Catégorie : World People

Linked with the Avery Institute for Social Change, with An Open Letter to my Sisters, with The Health Care Crisis … , and with the National Black Women’s Health Imperative.

Byllye Yvonne Avery (born 1937) is a health care activist in the United States of America. She has worked to improve the welfare of African-American women by creating the National Black Women’s Health Imperative in 1981. She has received the MacArthur Foundation’s Fellowship for Social Contribution and the Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the Advancement of Health Care from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science, among other awards. Avery was born in DeLand, Florida. She studied psychology at Talledega College, and earned an MA degree from the University of Florida in 1969. In 1995 Avery received a L.H.D. from Bates College. Avery produced the documentary film ‘On Becoming a Woman, Mothers and Daughters Talking to Each Other’ (1987). It features African-American women and their daughters talking about menstruation and related topics, such as sex and love. She has said that, when her own daughter menstruated for the first time, Avery threw a party for her. (full text).

Listen here to her many videos.

Byllye Avery – USA

She works for the National Black Women’s Health Imperative, and also for the Avery Institute for Social Change.
In 1974, she co-founded the Gainesville Women’s Health Center, a first-trimester abortion center. Four years later, she co-founded Birthplace, an alternative birthing center where families could deliver their babies with the aid of a certified midwife.

She says: « Black women all participated in a conspiracy of silence » … and: « white women were defining health in their own perspective, which was usually focused on reproductive issues. We needed to come together as black women to define the issues most affecting black women. »

While Avery was knee-deep in women’s health issues, however, she realized a significant group of people were underrepresented: black women.

Continuer la lecture de « Byllye Avery – USA »

Linked with Is Equality Passé? with Kicking Away the Ladder, and with … Institutions and Economic Development … .

Ha-Joon Chang, born 1963 in South Korea, is one of the world’s foremost heterodox economists specialising in development economics. Trained at the University of Cambridge, where he currently works as a Reader in the Political Economy of Development, Chang is the author of several influential policy books, including 2002’s « Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective, » He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the European Investment Bank as well as to Oxfam and various United Nations agencies. He is also a fellow at the D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. Chang is among the most widely cited economists in the development literature, especially in articles and books that are critical of neo-liberalism. In « Kicking Away the Ladder » (which won the 2003 Gunnar Myrdal Prize), Chang argued that all major developed countries used interventionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing similarly. (full text).

Read: why developing countries need tariffs.

Ha-Joon Chang – Korea & England

He says: ”In the orthodox literature, it is uncritically assumed that a stronger protection of property rights is always better. However, this cannot be true as a general proposition. The fact that some protection of property rights is good does not mean that more of it is always better.

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Linked with Social Preferences and Public Economics, and with Is Equality Passé?

Samuel Bowles is an American economist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught courses on microeconomics and the theory of institutions. Bowles graduated with a B.A. from Yale in 1960 and afterwards, continued on to get his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1965. Currently, Bowles is a Professor of Economics at the University of Siena, Italy, and the Arthur Spiegel Research Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (full text).

Wikipedia’s disambiguation page about two Samuel Bowles.

Sam Bowles’ didactic webpage.

Bowles’ recent papers and other information can be found on his webpage; also on Sam Bowles’.

Read: The Inheritance of Inequality, by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, July 14, 2002.

Samuel Bowles – USA

Samuel Bowles in the Santa Fe Institute, and his Abbreviated CV in University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

On his website at the Sante Fe Institute, he describes his two main academic interests as first, « the co-evolution of preferences, institutions and behavior, with emphasis on the modeling and empirical study of cultural evolution, the importance and evolution of non-self-regarding motives in explaining behavior, and applications of these studies to policy areas such as intellectual property rights, the economics of education and the politics of government redistributive programs. »

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Linked with The World Development Movement WDM.

Linked also with Mohau Pheko – South Africa, with The WDM Death Counter, with The International Gender and Trade Network IGTN, and with New social justice movements in a changing reality.

Peter Hardstaff is the Head of Policy, World Development Movement (WDM). As Head of Policy, Peter Hardstaff is responsible for facilitating development of policy, research and advocacy work to support WDM’s campaigns. Prior to joining WDM in April 2002, Peter spent three years leading research and advocacy work on international trade policy issues at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Before joining the RSPB he was a consultant, researching, writing and designing a web site on international trade issues for Friends of the Earth, where he had previously worked for 5 years on forests and wildlife issues. Peter has a degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia and a first class Masters degree in Natural Resource Management from Edinburgh University. (Radical Statistics Issue 89).

