Mois : juin 2008

Bruce Marks – USA

Linked with The housing organization Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America NACA, with International Accountability Project IAP, and with Fairness.com.

Wall Street made billions off the backs of homeowners. But when the mortgage crisis blew up, a pit bull named Bruce Marks stood up for the Average Joes and, incredibly, got some of the biggest banks to bend … And sadly, a whole lot of desperate people had to turn to Marks for help this year, and a whole lot more will need his emergency services in the year ahead … The CEO of the nonprofit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA, Marks works out of a stripped-down office above an electrical-supply store in Jamaica Plain. Yet over the years he has become one of the most feared men in the corporate boardrooms of the nation’s leading financial institutions … (full text, December 30, 2007).

He says: « NACA has received requests for help from some 3,000 Homeowners nationwide whose loans are serviced by Citi » … and: « We have refused to accept anything less than a permanent interest-rate reduction for the homeowner » … (full text, March 25, 2008).

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Bruce Marks – USA

Listen the video: NACA’s CEO Bruce Marks in Global Player, Part 1/4, 14 min, Sep 17, 2007.

BAILOUT BULLIES, ENTITLEMENT CULTURE GONE MAD, April 2, 2008.

His statement: My name is Bruce Marks. I am Chief Executive Officer of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), a non-profit housing services and advocacy organization. NACA is known for its « Best in America » mortgage program which offers low and moderate income Americans home mortgages with low interest rates, no down payment, and no closing costs. Perfect credit is not required. Through the NACA program thousands of Americans have realized the dream of home ownership. NACA provides prime loans for « sub-prime borrowers ». NACA has 21 offices across the country with $3.8 Billion committed to the best mortgage in America. The current interest rate for NACA mortgages is 7.5% fixed for 30 years with no down payment, no closing costs, and no fees. In addition, NACA provides comprehensive housing services at no cost to the borrower. It may sound too good to be true but it is the reality for thousands of working people. People can call NACA at 1-888-302-NACA to participate in this incredible program. NACA is also known for its advocacy campaigns against predatory lenders. As the committee is no doubt aware, there are predatory lending companies out there who use misleading sales tactics to take advantage of those who, through little or no fault of their own, have been excluded from mainstream credit institutions. NACA has worked in the street, in boardrooms, in statehouses, and in this building to fight these exploitive lending practices with a great deal of success. However, despite our efforts, these practices continue … (full long text, June 21, 2000).

BOSTON GLOBE NAMES BRUCE MARKS, NACA CEO, BOSTONIAN OF THE YEAR (2007).

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Patrick Cockburn – Ireland

Linked with Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control.

Patrick Cockburn (1950) is an Irish journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent since 1979 for the Financial Times and, presently, The Independent. Among the most experienced commentators on Iraq, he was one of the few journalists to remain in Baghdad during the first Gulf War, and has written four books on the country’s recent history. Cockburn’s on-the-ground reporting on the Iraq War won him the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005 and the James Cameron Prize in 2006.

He writes: Bush is acting rather like Tory politicians a century ago who played ‘the Orange Card’ over Ulster, 7 February 2007.

Audio on npr: Journalist Patrick Cockburn on Iraq’s Tenuous Calm, 42.35 min, February 21, 2008 (Click on Listen now).

Révélation d’un plan secret pour maintenir l’Irak sous le contrôle des Etats-Unis, The Independent, 7 juin 2008 … and in english: Pat Cockburn writes, that  » … secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November … « , Submitted on world war 4 report, by Bill Weinberg, 06/08/2008.
About same item, read on: WSWS, June 6, 2008; and all Google news-search about.

U.S. negotiators say Iraq must sign a bi-lateral security deal or lose billions in oil revenue, June 6, 2008.

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Patrick Cockburn – Ireland

US Holds $50 Billion of Iraq’s Financial Reserves Hostage, June 6, 2008.

