Marta Prekpalaj – Kosovo

Linked with Motrat Qiriazi, and with the Kosova Women’s Network KWN.

She is one of the 2006-Winners of the WWSF Prize.

Her motto: « Go to the people, love them, live with them, learn from them. Start with what they know, build with what they have, and with the best leaders. When the work is done, the people will say: we did this ourselves », (Lao Tzu).

Video in albanian language: 5 – Shtepia e Shqiptarit – AANO dhe AAWO – si mund te ndihmo, 4.47 min, October 12, 2007.

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Marta Prekpalaj – Kosovo

She works for Motrat Qiriazi.

Marta’s whole life is a living illustration of this (Lao Tzu’s) famous statement. Born in 1967 in the village of Zym in the isolated mountainous Has region on the Albanian border, she had to fight to go to secondary school, a two hour walk from her home which girls were not permitted to do.

At 23, she became involved in a literacy campaign and soon after cofounded an association for the education of women, Motrat Qiriazi, becoming in 1995 the first woman school director of her region.

Lao Tzu’s statement became the working motto of Motrat Qiriazi. From the start, all members of the community were invited to the meetings.

However, as in this profoundly patriarchal culture, women did not speak much in the meetings, Marta started by organizing separate meetings for women. When the whole community came together again, women were for the first time capable of not only clearly defining their needs, but defending them too.

Continuer la lecture de « Marta Prekpalaj – Kosovo »

Stella Tamang – Nepal

Linked with Articles for Indigenous Peoples on our blogs.

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

Stella Tamang (born 1948) is a member of the minority indigenous Lama community and, to boot, a Buddhist woman in the world’s only Hindu kingdom. Her situation has shaped her life and her values, making her a determined advocate for the rights of women, indigenous peoples, and religious minorities. The name of her organization, Milijuli Nepal, means « together », and that is her message indeed: that diverse groups in society can work together for their respective rights, with mutual toleration, without violence.

It is said about her: Stella Tamang, a Buddhist in a Hindu nation, is a determined advocate for the rights of women, religious minorities, and indigenous groups. Nonviolence is central to her mission.

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Stella Tamang – Nepal

She works for Milijuli Nepal (named on women peacemakers program,
on DEZA.ch, and on UN.org/esa ), and she works also for Bikalpa Gyan Tatha Bikas Kendra Ashram BGTBKA (named on women peacemakers program).

She was always dismayed by the lowly status of women in Nepali society. She was equally moved by the plight of indigenous groups like her own Lama community (and the Tamang community she married into), which lacked access to education and jobs, and were far from the power structure. As a Buddhist in the world’s only Hindu kingdom, she also felt compelled to work for greater mutual respect for diverse religious traditions.

A teacher by training, Stella founded Bhrikuti School in 1975, when she was still a student, with five children from her own locality.

Today, it is a low-fee secondary school with about 900 students. Stella later started Milijuli Nepal (milijuli means « together »), an affiliate of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists based in Thailand, and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation based in the Netherlands. Milijuli’s goal is to work for justice and peace in non-violent ways.

Continuer la lecture de « Stella Tamang – Nepal »

Peter Nalitch – Russian Federation

Linked with Russian Blog roundup.

Russia’s latest YouTube sensation sounds like a Balkan Gipsy Kings version of Borat. Why sounds? Because Peter Nalitch, a twentysomething architect whose true love is music was goofing off at his dacha one day with some friends when they decided to film an amateur video set to a remarkably catchy tune and some remarkably silly, utterly hilarious lyrics in intentionally botched English. The song, “Gitar” (the misspelling is intentional), has had nearly one million hits on YouTube and drawn rave reviews in a number of languages, including botched English … (full text).

His YouTube-video making him famous.

His Homepage in russian language.

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Peter Nalitch – Russian Federation

Peter Nalitch’s video Ty plenila menya … , 2.12 min, Dec. 25, 2007.

At last, Russia has a homegrown star to match Borat. Peter Nalitch’s cheesy pop video “Gitar” has taken the newly launched youtube.ru by storm, notching up more than 350,000 views already … So, what next for Nalich? Well, the former architecture student is following in the footsteps of his Bosnian grandfather – an opera singer – and is training as a singer at a Moscow music college. And with a number of other songs ready to go, international fame surely beckons … (full text, inkl his 2.57 min. Hit on the Russian YouTube).

