World People's Blog – Page 31 – published formerly on world-citizenship.org

Violeta Vanesa Delgado Sarmiento – Nicaragua

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

Violeta Vanesa Delgado Sarmiento was born in the municipality of Diriomo, in Nicaragua. Her father was Nicaraguan and her mother Honduran, from the village of Olancho, in the East of the country. Olancho is a village of “pistoleros” (gunmen), of men with guns and machetes; fierce, brave people. It is the birthplace of many insurgents and guerrillas. Her father is from Diriomo, a land of witches and enchanters…..When asked, “Do you have more of the witches or of the fighters in you?” Violeta laughs “I have both. They are combined in me“.

She remembers: “The richest part of my childhood, while I was living in my village, was the sensation of freedom. I felt that I could go in and out of the houses of different people as I wished. This community feeling you have when you live in a village doesn’t limit you to within the four walls of your own home. You take your lunch at Juanita’s place, and then you visit Mrs. Teresita, and all the children play among the trees… I think that this feeling of being part of something marked me for the rest of my life” …

She says: « There is no path laid ahead, the path is laid down while you walk–this is my motto. It is from a verse written by Antonio Machado ».

Violeta Vanesa Delgado Sarmiento – Nicaragua

She works for Women’s Network against Violence.

Why then did the daughter of a conservative office worker, from a lower middle-class, semi-urban family, leave her comfortable environment to be part of the collective, which raised its voice to denounce the inequalities and the violence against women? « I think that the example of the women of my family, who have always been engaged in the search for justice, left its mark on me ever since I was young”. Violeta challenged her family and began a life committed to improving the quality of life of the Nicaraguan people. That was the beginning of her devoted and tireless struggle to defend women’s human rights.

In 1980, during the Sandinist Popular Revolution, Violeta, then 11 years old, accompanied her mother who worked as a member of the Crusade for National Literacy. They went to a community, not far from Diriomo, where they lived for four months with a peasant family in a two-room ranch. “We ate and slept with them, sharing their lives, dreams and illusions.” Later on, she participated in the activities planned by the Sandinist Youth Organization, taking part mainly in activities such as the harvest of coffee beans and cotton, and in the campaign for better health.

When, in 1992, she went to University she was an outstanding student and therefore she was elected as the President of her Faculty. She participated actively and led the fight to raise the budget for the universities in 6 %.

Continuer la lecture de « Violeta Vanesa Delgado Sarmiento – Nicaragua »

Matthew Lipman – USA (August 24, 1922 – December 26, 2010)

Linked with Cours à distance ‘la philosophie pour les enfants’, and with Toward a Philosophy of Thinking. Added 14th June: and linked with the International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children ICPIC.

Matthew Lipman (born on August 24, 1922) is recognized as the founder of Philosophy for Children. His decision to bring philosophy to young people came from his experience as a professor at Columbia University, where he witnessed underdeveloped reasoning skills in his students. His interest is particularly on developing reasoning skills by teaching logic. The belief that children possess the ability to think abstractly from an early age, led him to the conviction that bringing logic to children’s education earlier would help them to improve their reasoning skills. In 1972 he left Columbia for Montclair State College to establish the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) [1] where he began to take philosophy into K-12 classrooms in Montclair. That year he also published his first of many books specifically designed to help children practice philosophy, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery. A primary goal of Philosophy for children is to foster critical thinking, defined by Lipman as “thinking that (1) facilitates judgment because it (2) relies on criteria, (3) is self-correcting, and (4) is sensitive to context.” [2]He challenges educators to create a community of inquiry to this end. The IAPC continues to develop and publish curriculum, working internationally to advance and improve philosophy for children … (full text).

He says: « The students become accustomed to asking each other for reasons and opinions, to listening carefully to each other, to building on each others ideas » …

… and he writes: … Philosophy taps children?s natural curiosity and sense of wonder. It engages them in the search for meaning and enriches and extends their understanding. It strengthens thinking and reasoning skills and builds self-esteem. It helps to develop the qualities that make for good judgement in everyday life … (for both full text).

