Index December 2006

Paula Clermont Péan – Haiti

Linked with Haiti and its problems, and with Pyepoudre Cultural Centre.

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

She says: “I want to create a place to dream, to open up the windows to the future, to nourish hope and spread the wings of regeneration”.

And: “From my point of view, one of the crucial threats to peace is the inability to think and to react against disagreements and failures, because that can make us fall into the temptation of despair and anger. In order to build a world in peace, and above all, to maintain this peace, we have to measure the nature of this state. I believe that each person, each one of us in our own field of action, can contribute to peace by promoting the necessary spiritual state, especially by promoting the principles of empathy, of active solidarity, of justice and equality“.

She says also: “I would like to take peace by its roots, bury it with my bare hands, water it with rain water, see its stem shooting up and its grains passing through thousands of other hands, see its leaves growing, and its white flowers singing and smiling to the world”.

Book: Le chant de Miraya, Paula Clermont-Péan.

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Paula Clermont Péan – Haiti

She works for the Pyepoudre Cultural Center.
Actress, theater director, writer, professor of literature and theater, Paula Clermont Péan is the director of the Pyepoudre Cultural Center. It is a center for animation, training courses and public readings, founded by Paula, in Puerto Príncipe, in 1989. She was educated in France and in the United States. After returning to her home country, Haiti, she dedicated her work towards the promotion of popular culture and to the building of a network for the association of young people, affiliated to the Worldwide Federation of the Associations, Centers and Clubs of Unesco.Paula Clermont Péan has done things that anyone would consider personal successes.

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Thierry Meyssan – France

He says: … « The third thing that has not been clarified in any way was the issue of the fire in one of the buildings adjacent to the White House on September 11. We are used to seeing the famous picture of the White House and a large park. But right next to the White House there is a large building, which is rarely shown because it is very ugly, and it is related to the 1930s. It is called the Eisenhower Building. All the U.S. presidential services are located in that building. This building was completely destroyed by fire, but no explanation was given. Why has nothing been said about the third Manhattan tower and about the building adjacent to the White House? It’s very simple. They did not have any plane that could serve as a pretext. It could not be said that some plane crashed here, and that this was the handiwork of Islamists from overseas. Therefore, since there was no plane, no explanation could be given. So it is presented as if nothing happened » … (memri.org).

He says also: « We see that what America says officially is not only incomplete but also falsified. If we examine some details carefully – particularly details pertaining to the Pentagon – we will realize many things » … ( memri.org).

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Thierry Meyssan – France

Thierry Meyssan is a French journalist and political activist. Thierry Meyssan was born in a traditionalist Catholic family. He is the author of investigations into the extreme right wing (particularly about the National Front Militias, which are the object of a parliamentary investigation and caused a separation of the extreme right wing party), as well as into the Catholic Church (Opus Dei, for example), and the discrimination of homosexuality, among others. Thierry is best known for his controversial book 9/11: The Big Lie, in which he challenged the official account of events of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

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Bhagat Singh – India (1907 – 1931)

Linked with Bhagat Singh and the Revolutionary Movement, and with Why I am an Atheist?

March 23 is the death anniversary of one of the most heroic figures of the Indian freedom movement. Few people remembered it, though. Forget the rest of India, even the children of the village where he was born, do not know anything about him. And to think that the young man in question, Bhagat Singh, gave up his life for the ideal of a free and better India! Today, over 50 years after Independence, the people of his village still do not have access to drinking water and a tap, writes The Indian Express newspaper. (Read more on pitara.com, March 2001).

He stated: « I am not a terrorist and I never was, except perhaps in the beginning of my revolutionary career. And I am convinced that we cannot gain anything through these methods. One can easily judge it from the history of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. All our activities were directed towards an aim, i.e., identifying ourselves with the great movement as its military wing. If anybody has misunderstood me, let him amend his ideas … « . (See on revolutionary democracy).

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Bhagat Singh – Indian Freedom Fighter (1907 – 1931).

… While in jail, Bhagat Singh and other prisoners launched a hunger strike advocating for the rights of prisoners and undertrials. The reasons for the strike was that British murderers and thieves were treated better than Indian political prisoners, who, by law, were meant to be given better rights.

