lecture de « Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Canada »

M K Bhadrakumar, a former career diplomat who served as India’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, argues that the two organizations may eventually merge. « The SCO may focus on the range of so-called ‘new threats’ [terrorism] rather than on the conventional form of military threats, while the CSTO would maintain a common air-defense system, training of military personnel, arms procurement, etc. » … (full text, June 25, 2008). (See also: The new NATO of the East’ takes shape, Asia Times Online, August 25, 2007).

M K Bhadrakumar has parlayed a distinguished career in the Indian Foreign Service, with postings in Moscow, Seoul, Colombo, Bonn, Islamabad, Tashkent and Ankara into his current eminence as one of the country’s foremost thinkers on foreign affairs … (full text, July 3, 2008).

China, India, play it again for Uncle Sam, March 1, 2008.

Yushka Fisher, A Warmonger in Disguise? June 19, 2008.

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M.K. Bhadrakumar – India

India tiptoes to the new Middle East, June 21, 2008.

He writes: … Whereas, the reality is that we live in savage times where realpolitik and not morality often enough happens to be the guiding force inciting our monstrous enemies. A need arises, therefore, to take a more honest look at any hidden sewers that may exist. Such an exercise cannot and should not in any way detract from the total condemnation that the terrorists deserve. But it will serve an important purpose in so far as we do not fall into a false sense of innocence … (full long text).

India blows up a monsoon, July 4, 2008.

… Meanwhile, Bhadrakumar offers a lot more to chew on while we await the Senate testimony of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. For instance, chew on this:

• It appears that one of the most shadowy figures of the Iranian security establishment, General Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, personally mediated in the intra-Iraqi Shi’ite negotiations [to end the fighting] … ;
• US military commanders routinely blame the Quds for all their woes in Iraq. The fact that the representatives of [the] Da’wa [Party] and SIIC [the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council] secretly traveled to Qom [in Iran] under the very nose of American and British intelligence and sought Quds mediation to broker a deal conveys a huge political message.

Now swallow this: … (full text, 11 Jul 2008).

Continuer la lecture de « M.K. Bhadrakumar – India »

.Linked with IJED-RIED, with Education Resources Information Center ERIC, and with IJED-RIED: Call for papers.

She is of the Ministry of Public Education (Mexico), and also Chair of Centre for Educational Research and Innovation Governing Board, OECD Directorate for Education.

… Throughout the 20th century, Indian people of the Western Hemisphere have fought to gain control of their own education and to fulfill the aspiration to base their curricula for Native students upon their own languages and cultural values. However, many such schools have come and gone. Certainly there are those in Mexico who would call Schmelkes unduly optimistic; nevertheless, the quality of those who sustain this most heartfelt of Native aspirations is to create new opportunities, regardless of temporary setbacks. Northward to the U.S., a vanguard Indian school seems to have folded in California during a time of mourning for one of its luminary founders and major individual spirits. That school is D-Q University, a venerable and trend-setting college named after two American Indian mytho-historical characters, the Aztec hero, Quetzalcoatl and the Iroquois Peacemaker, whose name is generally spoken only in ceremony. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges, after warnings last year, withdrew accreditation for DQU in January. The loss of accreditation came as the second semester was slated to begin and left many students in a lurch. A new 13-member board of American Indian professionals, including five of the original board members, joined to tackle the issues last year, but these proved insurmountable. Among the numerous problems confronting the college is maintaining the necessary 51 percent American Indian enrollment to satisfy BIA funding requirements – a particular challenge in California, where many tribes don’t have federal recognition. Accusations of fiscal mismanagement, a lack of qualified administrators and diminishment of educational standards have surfaced, and apparently even the university’s land is in jeopardy as a result of loans. Largely the moves of desperation as budgets dwindled, the fiscal mismanagement issues loom large and this long-struggling and pioneering Indian educational institution appears to be in terminal trouble … (full text).

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Sylvia Schmelkes – Mexico
… sorry, no personal biography found.

Listen her short spanish statement: SYLVIA SCHMELKES, LORE, LAU, 30 secondes.

Read: The need and use of evidence by policy makers, 7 pdf-pages.

Innovative Learning Environments, Francisco Benavides, OECD-CERI, 13 pdf pages.

She writes: La primera mesa de debate llamada “Escenario Nacional y Regional de la Universidad y la Interculturalidad”, consistió en la conferencia de la destacada académica mexicana Sylvia Schmelkes, actualmente parte de la Universidad Iberoamericana de México. La expositora es socióloga y tiene una Maestría en Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación en la Universidad Iberoamericana de México. Destaca su trabajo en el Centro de Estudios Educativos, del que fue investigadora y Directora académica entre 1970 y 1994 … (full text).

ED464800 – Unequal Schools, Unequal Chances: The Challenges to Equal Opportunity in the Americas. The David Rockefeller Center Series on Latin American Studies.

La Dra. Sylvia Schmelkes, Coordinadora General de la Educación Intercultural Bilingüe de la Secretaría de Educación Pública, visitó las instalaciones del Colson, y particularmente la Unidad de Pueblos Indígenas del Noroeste, por invitación de la Dra. Catalina Denman Champion, Rectora de nuestra institución, con el objeto de conocer y vincular el trabajo que realiza El Colegio con el organismo a su cargo. (Colson.edu, with picture in the right column, febrero de 2004).

Mtra. Sylvia Schmelkes, OBRA PUBLICADA, 18 pdf pages.

Learning – What do we know today, Anne Sliwka, University of Trier.

Continuer la lecture de « Sylvia Schmelkes – Mexico »