59 videos from Peter Nalitch (from whitch 54 are NOT guitar) on imeem.com.

22 other videos than Gitar from Peter Nalitch on NME.com, (plus many videos with other artists on the following pages).

8 videos on YouTube from and with Peter Nalitch.

Find him and his publications on Google Video-search; on Google Blog-search, nd on Global Voices of November 29, 2007.

Peter Nalitch is Russia’s answer to Manu Chao. His video for the song Guitar is a Borat-like jab at low-budget, post-Soviet awkwardness — absurd English lyrics, Eurotrash earnestness, bad wipes, and cheap subtitles. But its tongue-in-cheekness is quite apparent, and the song is disarmingly catchy and romantic. (lost at e minor).

Continuer la lecture de « Peter Nalitch – Russian Federation »

Fred Halliday – Ireland

Update April 27, 2010: Fred Halliday, 1946-2010: a tribute, by David Hayes, 26 April 2010: The death of political analyst and international-relations scholar Fred Halliday extinguishes a voice and a light that have illuminated world politics for more than forty years. David Hayes pays tribute and presents a selection of his work for openDemocracy … (full text).

Linked with Sovereign Wealth Funds: power versus principle.

Fred Halliday is professor of international relations at the LSE, and visiting professor at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies IBEI. His many books include Islam and the Myth of Confrontation (IB Tauris, 2003), 100 Myths About the Middle East (Saqi, 2005), and The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology (Cambridge University Press, 2005) Fred Halliday’s « global politics » column on openDemocracy surveys the national histories, geopolitical currents, and dominant ideas across the world. (OpenDemocracy).

He says: « When you get Muslim groups in Europe saying in higher education colleges that Muslim women should not train to be engineers or doctors, that is going against Islam. The problem with groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir is that they say ‘this and only this is Islam’. Let’s take the Caliphate. I always tell Hizb ut-Tahrir to get on the plane and go to Tehran on Mecca and start talking about the Caliphate in those places – they wouldn’t come back. Most Muslims do not believe in the Caliphate as applicable to the contemporary world …  » (full long interview).

His official homepage.

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Fred Halliday – Ireland

Sharia Subjects VII: Beattie & Halliday in OpenDemocracy.

Fred Halliday studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the London School of Economics. Halliday wrote his PhD on South Yemen, and despite his prolific output it famously took him 17 years to complete and then publish (Sale, 2002). A one-time member of the International Marxist Group and writer for The Black Dwarf newspaper, since 1983 he has been lecturing at the London School of Economics, and he remains one of Britain’s leading experts on Middle Eastern politics. And a consultant to BP on the region.

At the LSE, Halliday is Professor of International Relations, and a member of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights. He is also a former Convener of the Department of International Relations of the LSE, and a former Chairman of the Research Committee of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). He sits on the advisory council of the Foreign Policy Centre. He is also associated with the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), and appears regularly on ABC, BBC and CBC radio and TV broadcasts. He has lectured widely on superpower relations, development issues, the Middle East and international-relations theory. He is the author of numerous books, including The World at 2000, World Politics, and Two Hours That Shook the World. Six of his books have been translated into Arabic … (full long text).

A panel of human rights experts, including Professor Fred Halliday and Marion Haroff-Tavel, came together at LSE on Thursday 16 May (2002) to debate The Law of War in the Age of Terror. (full long text).

At the Kimmel, Salman Rushdie discusses Islam, fiction and the “aesthetic of dirt”.

Continuer la lecture de « Fred Halliday – Ireland »

Abdullah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Rudaki – Persia/Tajikistan (859-941)

Linked with In the company of Abu Abdallah Rudaki.

Abdullah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Rudaki, ( … text in farsi … ), also written as Rudagi or Rudhagi, (859-941) was a Persian poet, and the first great literary genius of modern Persian language, who composed poems in the « New Persian » Perso-Arabic alphabet script. Rudaki is considered a founder of Persian classical literature.

He was born in 858 in Rudak (Panjrud), a village in Khorasan, Persia[1][2] , which is now located in Panjakent, Tajikistan. Most of his biographers assert that he was totally blind, but the accurate knowledge of colors shown in his poems makes this very doubtful. He was the court poet to the Samanid ruler Nasr II (914-943) in Bukhara, but he eventually fell out of favour and ended his life in poverty … (full text).