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Ferial Haffejee – South Africa

Linked with An incomplete freedom, and with Genderlinks GL.

She is a board member of the Health-E News Agency and of M&G Publishing, and a BA graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a previous winner of the Sanlam financial journalism awards; was named as one of 10 Shoprite / Checkers women of the year in 2004 and was also named as one of The Media magazine¹s Top 10 women in media for the same year. Ferial is a judge for the annual Inter-Press Service global correspondent competition, the Vuka awards and the Mondi awards for magazine journalism.

She says: ”I love the energy and the changes of Joburg, and, it is where my family is ».

And: « With the ending of Ramadan recently there were immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh selling chicken and spices – it was quite special ».

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Ferial Haffejee (or Haffajee) – South Africa

She works for M&G Publishing.

Johannesburg: A South African Indian woman has become the first woman editor of a national newspaper in this country. Twelve years ago, Ferial Haffajee started her journalistic career as an intern at the Weekly Mail. On February 1, she will take over from another intern at the time, Mondli Makhanya, as editor of the weekly now known as the Mail and Guardian. Makhanya will move to the weekly Sunday Times as editor … Outgoing editor Makhanya said Haffajee had one of the finest minds in journalism.

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María Brigada GONZALEZ de CARTAGENA – Colombia

She is Laureate for the Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life 2006.

She says: « Non-violence subdues terror ».

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María Brigada GONZALEZ de CARTAGENA – Colombia

She works for the San José de Apartadó Peace Community.

It takes an extraordinary measure of creativity, courage and faith to maintain a non-violent, environmentally friendly community in a region where state and guerrilla terrorism kill and maim daily, especially when your own child and spouse have died as victims of this terror. (Her beloved15 year old daughter was brutally murdered in December 2005 by a grenade thrown into a small group of members of the community accused by the army of being « terrorists »).

Maria Brigada (52), mother, artist, farmer and educator, is a leading member of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado since 1996. Such peace communities are a new event in the 60 year Columbian Civil War, the oldest on the planet. It involves the civilian population deciding to have nothing more to do with any of the armed groups, and working together to build healthy, self-sufficient communities practicing the principles of sustainable development and non-violence. Such communities need international support as they are being deliberately targeted by the Columbian government and its paramilitaries, who do not want to see other models of social or economic development.

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Deepak Chopra – India & USA

He says: « It was a great opportunity for me to show people that using their minds and influencing their emotions have a direct effect on their biology. I hope to co-develop other products with Wild Divine that will help in the treatment of addictions, asthma, irritable bowels, migraines and other stress-related disorders. I see a time when, instead of giving a patient a pharmaceutical for a more common stress-related disorder, you actually ask the patient to play the Wild Divine game and see if the symptoms are eliminate ». (Interview on organic authority).

He says also: « The body must be credited with an immense fund of know-how ».

Deepak Chopra, M.D., (born October 22, 1946 in New Delhi, India) is a medical doctor and writer extensively on spirituality and diverse topics in mind-body medicine. His main influences are two: the teachings of Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita from his native India and quantum physics. (wikipedia).

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Deepak Chopra – India & USA

Listen to his 3 1/2 minutes video on Big Picture.
He explains how the environmental crisis directly challenges the way humanity perceives reality. Science has spent hundreds of years making distinctions that don’t really exist. As a result, we think of ourselves as separate from the environment. The reality, he explains, is that we humans are an integral part of the environment – and that the environment is part of us. As a physician, public speaker and best-selling author, Deepak Chopra is « undoubtedly one of the most lucid and inspired philosophers of our time » (quoting a citation from Mikhail Gorbachev). Having established himself as a world leader in the field of holistic health, Dr Chopra co-founded the « Chopra Center for Well Being » in 1995. Through the center he continues to revolutionize the way the world views physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social wellness. Dr. Chopra is a prolific author of more than 35 books that have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. They include « Perfect Health: Ageless Body, Timeless Mind » (1993) « How to Know God » (2001) and « Peace is the Way » (2005). (On this Big-Picture link).

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Galina Drebezova – Belarus

Linked with Byelorusskaya Assotsyatsya zhenshchin-yuristov BAZY.

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

She says: “The victory over the fear inside oneself is the first step towards freedom and happiness”.