Matthew Lipman – USA

Video: Philosophy for Kids, by Matthew Lipman (6/7), 9.30 min, added: May 25, 2008.

Lipman and Sharp: Philosophy for Children (P4C) as a method of enquiry, was developed by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp in the late 1960’s. They both still work at the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State University in America. Lipman and Sharp developed specially written texts to be used in the classroom. (children thinkin – link disabeled since).

… Philosophy for Children is an international movement started by the American philosopher and educator Matthew Lipman in 1969 and developed with caring spirit by Ann Margaret Sharp … (full text – link disabeled since).

Matthew Lipman and Philosophy for Children Another important pioneer in what in the United States is termed the Critical Thinking movement, and which we talk about in the UK as the thinking skills, is the American philosopher, Matthew Lipman. Originally a university philosophy professor, Lipman was unhappy at what he saw as poor thinking in his students. He became convinced that something was wrong with the way they had been taught in school when they were younger. They seemed to have been encouraged to learn facts and to accept authoritative opinions, but not to think for themselves. He therefore left his post and founded the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (I.A.P.C.) at Montclair State College, New Jersey. For the last forty years decades, he and his colleagues have been developing material for use in schools, aimed at helping young people (from 6 year-olds to late adolescents) to think … (full text – link disabeled since).

Philosophy with Children Centers Around The World, Sept. 23, 2004 – link disabeled since.

… He recognizes that there are different views as to the function of education and schools and that there any several opposing viewpoints that express what the function should be. Some take the stance that schools are designed to make better future citizens, some contend that they should foster a sense of self-worth in a child and engage with their creativity, while still others insist that the school has been rendered almost useless because of the many conflicts that exist within the institution. In this summary of « Thinking of Education » all of these ideas will be touched upon as in the book, Matthew Lipman offered some analysis of these many aspects that are having an effect on education and deciding what its modern function should be. (full text – link disabeled since).

Download the google book: Philosophy in the classroom – link disabeled since.

Continuer la lecture de « Matthew Lipman – USA (August 24, 1922 – December 26, 2010) »

Kama Steliga – Canada

Linked with the National Association of Friendship Centres.

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

Kama Steliga, born 1967 in Kenniwick, Washington State, USA, came to Canada when she was ten. She is the executive director and driving force behind The Lillooet Friendship Centre Society, an Aboriginal organization that supports individual, family, and community empowerment through culturally sensitive programs and services. Her work at Lillooet Friendship Centre has led to her advising and assisting similar operations at a provincial level …

… Sarah Chandler says about Kama’s work: « it is an outstanding example of bridge-building between cultures, while at the same time protecting and promoting human dignity, human rights, and fundamental freedoms ». (1000peacewomen).

She is elected Secretary of the National Association of Friendship Centres (scroll down).

She signs the Opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, Jan. 2, 2006.

Kama Steliga – Canada

She works for the Lillooet Friendship Centre (address, and location by Google map).

Kama Steliga always speaks her mind and has become quite vocal in her opposition to established authorities who downplay social problems in her home town of Lillooett. For example, government officials have denied Lillooett funding for the homeless because it has a population of fewer than 5,000. According to officials, such a small town can not have a problem with homelessness. « Tell that to the people living under the bridge outside town, » says Kama.

She believes communities need a healthy mix of self-reliance and support from outside sources. Especially disappointing to her are recent cuts in the latter. « I really believe in the Liberal motto ‘Communities taking care of communities,' » she says. « But the cuts took away our ability to do that. They were too deep, too broad, too fast, and without enough forethought. There just didn’t seem to be any kind of humane strategy to deal with social health. »

Lack of resources especially touches Kama when she sees the direct effect on individuals. She notes that the population relying on Lillooet’s food bank for meals has swelled to 300 people a month, about 10 percent of the town’s population.

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Walter J. "John" Williams – USA

(Formally known as Walter J. Williams, his friends call him John … )

Linked with Potential Future Hyperinflation, with Selling War – What WE Say Goes, with Shadow Government Statistics, and with Stephen Lendman, USA.

