Mois : janvier 2008

Youyun Zhang – China

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

Zhang Youyun was born in 1940. She worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was involved in the negotiations with Britain for Hong Kong’s future. In 1990 she joined Ministry of Labor. In 1994 she became a member of the International Labor Organization ILO and was also appointed Special Adviser on Women Workers’ Questions and Director of the Bureau for Gender Equality.

She says: « Being a woman does not necessarily mean that you are gender conscious. We should challenge existing rules of the game, including existing mechanisms that cause and perpetuate gender inequality ».

.youyun-zhang-china-rog-02-r70p.jpg.

Youyun Zhang – China

In 1940, when Zhang Youyun was born, her father Zhang Aoyun was the magistrate of Yunxian county, Hubei province, under the Republic of China. Two years later he passed away, stressed out by overwork; he left a will which urged his children to take pains to complete what he had not finished, to love the people as well as the country, and to not be egoistic, grudging, lazy or greedy.

Dancing and gymnastics fascinated Zhang Youyun then. However, bearing her father’s will in mind, she gave up her favorite activities. After experiencing many difficulties, Zhang Youyun at last passed the examination and began to study English at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. In 1973, she went to Britain to further her studies at the University of Bath. She began her career as an interpreter in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974, where she worked as long as sixteen years. During this period, she also took part in foreign affairs.

Continuer la lecture de « Youyun Zhang – China »

Robert Bauval – Egypt & Belgium

Linked with SATAN’S CALLING CARD, and with The Language of Stone.

Look at this upcoming event: ‘THE GRAND GATHERING OF SOULS’, SPRING EQUINOX, plus an unique 12 days tour of Egypt … from 19 to 30 March 2008. For Bookings and more detail please contact with Candice Bauval,
and in Egypt with Mohammad Nazmy.

Robert Bauval says: « The controversies that were generated in 1990s have been debated to the hilt. It’s now time to move the discussion onwards. The Orion Correlation Theory (OCT) remains controversial. So be it. The Egypt Code takes the thesis forward to fit the notion of a sky-ground correlation into the overall context and timeframe of pharaonic Egypt. It takes on board many issues that were not dealt with in my previous books, and seeks the common denominator that motivated the 3000 years of pyramid and temple building along the Nile » … (full interview text).

His website: … Please feel free to take a ‘romp’ around my Website, and I hope you find many things that will interest you: Homepage; books; feature articles; photo galleries; links to interesting websites.

.robert-bauval-egypr-belgium-rog-r90p.jpg.

Robert Bauval – Egypt & Belgium

THE EGYPT CODE by Robert Bauval, A Special Review Written by Greg Taylor, June 2006: It is a little difficult to understand why the OCT has been rebuked so ferociously by not only Egyptologists, but also astronomers such as Ed Krupp. The likeness is quite apparent, and there is much to suggest that the ancient Egyptians revered the Orion constellation in particular – even if one day it is ultimately proven incorrect, it still seems a topic well worth some serious discussion. In all likelihood, the orthodox opposition to Bauval’s research comes not so much from that core theory, but from the other subjects associated with him from the ‘alternative history’ genre throughout the 1990s – the Age of the Sphinx controversy, the 10,500 BCE date given by Bauval for the perfect mirror image of the Giza layout to be present in the sky, and the confluence of this date with theories of a lost civilisation (notably the big ‘A’: Atlantis) … (full long text).

Graham Hancock And Robert Bauval, Monuments To Life: a DVD.

Continuer la lecture de « Robert Bauval – Egypt & Belgium »

Ana Maria Romero de Campero – Bolivia

Linked with Developments on the Road to ‘Division Day’.

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

A prestigious journalist, Bolivian Ana Maria de Campero (1943) was a Public Defender, from 1998 to 2003. With her, this position was born. Her goal was to defend the human rights of prisoners, coke growers, prostitutes, children, homosexuals and sick people without resources.