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Galina Drebezova – Belarus

She works for the Grazhdansky soyuz antibankrotnykh menedzherov GSAM, and for the Byelorusskaya Assotsyatsya zhenshchin-yuristov BAZY (Association of Women-Lawyers of Brest).

Galina Drebezova (born 1950) has worked as a lawyer for many years. In 1995 she headed the local branch of the Association of Women Lawyers in Brest, and was later to be elected its national chairwoman. She leads a major movement to protect the human rights of Byelorussian citizens. It was Galina who uncovered the rigged results of the referendum on the amendments to the Constitution (1996). Heading the Civil Union of Anti-Bankruptcy Managers (Bazy), she has earned the reputation of an excellent crisis manager. She is a deputy of the parliament.Galina was born in 1950 in Vitebsk region (Belarus). After graduating from the Belarus State University in Minsk, she worked for many years as a lawyer in this city’s industries.

In 1995 Galina began her private legal practise. She became the head of the regional organization of private lawyers. The next stage of her career was her election as president of Assotsyatsya zhenshchin-yuristov Bresta.

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Daphne Economou – Greece

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

She says: « Disabled children have enormous potential, but it often goes unnoticed because of public ignorance and disregard ».

She says also: “In my work I am often disheartened and exhausted, particularly as the lack of funds and government support makes everything so difficult and frustrating, but somehow I cannot give up”.

And she says: “It is only when young people can learn to accept and share their lives with their less advantaged contemporaries that we can hope for a more just and humane world, where everyone can live in peace and harmony with one another. I believe that people with disabilities are not asking: ‘How can I be the same as you?’ All they are asking is, ‘Please give me your hand and travel with me!’ We need to hold hands and travel together, all the way.”

Find many of her publications on the University of the AEGEAN, on the Uni Trier-Server, on the ACM Digital Library, on the Manchester Metropole University, and on the Scientific Literature Digital Library.

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Daphne Economou – Greece

She works for the Cerebral Palsy Greece (see World Wide Links), and for one of the two Societies: the International Cerebral Palsy Society ICPS, or the newly founded International Cerebral Palsy Society I.C.P.S..

Daphne Economou has worked to improve the lives of people with cerebral palsy in Greece, to increase public awareness and eliminate physical, social, and legal barriers. With her leadership, commitment and love, she is the inspiring heart and soul of Cerebral Palsy Greece and has pioneered a wide range of essential services.

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Leena Joshi – India

Linked with Apnalaya, with Ankur, with SHACK, Slum Dwellers International SDI, with Women in Slums, an UN study, with W.O.M.E.N., with Hope in the slums: women’s work in Bangladesh, with Rethinking resettlement in Mumbai, with TERI The Energy and Resources Institute, with Nirbhay Bano Andolan, and with Mumbai pavement dwellers finally get their homes.

Also linked with Shanta Devi – India, and with Background-Report on Cities in Transition.

She says: “We lack political and economic will to make the necessary changes. Those in the ruling parties are apathetic because they personally never have to deal with the pds (Public Distribution System)” … “Many of the poorest people don’t even get cards because they don’t have documentation. And the government ensures that only Below Poverty Line (bpl) families rather than all poor people get free rations. Therefore, because we’ve drawn a faulty and unscientific poverty line, many poor people have to buy food at open-market prices. In the ration shops, the grain sold is adulterated and under-weighed; people don’t get their full quota; kerosene is diverted to the black market; and shopkeepers create bogus cards to keep this charade going. At every opportunity they tell cardholders that their quota hasn’t arrived.” (Tehelka).

List of Telefon numbers of NGOs working in Mumbai (August 20, 2006).

Read: Interview with Leena Joshi.

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Leena Joshi – India

She works for Apnalaya (which has no direct own website, see this NGO through descriptions of other NGOs. See also some summary description on our NGO Blog).

Read: Report on Disaster Management Workshop on December 22, 2005, at the Times of India office in Mumbai. See here photos of this workshop.

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The problem: … Every day, 500 (new) migrant families come to the city, settling in areas like Andheri’s Ambedkar Nagar, Dharavi, Wadala’s slum pockets and South Mumbai’s Reay Road, all of which share the same basic features — makeshift houses, … (read the whole long article on Tehelka, August 05, 2006).

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