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Abdullah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Rudaki – Persia/Tajikistan (859-941)

TEHRAN, Jan. 22 (Mehr News Agency) — Iran and Tajikistan will jointly celebrate the 1150th birth anniversary of the Persian poet Abu Abdullah Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki (858-941) during a series of programs in 2008. (full text, Iran, Tajikistan team up to honor Persian poet Rudaki).

Poet Rudaki.

… Rodaki’s life sets a solid example for the faithfuls to the effect that come what may, it is incumbent upon one to remain firm and unshaken upon one’s own faith, conception and attachment to the Lord of the Age, even at the time of breath taking circumstances, for the Real Life is gained and attained only through the infallible love and attachment to the Lord of the Age. True lover never dies. Rodaki set the just example. Although the enemies of the Imam of the Time deprived him of his eyesight, no tyrant could snatch of him the inner vision derived by his unfailing love and attachment to the progeny of ‘Ahle Bait’ and in spite of the most hardest turmoil he remained inexhaustible in his love for the Imam of the Time and, Inshallah. his name will remain ever shining, for: « Hargiz namiread anki dilash zinda shud bi ishk; Sibt ast bar jaridai aaiam dawam ma. » (full text, Rodaki – Famous Ismaili Poet and Intellectual).

Continuer la lecture de « Abdullah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Rudaki – Persia/Tajikistan (859-941) »

Raul Humberto Yzaguirre – USA

Linked with National Council of La Raza NCLR.

Raul Humberto Yzaguirre (his name has sometimes been spelled Izaguirre / born July 22, 1939 in San Juan, Texas) is an American civil rights activist. Currently a life time member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he previously served as the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza from 1974 – 2004; and now works primarily as an advocate for the creation of a political union between the United States, Mexico and Canada through a variety of non-profit advocacy groups. He was born to Mexican American parents Ruben Antonio and Eva Linda (Morin) Yzaguirre, and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Yzaguirre states that some of his first memories of social injustice involved what his grandmother called a ‘Race War’ in Texas. Mexican Americans lived under a curfew at that time and Yzaguirre’s grandfather was almost lynched one night when coming home after dark from his second job. In 1958 he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Medical Service and served for 4 years … (full text).

He is Task Force Member of CFR … (and: scroll down) currently he serves as the Presidential Professor of Practice at Arizona State University (Community Development and Civil Rights). Mr. Yzaguirre, who recently retired as President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in Washington, DC (1974-2005), spearheaded the council’s emergence as the largest constituency-based national Hispanic organization and think tank in the United States.

Lubbock rally urges Hispanic vote in crucial’ election year, (full text, February 22, 2008).

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Raul Humberto Yzaguirre – USA

Yzaguirre is well-known in some circles for a controversal statement in the 1990s, when he said, « US English is to Hispanics as the Ku Klux Klan is to blacks ».

… Then following the special presentation by Yzaguirre, rally participants will be encouraged to early vote at the County Voter Registration Office, located at the Lubbock County elections office 1308 Crickets Ave. LULAC is the largest and oldest Hispanic Organization in the United States, and advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. The organization involves and serves all Hispanic nationality groups. (full text).

… Raul Yzaguirre, now a national co-chairman of the Clinton campaign, first met the candidate at a training session in San Antonio in 1972. “She was very into the intricacies of voter registration and the politics and mechanics of the process”, Mr. Yzaguirre said … (full text, March 2, 2008).

Yzaguirre to strengthen ASU’s national position in community development and civil rights.

Continuer la lecture de « Raul Humberto Yzaguirre – USA »

Benedita da Silva – Brazil

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

Benedita da Silva (1942) began her political career in the 1980s with the foundation and presidency of the Association of Women from Chapéu Mangueira, a slum in Rio, where she was born and lived for 57 years. She was elected town councilor once and federal deputy twice. She was the first woman to be elected for the senate (1994) and the first woman to govern the state of Rio. She occupied the Ministry of Social Assistance for one year. (1000peacewomen)

She says: “Peace is individual and it is inside of each one of us”.

Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio, (born in Rio de Janeiro, April 26, 1942-) is an Afro-Brazilian politician. During her life she faced a lot of prejudice for her humble origin, but she overcame the adversities and was Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and, later, Minister of State in the Government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (full text).

MINISTÉRIO DE ASSISTÊNCIA E PROMOÇÃO SOCIAL: Ministra Benedita da Silva.