She has not lost her determination. Today, from the Unite Bolivia Foundation, over which she presides, she promotes non-violent management and dialogue.

She says: « I know that I can fight power without letting it seduce me or scare me ».

.ana-maria-romero-de-campero-bolivia.jpg.

Ana Maria Romero de Campero – Bolivia

She works for the Unite Bolivia Foundation.

“The best thing that could ever happen in the country, at that time, was her appointment to become Public Defender. We verified this every day. There is nothing like time to show us our successes or mistakes. And time plays in her favor, because she works in favor of the people. Human rights: she is right and human. Ethics: to her, it is not just a word, it is her backbone. Solidarity: open hand, given heart. Simplicity and grace: they are hers.” This is how journalist Caesar Rojas Ríos, of La Prensa, Bolivia, defined Ana Maria Romero de Campero (born in La Paz in 1943).

Ana Maria did not gain these praises without encountering difficulties. She started her career as a journalist after she was already a wife and a mother. She was a journalist for 30 years. She became Director of the daily newspaper, Presencia. From there, she opposed the dictatorship of General Hugo Bánzer (1971-1978).

In 1979, there was an opening for democracy. She was named the Minister of Information. But after only a few days, a state coup sent her into exile. But she returned and continued her work in journalism.

Continuer la lecture de « Ana Maria Romero de Campero – Bolivia »

Francis F. Muguet – France

Linked with Connect the World.

He is international expert for new technology /expert international pour nouvelles technologies. He is working with the WSIS project:

  • About WSIS;
  • WSIS Follow-Up: In the resolution (2006/46) passed on 28 July 2006, entitled “Follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society and review of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development”, ECOSOC indicated how it will oversee the system-wide follow-up of the Summit outcomes, as requested in the Tunis outputs. This is in the context of the annual consideration by ECOSOC of the integrated and coordinated implementation and follow-up of major United Nations conferences. To this end, ECOSOC decided that the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) will assist the Council as the focal point in the system-wide follow-up of WSIS. (full text).
  • WSIS Implementation;
  • WSIS newsroom.

A french video on ITC & god governance of the internet: Francis Muguet, Expert International TIC, ENSTA, 5.38 min., Oct. 22, 2007.

Muguet.org.

.right-dr-francis-f-muuet-at-ensta-rogne.jpg.

Francis F. Muguet – France

Relevant websites he’s working with:

Continuer la lecture de « Francis F. Muguet – France »

Jacqueline Kelen – France

Linked with CIRET, and with CHARTER OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY.

To heal, to feel ‘good inside’: today we are living under an all-powerful therapeutic ideology, regressive and consumerist, that infantilises us by trying to exclude all risks. Jacqueline Kelen speaks out against the tyranny of comfort that is attempting to sidestep the human being’s spiritual vocation. A specialist of the myth, the author evokes her heroes, gods and saints in this book. They remind us, with their wounds and their ordeals, that man does not achieve plenitude through facility: Achilles and Ulysses, Lancelot and Tristan, Osiris cut into pieces and Christ crucified; they are all telling us, with the Jacob of the Bible and the Christian and Sufi mystics, that a wound is also an opening; and there is no wound that does not bring us back to the wound of love. (english part of an East-Asian-language website).

Ecoutez sa vidéo ‘La demeure du printemps‘, 2.51 min.

.jacqueline-kelen-france-un-r35p.jpg.

Jacqueline Kelen – France

… The answers show the difficulty found by most of those interviewed when it came to stating clearly that they became adults when they were well in their 30s. The term “adult” is not accepted, as writer Jacqueline Kelen says: “Being an adult? I prefer the concept of maturity including at least one type of age and expressing the capacity of renewal of the being. There is an expression I like and I hope to experience: ‘Stay in youth’ … ” (page 7/11, full long text).