He says (about G8 2005): ” »The final communique is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of campaigners who listened in good faith to the world leaders’ claim that they were willing to seriously address poverty in Africa. More importantly it is a disaster for the world’s poor. The agreements on trade, debt, aid and climate change are nowhere near sufficient to tackle the global poverty and environmental crisis we face » … and: « The G8’s approach on trade seems to be ‘Ask not what we can do for the poor, but what the poor can do for us,' ». (full text).

Peter Hardstaff – England

Read: Peter Hardstaff (2000), The Biosafety Protocol, An Analysis.

And he says: « We are tired of world leaders heaping praise on Make Poverty History while simultaneously stabbing us in the back by breaking their promises. » (full text).

Read: Press release: our world is not for sale!

He said also, responding to the outcome of the G8 summit, World Development Movement (WDM) Head of Policy: « The final communique is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of campaigners who listened in good faith to the world leaders’ claim that they were willing to seriously address poverty in Africa. More importantly it is a disaster for the world’s poor.

Continuer la lecture de « Peter Hardstaff – England »

Shalini Randeria studied sociology and Indology at the Universities of Dehli, Oxford and Heidelberg. She received her Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin, where she has been teaching social anthropology and sociology since 1986.
She is now a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Her research interests are in the fields of legal anthropology, anthropological demography and developmental studies. She has also carried out fieldwork in India and has been cooperating actively with grassroots movements in India and development organizations in Germany (November 2006). (text).

She says: « From Kerala (Indian Province) one can learn, that communisme looks different when made in a not communist country: the Kerala (communist) Government spends 60% of its budget for health care and school development. Result: higher school level for all, less death children, excellent health situation, better gender equality, and: the population growth is practically at the same level as in Europe. And the best: this is reached without higher taxes than in the rest of the country », german-Swiss TV-talk, Jan. 21, 2007. (My comment: this guys are just not corrupt, but really use the monney for the people, instead of stealing it for their own caste).

Shalini Randeria – India

See a (french) travel report from a suburb of north of Mumbai, Kandivali East, with many pictures, on my privat blog, from Dec. 09, 2006, to January 12, 2007 (pull down on the left column of the Homepage, click on December 2006 or/and on January 2007 and find the dates).

Find also a resumee of all posts on these blogs concerning slums.

She says also: « In India one part of the population has always paid the economy, the progress, the wealth. This not only in globalization times … economic progress is certain, but the redistribution happens only with difficulty … 70% of the Indians live still in rural aereas … and when changes happen (slum -aereas are reconstructed into new city-towers), the right question is: who is relocated, and for what? » german-Swiss TV-talk, Jan. 21, 2007.

Continuer la lecture de « Shalini Randeria – India »

Linked with Global Dignity.org., and with ‘A global dream‘.

Read: CORRECTING and REPLACING – Young Global Leaders Promote Global Dignity;  »Dignity Day in Davos » Precedes World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007, (January 24, 2007): … Global Dignity GD is an initiative founded by YGLs HRH Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway; Pekka Himanen, Professor of Philosophy, University of Art and Design Helsinki and Visiting Professor, Oxford University; and « Silver Rights » movement activist and Operation HOPE, Founder, Chairman and CEO, John Hope Bryant last year during the WEF Annual Meeting 2006. A dozen YGLs will also visit local classrooms to promote “Dignity Day in Davos” activities … (full text).

Pekka Himanen – Finland

He is born October 19, 1973, and is today a Finnish philosopher.

He says (about the NetAcademy Model): Two excerpts: … « I’m involved in the virtual university things in many ways. Last year I wrote the virtual university’s paper for the Minister of Education in Finland. And at the end of the last year, the Finnish government decided to partly fund a virtual university as a collaboration of the universities and companies.

Continuer la lecture de « Pekka Himanen – Finland »

Linked with Stop The Iran War Before It Starts.

He says: ”I have never given Iraq a clean bill of health! Never! Never! I’ve said that no one has backed up any allegations that Iraq has reconstituted WMD capability with anything that remotely resembles substantive fact. To say that Saddam’s doing it is in total disregard to the fact that if he gets caught he’s a dead man and he knows it. Deterrence has been adequate in the absence of inspectors but this is not a situation that can succeed in the long term. In the long term you have to get inspectors back in ». (full text).

William Scott Ritter, Jr. (born July 15, 1961) is most noted for being a critic of United States foreign policy in the Middle East stemming from his experiences as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. Prior to the US invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, Ritter repeatedly stated that Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Because of the prevailing political climate in the United States at the time, Ritter was widely condemned for this position. In retrospect, much of Ritter’s pre-invasion critique of US policy has been vindicated. (wikipedia).