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Benedita da Silva – Brazil

She works for the Partido dos Trabalhadores PT.

Daughter of a laundress and of a peasant, raised with 14 siblings, Benedita da Silva was the only one in her family to obtain a university degree. Her mother was a midwife in the community, and she was the inspiration for Benedita’s work as nursing assistant. She was able to conclude a course on social service in 1982, the same year she was elected for her first political term as a town councilor.

Her trajectory is marked by sexual abuse, which she suffered in her childhood; by the loss of a son, who died of starvation; and by the desire to have a different life. Several times, Benedita had to collect leftover food from the trash to feed her family.

Until she began her political mobilization, she was always a quiet woman.

Continuer la lecture de « Benedita da Silva – Brazil »

Daniel H. Yergin – USA

Linked with Cambridge Energy Research Associates CERA, .

Daniel H. Yergin is an American author, speaker, and economic researcher. Born February 6, 1947 in Los Angeles, California to a Chicago Tribune reporter father and a mother who was a sculptor and painter, Yergin attended Beverly Hills High School. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1968, where he served on the board of the Yale Daily News, and was a founder of The New Journal. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations (1974) from Cambridge University where he was a Marshall Scholar … // … Yergin is the co-founder and chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates CERA, an energy research consultancy. It was acquired by IHS Energy in 2004. (full text).

He is leading Expert on Energy and Global Economics … // … Daniel has been named one of the 500 most influential people in the US in the field of foreign policy by the World Affairs Councils of America … (full text).

He says: “High energy prices, climate change and energy security are converging as the new engine driving the development of clean energy » … « there is a major shift in public opinion towards clean energy, which is being bolstered by the growing conviction that new carbon policies will reshape the competitive landscape of the global energy business”. (full long text, Feb 23, 2008).

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Daniel H. Yergin – USA

A price tag to growth, Feb 23, 2007.

Find him and his publications on amazon; on daylife; on UNjobs; on wikipedia; on alibris; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.

As a note of confession, I must tell the readers that in 2003 when I was Director of Technology for a large independent oil company, I had a discussion with the VP of marketing for my company. I asked him why on earth we paid for CERA’s research when their stuff was constantly wrong. He said he knew that they were wrong but that we always wanted to listen to alternative views. With that I agree, but in the press, CERA is constantly proclaimed to be a ‘highly respected’ research firm. There may be less respect than is proclaimed. I do agree with my friend, the former VP of marketing, that one should always listen to alternative viewpoints … (full log text, January 10, 2008).

Sorry, most of his articles are NOT available for free.

His bio on CERA.

Continuer la lecture de « Daniel H. Yergin – USA »

Xingjuan Wang – China

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

Wang Xingjuan became a reporter at 20. She has been particularly concerned with the scale of problems – many of them new – that women are facing during the process of China’s reform and opening-up. She founded an organization, the Red Maple Women’s Consultation and Service Center, which launched the first of many hotlines for women. Retired since 1988, Wang continues to work for women.

She says: « I have realized that when one is in despair, a helping hand can light up new hope in the one who is in difficulty ».

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Xingjuan Wang – China

She works for the Red Maple Women’s Consultation and Service Center.

“The latter idea lingered in my mind and would not go.”This is what Wang Xingjuan said after she retired in 1988. There were two choices for her – she could have chosen the career of writing since she had been dealing with words for decades, becoming a reporter in Xihua Daily when she was 20, then working as one of the first youth reporters of China Youth in 1951, and finally for the Beijing Publishing Company after 1974, or she could choose “to do something for our sisters while China is in a phase of reform and is opening up”. This was the “latter idea” of Wang. For the first idea, Wang had experience, but for the latter one, she would have to start anew.

Wang saw that Chinese women were facing many new problems with the economic and political reform. In the increasingly severe social competition, few women could be independent, skilful and successful with the commodity-based economy. Many women needed some sort of support and help to stand up to the situation; this condition of women is contradictory to women’s emancipation reasoned Wang. “I think I have the desire as well as the time to do something for women,” she thought, and some intellectual women supported her ideas and activities.

In order to help women find themselves vis a vis the new trend in China, in October 1988, Wang Xingjuan initiated a civil organization – Women’s Research Institute under the School of Management Science of China; later it was renamed The Red Maple Women’s Consultation and Service Centre.

Continuer la lecture de « Xingjuan Wang – China »

Index February 2008