Her publications: on Bookstores.com (18 books, all in french); on BestBookBuys (10 books, all in french); on amazon (many books, many languages); on chapters.indigo.ca; on a japanese book-selection; on Oxford Journals: French Studies (requires a subscription); on FNAC.com (36 titres).

Sorry, I found only few sites in english … but she is soooo gooood!!

sites en français:

Aimer d’amitié, Comment l’amitié enseigne à aimer.

Ecrivain qui traite dans son oeuvre les thèmes de l’amitié, la solitude, la passion amoureuse, le secret, le sommeil, et revisite de nombreuses figures légendaires comme Ulysse, Mélusine, Lancelot ou la Reine de Saba. Pour elle, les mythes sont des réservoirs de rêves, mais aussi des passeurs de sagesse. (voyages).

Continuer la lecture de « Jacqueline Kelen – France »

Chris Maser – USA

Linked with Trees for life, with Now we are human commodities, with THE ECONOMICS OF EXTINCTION, and with THE SELF-INFLICTED COST OF ECONOMIC MYOPIA.

Chris Maser is a freelance consultant on sustainable forestry. He is the author of some 30 books, some 250 articles, he leads conferences, speeches and workshops. His career spans thirty years as a research ecologist in forest, shrub steppe, subarctic, desert, coastal, and agricultural settings. He was a member of Yale’s Peabody Museum Prehistoric Expedition to Egypt, conducted a three-year coastal survey for the University of Puget Sound, and carried out an eight-year study of old-growth forests with the U.S. Department of the Interior. He has given more than 100 talks throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Speaking topics include sustainable forestry, sustainable community development, and resolving environmental conflicts. (full text).

He writes: « I am but one person…. What can I do? The answer is always the same: I can do something. It doesn’t have to be much. It only needs to be done with love and it becomes great, no matter how small it may seem to the giver of the gift. Ours is not to question the size or value of our individual contributions. Our task in life is simply to give from the essence of who we are. Each gift is unique and valuable, and each adds a necessary piece to the whole ». (full long text).

Homepage of his website, and its sitemap.

.chris-maser-usa-two.jpg.

Chris Maser – USA

Land-Use Planning for sustainable development.

Trained primarily as a vertebrate zoologist, Chris Maser spent over 25 years as a research scientist in natural history and ecology in forest, shrub steppe, subarctic, desert, coastal, and agricultural settings. He was a research mammalogist in Nubia, Egypt, (1963-1964) with the Yale University Peabody Museum Prehistoric Expedition and a research mammalogist in Nepal (1966-1967) for the U. S. Naval Medical Research Unit #3 based in Cairo, Egypt, where he participated in a study of tick-borne diseases. From 1970 through 1973, he conducted an ecological survey of the Oregon Coast for the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington. Following that, he was a research ecologist with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management from 1974-1987 (the last eight studying old-growth forests in western Oregon) and a landscape ecologist with the Environmental Protection Agency 1990-1991). Today Chris is an author as well as an international lecturer, and facilitator in resolving environmental conflicts, vision statements, and sustainable community development. He also an international consultant in forest ecology and sustainable forestry practices. He has written over 270 publications, including more than twenty books about sustainable forestry, resolving
environmental conflict, the various aspects of sustainable community development, natural history of mammals, gardening, and the perpetual consequences of fear and violence in today’s world. He has worked and/or lectured in Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Slovakia, Switzerland, and throughout the United States. (Read text).

The Seen and Unseen World of the Fallen Tree.

Continuer la lecture de « Chris Maser – USA »

Sook-Im Kim – South Korea

Linked with Korean Women’s Association United , and with human trafficking.org.

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

Sook-Im Kim began empowering women to make a difference in Korea in the late ’70s, in what she calls the « Dark Ages for women’s movements. » In the face of military dictatorship, a divided country, and an inflated national defense budget, women’s voices were silenced. Understanding that women’s welfare was at stake, Sook-Im pioneered the women’s peace movement by organizing the radical group, Korean Association of Christian Women, for whom she and her husband built a church and kindergarten. For 26 years, Sook-Im has modeled leadership in her quest for peace.