Listen to this video: BACK FROM IRAQ, The US Soldier Speaks.

Listen to the many audios: through Soundpress.

Scott Ritter – USA

Read: The Scott Ritter’s Archive.

Listen to: Scott Ritter on « Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change”, October 16th, 2006 on Democracy Now.

Military background: Ritter was born into a military family in 1961. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts in the history of the Soviet Union and departmental honors. He was first in the U.S. Army serving as a Private in 1980.

Continuer la lecture de « Scott Ritter – USA »

Linked with ‘The Pigeon-like Unease of My Inner Spirit‘.

• His assasination and life on armeniapedia.org.
• His assasination on the Anatolian Times.
• His assasination on the english AlJazeera.
• His assasination on the New York Times.
• Read: We Are All Armenians, We Are All Hrant Dink.
• Read: PM Erdoğan’s statement.
• Germany Indignant At Disgusting Assassination of Hrant Dink.
• Hrant Dink Is The Latest Victim of The Armenian Genocide.

It is ironic that Dink got into trouble for suggesting to diaspora Armenians that it was time to rid themselves of their rage against the Turks.
He said: « Armenians, especially of the diaspora, tend to have a problem associated with the role of other that the Turk has played in forming the Armenian identity. There is a certain history. A trauma. The Turk has become such a source of pain that it ‘poisons the Armenian blood’, as the Anatolian saying goes. In my article, I was addressing the Armenian world and saying: ‘There are two ways of getting rid of this poison. One way is for the Turks to empathise with you, and take action to reduce your trauma. At the moment this seems unlikely. The second way is for you to rid yourself of it yourself. Turn your attention towards the state of Armenia and replace the poisoned blood associated with the Turk, with fresh blood associated with Armenia ».
It was the reference to ‘poisoned blood’ associated with the Turk that got Dink in court. (All citations of Open Democracy).

And he said: « I’m living together with Turks in this country … And I’m in complete solidarity with them. I don’t think I could live with an identity of having insulted them in this country ».

He said also: « I was found guilty of racism! How can this be? All my life I have struggled against ethnic discrimination and racism. I would never belittle Turkishness or Armenianness. I wouldn’t allow anyone else to do it, either ».

Bio: Hrant Dink was born in Malatya on September 15th, 1954. At the age of seven, he migrated to Istanbul together with his family. He got his primary and secondary education in Armenian schools. Immediately after lyceum, he got married. He graduated from Zoology Department of Ýstanbul University’s Science Faculty. Then he continued his education at Philosophy Department of the same universities Literature Faculty for a while. Since 1996 he works as the columnist and editor-in chief of AGOS weekly newspaper which can be regarded as the voice of Armenian community. He tries to make this newspaper a democrat and oppositional voice of Turkey and also to share the injustices done to Armenian community with public opinion. One of the major aims of the newspaper is to contribute to dialogue between Turkish and Armenian nations and also between Turkey and Armenia. He takes part in various democratic platforms and civil society organizations. (The Anatolian Times).

Hrant Dink – Turkey (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007)

Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007) was born in Malatya. He was best known for his role as editor of ‘Agos’ Armenian Language weekly in Istanbul. He worked as the columnist and editor-in chief of AGOS weekly newspaper, which can be regarded as the voice of Armenian community, from 1996 until January 19, 2007 when he was shot dead outside of his office.

Continuer la lecture de « Hrant Dink – Turkey (Sept. 15, 1954 – Jan. 19, 2007) »

Linked with Transcent, with Kai Frithof Brand-Jacobsen – Romania & Canada & Norway, with The power of non-violence, with Violence, War, and Their Impact, with The Transnational Foundation, and with TRANSCEND’s Advanced International Training Programme.

Johan Galtung (born October 24, 1930, in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian professor, founder and Director of TRANSCEND, a Peace and Development Network for Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means, with more than 300 members from over 80 countries around the world. He is also Rector of TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU). He is seen as the pioneer of peace and conflict research and founded the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo. He is also one of the authors of an influential account of news values, the factors which determine coverage given to a given topic in the news media. Galtung also originated the concept of Peace Journalism, increasingly influential in communications and media studies. (Read more on wikipedia).