… Cockburn says that the United States is able to use the funds as a bargaining chip because Iraq is still limited by U.N. resolutions enacted when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 … (full text).

He writes also: … The war in Iraq is now joining the Boer War in 1899 and the Suez crisis in 1956 as ill-considered ventures that have done Britain more harm than good. It has demonstrably strengthened al-Qa’ida by providing it with a large pool of activists and sympathisers across the Muslim world it did not possess before the invasion of 2003. The war, which started out as a demonstration of US strength as the world’s only superpower, has turned into a demonstration of weakness … (full text).

Book Review: Muqtada, from Patrick Cockburn, May 22, 2008.

The last word that Saddam Hussein heard as the executioner’s noose was being tightened around his neck was « Muqtada. » As in Muqtada al-Sadr, the young Shia cleric who had survived his persecutor to lay claim to Iraq. Americans may be tempted to dismiss Muqtada as mainly a nuisance – too young, inexperienced and unstable to thrive in Iraqi politics. But it was Muqtada’s men who executed Saddam, and the movement associated with him has grown enough to threaten U.S. plans for Iraq, most recently by plunging the southern metropolis of Basra into battle and by roiling Baghdad’s Sadr City, the massive Shia district that bears his family name. As veteran British journalist Patrick Cockburn’s authoritative biography should make clear, it is unwise to assume a future for Iraq that does not include Muqtada al-Sadr and his movement … (full text, June 07, 2008).

These Cultures will Become Extinct, Exodus of Iraq’s Ancient Minorities, March 5, 2007.

Continuer la lecture de « Patrick Cockburn – Ireland »

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana – Indonesia

Linked with LBH APIK Jakarta, and with humant rafficking.org.

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

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana (born 1956) is a feminist lawyer and advocate of women’s human rights. In 1995, she founded the Women’s Association for Justice (APIK) and established the Women’s Legal Aid institution in Jakarta, the members of which were initially recruited from among former clients and survivors and trained as paralegals. During the 1998 reformation, along with several other women activists, Nursyahbani founded the Indonesian Women’s Coalition for Justice and Democracy, the first mass-based women’s organization in the country since 1965, and was elected its first Secretary General.

She says: « Strengthening and empowering the community is the key to change ». (1000peacewomen 1/2).

Her CV.

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Nursyahbani Katjasungkana – Indonesia

She works as member for Kemitraan, for Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia, and for Women’s Association for Justice APIK respectively Women’s Legal Aid (LBH) of APIK.

When Nursyahbani began her career as a lawyer and director of the Jakarta Legal Aid in 1987, “women’s rights”, “feminism” and “violence against women” were unfamiliar words in Indonesian legal discourse. Such words were considered irrelevant. Impoverished men and women were both seen as victims of the authoritarian state and its developmental approach, and identifying women as an oppressed group would only undermine the overall goal of establishing democracy and alleviating poverty.

NGOs were only starting to emerge in Indonesia, and only two NGOs were working on women’s issues. But Nursyahbani’s close links with women who were concerned about women’s specific situation, as well as her own sharp awareness of the discrimination that women experience, led her to advocate “women’s human rights.” The term has since become more and more accepted in the Indonesian context.

Even when human rights groups began to rise in Indonesia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nursyahbani’s human rights colleagues did not share her notion of gender equality. Violence against women, for instance, was not considered a human rights violation, but a crime in the private sphere. As a human rights defender and feminist activist, Nursyahbani considered violence against women in the private sphere to be a human rights violation when the state does not take action to prevent or remedy it. Her views were quite progressive compared to the traditional human rights discourse in Indonesia during that period. “Violence against women is a human rights violation when it is condoned by the state,” Nursyahbani asserted.

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Sreeram Chaulia – India

Linked with U.N. Security Council Seat: China Outsmarts India.