She says: « Female-oriented peaceful movements, measures, and mind have guided me into a vision for resolving the conflict in the Korean peninsula as a mediator of peace ».

.sook-im-kim-south-korea-rogne-r70p.jpg.

Sook-Im Kim – South Korea

She works for the Peace and Reunification Committee of the Korea Women’s Association,
for the Unification and Peace in Korean Women’s United Association,
and for the Korea Campaign to Ban Landmines (named on Landmine Monitor).

The daughter of a wealthy businessman, Sook-Im Kim was always encouraged by her parents to become socially active. But a quiet reader and musician, Kim preferred to keep to herself. She enrolled in Seoul’s Women’s University to study literature, and there her life took a sharp turn. As a jazz pianist and dancer, her performance of a masque dance caught the attention of the military police. Believing it was a form of government resistance, they sent Kim to prison.
Ironically, it was at this point that her true resistance began.

She became very ill in prison and an operation on her spine ended her days of dancing. But a new kind of dance was born. Upon her release from prison, she became an activist, fired by her first-hand understanding of an unjust political system.

Continuer la lecture de « Sook-Im Kim – South Korea »

Michel Onfray – France

Michel Onfray (born January 1, 1959 in Argentan, Orne, France) is a French philosopher. Born to a family of Norman farmers, he graduated with a Ph.D. in philosophy. He taught this subject to senior students at a technical high school in Caen between 1983 and 2002, before establishing the Université populaire de Caen on a free-of-charge basis, for which he wrote a manifesto in 2004 (La communauté philosophique). (full text).

He says: « There is in fact a multitude of ways to practice philosophy, but out of this multitude, the dominant historiography picks one tradition among others and makes it the truth of philosophy: that is to say the idealist, spiritualist lineage compatible with the Judeo-Christian world view. From that point on, anything that crosses this partial – in both senses of the word – view of things finds itself dismissed. This applies to nearly all non-Western philosophies, Oriental wisdom in particular, but also sensualist, empirical, materialist, nominalist, hedonistic currents and everything that can be put under the heading of “anti-Platonic philosophy”. Philosophy that comes down from the heavens is the kind that – from Plato to Levinas by way of Kant and Christianity – needs a world behind the scenes to understand, explain and justify this world. The other line of force rises from the earth because it is satisfied with the given world, which is already so much ». (full text).

Son site internet français.

.michel-onfray-france-01.jpg.

Michel Onfray – France

Read: Jean Meslier and ‘The Gentle Inclination of Nature’, by Michel Onfray, translated by Marvin Mandell, on New Politics, Winter 2006.

From art and politics to bioethics, religion, the internet and the odyssey of tea, French philosopher Michel Onfrey focuses on a multitude of issues that concern contemporary humanity in his numerous books and lectures. For Mr Onfray, philosophy must be effective on the existential plane. (full text).

Onfray believes that there is no philosophy without psychoanalysis. An adamant atheist, he considers religion to be indefensible. He regards himself as being part of the tradition of individualist anarchism, a tradition that he claims is at work throughout the entire history of philosophy and that he is seeking to revive amidst modern schools of philosophy that he feels are cynical and epicurean. His writings celebrate hedonism, reason and atheism. He endorsed the French Revolutionary Communist League and its candidate for the French presidency, Olivier Besancenot in the 2002 election, although this is somewhat at odds with the libertarian socialism he advocates in his writings.[citation needed] In 2007, he endorsed José Bové – but eventually voted for Olivier Besancenot – , and conducted a famous interview with ideological enemy Nicolas Sarkozy for Philosophie Magazine. Onfray traced back the birth of a philosophic community such as the « université populaire » (folk high school) to the results of the French presidential election, 2002: it is committed to deliver high-level knowledge to the masses, as opposed to the more common approach of vulgarizing philosophic concepts through easy-to-read books such as « Philosophy for Well-being » ( Declared during Printemps des Universités populaires, Lyon, June 23-25th 2006). (full text).