He says, about non-violent struggle:  » … You should rather start with a Buddhist-Hindu conceptualization of karma, and stress the Co-dependent Origination Principle in Buddhism which, in Japanese, is referred to as ‘engi.’ This idea is that you and I may think we are separated today by gigantic differences, but if we look a little bit deeper, back in time, we are actually united. We have to get back to this bedrock of universality whenever there’s something separating us. If there’s conflict we must step back and say, « Why don’t we sit down and talk about this? » The image I use is of karma as a boat. The problems of life require us to travel in that boat together when the water is seeping in and the boat is slowly sinking. Now the good Western approach is to blame somebody for the predicament. We want to assemble a courtroom at the tail end of the boat while it is sinking nicely. A good Buddhist approach is to say, well, let us meditate first. Go inside ourselves. Then we can have a dialogue, and out of the dialogue we can decide what to do about the leaks. And while doing that, we may consider constructing a new boat. The question ‘Who did what?’ becomes immaterial. I completely embrace this method, and so did Gandhi. At one point he even said that perhaps he was actually a Buddhist ». (Read more on portland independent media center).

Johan Galtung – Norway

Listen to four video-clips on Big-Picture.

Read all articles of Johan Galtung on Transcent.

He is an experienced peace worker and Professor of Peace Studies, he is widely regarded as the founder of the academic discipline of peace research and one of the leading pioneers of peace and conflict transformation in theory and practice.

Continuer la lecture de « Johan Galtung – Norway »

Linked with Transcent, with The Power of Non-Violence, with Johan Galtung – Norway, with Violence, War, and Their Impact, with The Transnational Foundation, and with TRANSCEND’s Advanced International Training Program.

Kai Brand-Jacobsen is Director of the Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR) and is Co-Director of Transcend, a development organization dedicated to resolving conflict by peaceful means. He is also a global consultant and expert advisor and practitioner on peacebuilding, conflict transformation, war-to-peace transitions, and post-war reconciliation and healing. He is promoting local development, community empowerment, and peacebuilding. He talks about how violence is built in to the fabric of our present social, economic and political systems. He talks about three levels of violence that pervade society – direct violence, structural violence and cultural violence. He explains how structural and cultural violence manifest themselves in numerous subtle ways and gives examples of both cases. He goes on to suggest how together they often lead to acts of direct violence such as war and terrorism. (Listen to the five videos of around 5 minutes, recorded all in November 2004 with Big-Picture).

He says: « Cultural Violence are the ideas, values and belief systems, world-views and cosmologies which make violence seem normal, acceptable, correct, or the best/only option, the good, the ‘chosen’/‘sacred’ path. Examples of cultural violence include those elements of cultures and values which legitimize ‘untouchability’, patriarchy, the exploitation of women, workers and the young, unequal development, concentration of power and wealth in the hands of certain castes/classes/families/nations, etc., beliefs in the superiority of one group, gender, caste, nationality, over another. Belief systems and values which make the structures of violence seem legitimate or seek to enforce them as ‘good’ or the only option/the way things are, the need to ‘crush’ the other side, to ‘eliminate’ them; discrimination against people because of their language, religion, gender, culture, nationality or group. Also: values which legitimize violence as good when used in a ‘noble/just’ cause, or when used against the evil ‘other’, ie. violence is acceptable/legitimate because we are fighting against an unacceptable system/structure or against bad/evil actors. Cultural violence is also the belief that ‘I/we can’t do anything’, that violence is normal, that only those ‘with power’ (politicians, combatants, soldiers, generals/presidents/kings/god/, foreign organisations) can do anything to overcome/solve it or change things, ie. that ‘we’, as people, are powerless. Or that ‘power comes from the barrel of a gun’: therefore, for us to have power, we must pick up the gun. Forms of cultural violence are impressed and internalized in all of us, through our upbringing, exposure to culture and the media, myths, national anthems, monuments, folk tales, songs, jokes, education, street signs. Often, even movements working to overcome violence and exploitation, including nonviolent movements and struggles, can be affected by a war culture approach to conflicts and social change ». (On Transcent.org).

Find the links to his articles on this page of Transcent.

Kai Frithof Brand-Jacobsen – Romania & Canada & Norway

Read: BEYOND SECURITY; NEW APPROACHES, NEW PERSPECTIVES, NEW ACTORS.

Kai has worked in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Russia, Moldova, South Eastern Europe, Colombia, Cambodia, southern Thailand, Burma, Somalia, Aceh, North America, and the Middle East at the invitation of governments, inter-governmental organisations, UN agencies, local organizations and communities promoting local development, community empowerment, and peacebuilding.

Continuer la lecture de « Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen – Romania & Canada & Norway »