Sreeram Chaulia (born November 18, 1978) is an Indian analyst of international affairs for Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online and New Delhi-based Indo-Asian News Service. He is the author of over 205 articles and book reviews in multiple scholarly journals, daily newspapers and magazines, covering topics like diplomacy, national security, war and peace, political economy, human rights, terrorism, literature and arts. He is also Contributing Editor of the book, People Who Influenced the World Over the Past 100 Years b(Murray Books, Adelaide, 2005). As a writer, he presents sharp unconventional insights on burning global issues … (full text).

His full CV on worldpress.org.

He writes: … How prolific does an artiste have to be before being judged a wizard? Jagjit, who is 66 years old today, has been releasing albums practically uninterruptedly for the last 41 years. Productivity knows no bounds for him, with at least two ghazal albums hitting the market in a calendar year. The most amazing part of it is the non-repetition and freshness of every new release. The music world routinely discards burnouts and fizz-outs. Jagjit towers over such temporary pygmies like a giant who reinvents himself with every new offering. There has never been a phase in his career when people felt that his best is past and that he is « living off » his royalties … (full text, June 7, 2008).

His own website.

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Sreeram Chaulia – India

The problem with dictators and disasters, May 13, 2008.

The symphony of South-South cooperation at the recent conclave of foreign ministers of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in Russia was jarred by China’s refusal to endorse India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council … (full text, June 4, 2008).

Sreeram Chaulia – Pakistan terrorism, April 01, 2008.

He writes also: … Bush’s attacks on Obama’s engaged diplomacy doctrine is a detour from the tested « domestic » electoral arena and opens a window to undiluted foreign policy discussion, territory that is unfamiliar to the average American. However, if raking up the controversy over appeasement may be a sideshow for ordinary American voters, it attracts international attention because of the high global stakes of American foreign policy … (full text, May 21, 2008).

Democratisation, Colour Revolutions and the Role of the NGOs: Catalysts or Saboteurs, Dec. 25, 2005?

… Mr. Chaulia has worked for international humanitarian and peace organisations in the United States, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. He has been a regular writer for Hong Kong-based Asia Times since 2001 and has published widely on global politics, trade, human rights and peace in numerous magazines, journals and newspapers. He also wrote a monthly international current events column, GLOBE SCAN, for the Melbourne-based Bharat Times. He is also contributing editor of Peter Murray’s People Who Influenced the World Over the Past 100 Years (Murray Books, 2005, full text).

Undiplomatically yours, May 9, 2008.

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Joseph Ki-Zerbo – Burkina Faso (1922 – 2006)

Joseph Ki-Zerbo (June 21, 1922 – December 4, 2006, Burkina Faso) was a Burkinabé politician and writer. He spent his youth in Toma where he grew up in a rural context inside a big family. Ki-Zerbo himself declared that his first 11 years passed in a rural context marked his personality and thoughts. He was recognized as one of Africa’s foremost thinkers. He was educated both in is home country in missionary schools at Toma, and Pabre (around 20 miles from the capital). Also, he studied at Faladie in Mali and after at [Sorbonne University], which is one of the most prestigious schools in France. After getting his aggregation degree in History, he returned to Africa. Once back, he became politically active. From 1972 to 1978 he was Professor of African History at the University of Ouagadougou. But in 1983, he was forced into exile, only being able to return in 1992. 50th anniversary of the intellectual career of professor Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 1922- 2006 (portal UNESCO.org).

Ki-Zerbo founded his own party, the Party for Democracy and Progress/ Socialist Party, which he was chairman until 2005 and represented in the Burkina Faso parliament until 2006. Ki-Zerbo was also the best known opponent of the revolutionary government of the President Thomas Sankara. Ki-Zerbo was socialist and an exponent of an independent development of Africa and of Unity of the continent … (full text).

He said: “The Africa which the world needs is a continent able to stand up, to walk on its own feet … it is an Africa conscious of its own past and able to keep on reinvesting this past into its present and future”.