Listen to the audio of abc australia: Michel Onfray with Waleed Aly and Rabbi Gersh Zylberman.

Continuer la lecture de « Michel Onfray – France »

Kumiko Yokoi – Japan

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

Kumiko Yokoi uses the power of music to spread messages of peace, dignity, and hope. Millions of people of all ages in Ireland, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Vietnam, and the United States have been inspired by the singer’s performances; profits from her concerts and CDs have benefited children, particularly those with disabilities. She is also known as a fighter for worker’s rights in her home country, Japan.

She says: « Sing the love, love the song I want to fight with dreams in my soul, with you Sing the love, love the song, I want to fight with dreams in my soul ».

.kumiko-yokoi-japan-rogne.jpg.

Kumiko Yokoi – Japan

Kumiko Yokoi uses the power of music to spread messages of peace, dignity, and hope. Millions of people of all ages in Ireland, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Vietnam, and the United States have been inspired by her performances; profits from her concerts and CDs have benefited children, particularly those with disabilities. She is also known as a fighter for worker’s rights in her home country, Japan.

When Kumiko saw the pain and suffering of children – second and third generation Agent Orange victims – at a rehabilitation center in Vietnam, her heart was broken. « The village is a holy place, » she said. « It has experienced peace and the cruelty of war. » As she has been doing since 1973, she dedicated her 2004 concert to help children. Vietnam has about 1.2 million children with disabilities, 150,000 who are Agent Orange victims.

The concert was her fourth in Vietnam. She first performed there in 1973 when she sang Stop! Tank for northern soldiers during the Vietnam War. She is especially moved by children and families whose health has been devastated by environmental catastrophes. In 1985 she sang in Nicaragua and in 2001 she donated the profit from sales of a CD to children in Afghanistan.

Continuer la lecture de « Kumiko Yokoi – Japan »

Chitamma – India

Linked with ProPoor.org, and with Fish trade: women join hands against middlemen menace.

Chitamma is the driving force behind Samudram, a federation of fisherpeople in 21 coastal blocks of Orissa that trains women to be economically independent and demands entitlements to education, public health, PDS and water … (full text).

She says: (about Koturu, a very small village). « If there was anything aplenty here, it was the staggering number of alcoholics. Even women were drinking!” … “People were constantly borrowing money from sahukars for medical expenses, marriages, festivals, even to buy food. Borrowing for food never struck them as unusual. Money borrowed to meet health or marriage expenses was, to them, real borrowing. It all added up in the end, but people never really saw the connection” … (full text).

.chitamma-india.jpg.

Chitamma – India

Chitamma was the natural choice for president. “Everyone unanimously nominated me, and I couldn’t refuse, not after having come such a long way,” she says, a little embarrassed. “Samudram has 11 executive members, including the president and secretary, and a total membership of 3,080, all traditional fishermen. Members can join by paying a lifetime membership of Rs 150” she adds … (full text).

Assisted by over 7,000 volunteers from around the world, Charity Focus and its ProPoor network offers an impressive database of news, information and job searches on the Internet … (full text).

Clad in a simple cream-coloured sari, blue blouse and matching blue bangles, 65-year-old B Chitamma greets us with a warm smile as we step into her spartan office.

There’s a prosperous feel to the village — a new high school building, the (gaudy pink) cyclone shelter, concrete bylanes, and the general hustle and bustle of a small, close-knit fishing community going about its business. “It was not like this 10 years ago… we have seen our livelihoods and food security disappear faster than the fish in Chilika,” Chitamma quips. “There was a time when we told the government: either you kill us, or you give us our fishing grounds back (from the non-fishermen). But it didn’t make a bit of a difference to the government!”

Continuer la lecture de « Chitamma – India »