John Williams aka Walter J. « John » Williams was born in 1949. He received an A.B. in Economics, cum laude, from Dartmouth College in 1971, and was awarded a M.B.A. from Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business Administration in 1972, where he was named an Edward Tuck Scholar. During his career as a consulting economist, John has worked with individuals as well as Fortune 500 companies … (Financial Sense Editorials).

NEW RECORD MONEY GROWTH THREATENS MONETARY INFLATION, by John Williams, Executive Editor of SHADOW GOVERNMENT STATISTICS, January 14, 2008.

… But now a man has come out of the woodwork who’s done the real math and properly crunched all the numbers. His conclusion: « If the numbers don’t seem real to the man in the street … they probably aren’t » … (Shadow Statistics, by Doug Hornig).

Federal Deficit Reality, Sept, 7, 2004.

He says: … These overstatements have become such a serious problem that there is a little bit of a disconnect today between what a person on Main Street thinks is happening and the economic numbers you see coming out of the federal government. If you go back, I’m guessing it was five to ten years ago, the Kaiser Foundation conducted a survey of the public’s views on the levels of the CPI, unemployment, GDP growth and such, which was reported in the Washington Post. The gist of all the article was, “Ho, ho, ho, ho. Look how stupid the American people are. They don’t realize that inflation is so low and that unemployment is so low.”

His website Shadow Government Statistics.

sorry, I found no photo of Walter J. »John » Williams, USA

Gross Domestic Product, Oct. 6, 2004.

… John Williams joins a growing list of guest contributors who have provided some terrific material in the short time the GRA website has been in existence. When you have a moment, go to the website’s « Guest Contributions » section on the home page, lower right-hand column) and peruse some of the other work available there. Incidentally, if you did not read the earlier installments of John’s series, you will find them posted in the « Guest Contributions » section … (full text).

Pollyanna creep.

Washington’s Great « No Inflation » Hoax, May 8, 2008. … According to Williams, government realized as long ago as the Kennedy administration that Americans would rather hear good news even if it’s false, and so the manipulation of data began. Unemployment was easy. First they created the « discouraged worker » category (those who’ve given up on finding a job) and counted them separately. Then, under Clinton, they quit counting them at all. Upwards of five million out-of-work people were suddenly no longer « unemployed » … (full text).

GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC REPORTS: THINGS YOU’VE SUSPECTED BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK.

He writes: … Inflation, as reported by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is understated by roughly 7% per year. This is due to recent redefinitions of the series as well as to flawed methodologies, particularly adjustments to price measures for quality changes. The concentration of this installment on the quality of government economic reports will be first on CPI series redefinition and the damages done to those dependent on accurate cost-of-living estimates, and on pending further redefinition and economic damage. The CPI was designed to help businesses, individuals and the government adjust their financial planning and considerations for the impact of inflation. The CPI worked reasonably well for those purposes into the early-1980s. In recent decades, however, the reporting system increasingly succumbed to pressures from miscreant politicians, who were and are intent upon stealing income from social security recipients, without ever taking the issue of reduced entitlement payments before the public or Congress for approval … (full text).

Continuer la lecture de « Walter J. "John" Williams – USA »

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).

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).

Continuer la lecture de « Bruce Marks – USA »

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.

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.

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.

Continuer la lecture de « Nursyahbani Katjasungkana – Indonesia »

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.

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”.

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

More about him:

the video: Aminata Traoré et Jacqueline Ki Zerbo à Ciné Droit Libre, 4.17 min, from 27 Dezember 2007;
the video: in french: GRAND HOMMAGE A L’ AFRIQUE, 5.54 min, May 09, 2008.
JOSEPH KI-ZERBO, self-made development;
His political activities;
His social and political ideas;
He is also a better world heroe.

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.

Continuer la lecture de « Joseph Ki-Zerbo – Burkina Faso (1922 – 2006) »

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).

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‘.

Continuer la lecture de « Caroline Moorehead – England »