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Joseph Ki-Zerbo – Burkina Faso (1922 – 2006)

More about him:

He wrote: … « CEDA conducts research which is actually rooted in our land for the purpose of determining one or more global hypotheses of understanding, liable to inspire action by Africans and capable of integrating ecological preservation, the social praxis and cultural identity, key sectors which are almost invariably treated as secondary in development projects » … (full text).

the book: From Chains to Bonds, The Slave Trade, Capter 11 from Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 2001, 470 pages.

the book: Joseph Ki-Zerbo and DjiBril Tamsir Niane, editors: UNESCO General History of Africa,
Vol. IV, Abridged Edition, Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century, UNESCO General History of Africa, IV.

What is the Tonga Definition of Intelligence?

… As a historian, he has published a number of books with endogenous development as the central theme. From 1972 to 1978, Ki-Zerbo was a member of UNESCO’s Executive Council, and was a professor at Burkina Faso’s Universite d’Ouagadougou. In 1980, Ki-Zerbo founded the Centre d’Etudes pour le Developpement Africain (CEDA) … (full text).

Joseph Ki-Zerbo 1922-2006 on Al-Baal Café.

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Caroline Moorehead – England

Caroline Moorehead is a human rights journalist and biographer. She has written five biographies, of Bertrand Russell, Heinrich Schliemann, Freya Stark, Iris Origo, and most recently, the life of Martha Gellhorn, the wife of novelist Ernest Hemingway. Besides being the wife of Hemingway, Gellhorn was a famous war reporter – unprecedented for a woman in the 1930s – her job was to travel to the most dangerous hot spots in the world … (full text).

She says: « … One of the most difficult refugee problems at the moment are these long-term camps. When they were originally set up, when civil wars began in that part of West Africa, it was envisaged that they would only be there for the time it took for the civil war to be solved. So they were originally seen as sort of holding places where people could stay and be safe for a while. The problem is the civil wars have gone on, and they’ve ebbed and flowed, and the civil wars move around that area of West Africa. So the camps, instead of emptying, got larger, and they are now these huge, desolate places where there is almost nothing, because, in the early days, the World Food Program was able to give them fairly generous rations, but since funds for this sort of thing have gone down, they now get almost nothing. I mean, they live; that’s what they do, they just live … (full interview text, 02/04/2005).

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Caroline Moorehead – England

Where Are the « Lost Girls »? 3,700 young Sudanese refugees made it to America. Why are only 89 of them female, Oct. 3, 2003.

She writes: … Many of the traffickers are in fact women, and most of the girls trafficked out of Moldova today are reported to be duped, recruited, and groomed by women, some of them former prostitutes, who often accompany them reassuringly on the first leg of their journeys. Most unsettling is the fact that some of the « introducers » are boyfriends, « aunties, » or even parents, willing, for a cut, or out of financial desperation, to traduce those they profess to love … (full long text, Oct. 11, 2007).

The Lost Treasures of Troy.

She (Caroline Moorehead) explained how she had been to Cairo and become involved with Liberian refugees, whom she helped to raise money to begin an educaton in Cairo. As a result of this experience she wanted to find out more about where these refugees came from and why they were in this position … (full text).

Books of the year – Caroline Moorehead.

In the aftermath of the second world war, the world seemed to wake up to the persecution of the Jews and other minorities under the Nazi regime. Reading Caroline Moorehead’s book I kept reaching for the hope that one day, in the same way, the world would wake up to the intolerable suffering of millions today in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. However Human Cargo is not a book which sets out to foster such dreams … (full text).

Review of ‘Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn‘.

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Ala Nemerenco – Moldavia

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

Ala Nemerenco is the director of the Clinic for Primary Health Care of the State Medical and Pharmaceutical University of Moldova. In only two short years since its opening, the center has become a model for the entire country and has set a new standard for offering health services at the highest international levels, for instructing medical students and residents, and for supporting family medicine practices throughout the country.Since the clinic’s inception, she has been responsible for overseeing its day-to-day activities, including planning and building the infrastructure, hiring and training the personnel, operations, administration, and implementation of new pilot project initiatives … (1000peacewomen).

She says: « Life is short, but it is long enough to at least try to do what is right ».

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Ala Nemerenco – Moldavia

She works for the University Clinic for Primary Health Care.

The University Clinic of Primary Health Care was established as part of the Partnership of the American International Health Alliance between Eastern Virginia Medical School, USA and the State Medicine and Pharmaceutical University “Nicolae Testemitanu” of Moldova. Today, two years after opening its doors, the clinic has become a model center for providing medical services at the highest international levels with modern equipment and well-trained professionals.

The clinic is a center for the implementation of new forms of organization in the medical field, as well as the creation of development strategies and management practices for medical institutions. The clinic lies at the center of joint community projects geared towards promotion of healthy lifestyles among the general population, protection of children, and prevention of domestic violence. It also is a leading instruction center for medical students and residents and family physicians, who travel from different parts of the country in order to receive some of the best training available. The clinic’s Skills Teaching and Assessment Center promotes some of the newest medical practices among the graduating medical students.

Concurrent with her responsibilities at the University Clinic of Primary Health Care, Nemerenco acts as a consultant to the World Bank project, “Public awareness Campaign Healthy people, Healthy Future,” in support of the health reforms in the Republic of Moldova. Within the scope of the project, numerous information campaigns have been launched throughout the country. The campaigns aim to explain and support the medical reforms currently occurring, including the implementation of a medical insurance system and the introduction of family medicine practices. On behalf of the project, Ala has organized and edited numerous information campaigns involving TV, radio, and the general print media as well as specialized medical publications. The campaigns also attempt to raise the overall awareness level on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other maladies.

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Megh Ale – Nepal

Linked with the Nepal River Conservation Trust NRCT, and with Borderlands.

Megh Ale is one of Nepal’s leading figures in rafting. Having spent several years working and exploring the rivers and jungles of Nepal, including four years at the Royal Bardiya National Park as a naturalist, Megh is always ready to share his deep understanding of Nepal and its myriad of cultures, plants and animals. He is the founder and president of the NRCT, Nepal River Conservation Trust and the Managing Director of Ultimate Descents Nepal. (borderland resorts).

3rd Specialized Conference, Decentralized Water and Wastewater International Network 9 – 11 February 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal … (full text, 4 pages).

He says: “Building a new nation will require foresight and emphasis on sustainable development, and so does river management, the Bhote Kosi is the Everest of rafting. Just as the mountain, the river deserves protection and honour”. (Liquid Gold).

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Megh Ale – Nepal

He works for the Nepal River Conservation Trust NRCT, and for the Ultimate Descents Nepal.

His doc: The Karnali: Nepal’s sacred gift to the living earth, 2006.

Namaste! Welcome to Ultimate Descents Nepal. Venturing into the unknown is the spirit of exploration and it is not as difficult as first imagined. Established in the year 1987 by Mr. Megh Ale, Ultimate Descents Nepal is the name of the Nepal’s premier rafting organization. With years of experience in hospitality as well as in Nepal’s whitewater, Ultimate Descents is also very proud to claim the Nepal Tourism Award for last five consecutive years … (full text).

REPORT: NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON CONSERVING NEPALESE WETLANDS, SHARING EXPERIENCES AND BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, 2007, 41 pages.

85 percent of Nepal’s population depends on rivers for agriculture or other subsistence activities. Megh educates river communities to become key players in the environmental conservation of the rivers on which their country depends. He organizes river festivals throughout the country and builds coalitions between environmental organizations and the tourism industry. He has created jobs for river communities by expanding river tourism, in the process educating guides about conservation techniques. Finally, Megh works with schools to build a new generation of children more likely to take action and create a healthier environment in the future. He is an ashoka fellow since 2007.

Dams and Development in Nepal, 117 pages.

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Rolene Miller – South Africa

Linked with the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust.

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

Rolene Miller, born in 1938, is a qualified social worker from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. For five years, she worked as a teacher specializing in remedial teaching. She started the Mosaic Training Services and Healing Centre in 1993, a non-profit organiztion for abused women. The focus of the organization was to extend reproductive health services, HIV/Aids awareness, legal rights and food security. Rolene is recognized for her efforts in empowering women to take control of their lives and to bring about peace in their homes and in their communities.

She says: « Women are the first agents of change; the first teachers because they are the bearers and nurturers of culture. If change has to happen, it must start with women ».
… both on (1000peacewomen 1/2).

How Amy Biehl (an idealistic Stanford graduate of the Amy Biehl Foundation) was murdered; and: BIEHL’S PARENTS COME FACE-TO-FACE WITH DAUGHTER’S KILLERS, 1997.

The CAPE TOWN NETWORK CONTACT LIST.

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Rolene Miller – South Africa

She works for Mosaic Training Services, and for Healing Centre (not better specified, find all Healing Centres worldwide on Google search).

Rolene Miller and the community workers whom she trained felt honored and privileged to cross the previously forbidden color-bar, getting to know each other personally and learning about each other’s cultures and communities. For Rolene, social worker and volunteer counselor for five years, the change was evident ,when she began to receive many crisis calls from women who were experiencing abuse and domestic violence.

She started the Mosaic Training Services and Healing Centre in 1993, a non-profit organization for abused women. The focus of the organization was to extend reproductive health services, HIV/AIDS awareness, legal rights and food security.

In 1994, she teamed up with a psychologist and developed a one-year full-time educational program to train grassroots women in community and social work skills. Training and supervision of community workers took place in a disadvantaged community.

Continuer la lecture de « Rolene Miller – South Africa »

Tim Guldimann – Switzerland

VIENNA, 1 October 2007 – Tim Guldimann from Switzerland took office today as Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo … (full text) … {albanian version /serbian version}.

He is Visiting professor, European General Studies Department, former Swiss Ambassador to Teheran, Professor of international relations (particularly on Islamic world) at the University of Frankfurt, Co-author of the Report on the nuclear impasse in Iran, published by the International Crisis Group. (College of Europe).

Tim Guldimann (* 19. September 1950 in Zürich, Schweiz) ist ein Schweizer Diplomat und Politikwissenschaftler … Seit dem 1. Oktober 2007 ist Guldimann Leiter der OSZE-Mission im Kosovo. Eigentlich sollte Guldimann 2007 den Posten des Botschafters in Israel übernehmen, was jedoch nach internen Auseinandersetzungen im Außenministerium der Schweiz (EDA) in letzter Minute verhindert wurde … (full text).

His Videos:

(Mehr auf deutsch siehe ganz unten).

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Tim Guldimann – Switzerland: The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo Tim Guldimann After the Elections: what Prospects for Kosovo gestures while giving a briefing entitled in a hotel in Brussels, Monday Nov. 26, 2007.

He says: « Kosovo is not an island and its future status can be decided only in partnership with the international community » … (full text).

He says also: « Ahmadinejad is not number one in the country, his position is comparable to the prime minister in other countries. The religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the supreme leader and he has already been critical of his president’s comments on Israel ». (Iran News Blog).

Iranian peace overtures in 2003 and mysterious non-reaction, 05/29/2006.

He writes: Nowadays information and communication runs ever more over modern media. They have a great influence our picture of the world, which we carry in us. Therefore they also play a role in peace processes. Among the different forms of media pictures hold a special role. Most humans feel directly addressed by them, and they convey a wealth of information. However, pictures can enforce our prejudices. For example people from the western countries often react strongly to pictures of women with head scarves, since we associate this directly to suppression of women, independently of whether these women wear the head scarves on their own will or not. The view on the orient conveyed to the west is strongly influenced by our values and dominant prejudices … (full text).

Who Is Tim Guildimann, by ELI LAKE, February 9, 2007, updated 2/11/07.

Continuer la lecture de « Tim Guldimann – Switzerland »