Link to the Forum on the State of US Relations with the Muslim World

The forum on The State of US Relations with the Muslim World that took place at the University of Maryland on December 6, 2005, with William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense and US Senator; Anwar Ibrahim, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia; Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development; and moderated by Robin Wright, Diplomatic Correspondent of The Washington Post, can be watched in its entirety on the following link www.bsos.umd.edu/sadat

Dearest HumanDHS Friend!

George Kent has written a book on the human right to adequate food that came out earlier this year. Please see the publisher's promotion for it at http://press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=1589010566

He writes to us:
The book takes a human rights perspective, not a biological perspective. It makes the point that the core issue is not nutrients, but dignity. I think that very often the major harm that comes from going hungry is not the disease and death that it produces, but the humiliation. In some contexts, the hungry die not from illness but from suicide.

Thus there is an intersection, an overlap, between your agenda and mine. However, at this stage, I don't see how to develop the thought further. If there are others among your contacts who have similar interests, perhaps a small group could be assembled to explore it. Or do you have some other idea on how the theme of the humiliation of hunger could be pursued?

Aloha, George

Dear HumanDHS Friends,

This letter comes with many wishes for a productive and wonderful New Year to you and our organization (group).

Also, if at all possible, I would appreciate anyone who read my book and would like to put their thoughts into a review to do so on Amazon.com, please log onto

www.amazon.com

And input my name, Stephanie Heuer. There is an area for reviews. The more reviews, the more likely people may order it or be interested. I hope this is OK to ask.

Many hugs,
Stephanie

Dear Friend!

I hope you are well!

Do I have your permission to accept the 2006 Award for Applied Psychology, awarded by the Swiss Association of Applied Psychology, on your behalf and on behalf of our Human Dignity and Humiliation network?

Please see the invitation to you further down.

Most warmly!

Evelin

Here is the invitation to you for the ceremony on 19th October 2006 in Zürich, Switzerland:

Dear Friend!

Dr. Evelin Gerda Lindner is the recipient of the 2006 SBAP. Award for Applied Psychology for her unique research and independent project management skills, as well as for her international presence as a well-known, committed, and multidisciplinary advocate for humanity in a global society. Her work on the effects of humiliation on individuals and communities has made a significant contribution to the study of peace.

You are warmly invited to the ceremony on Thursday, 19th October 2006, 17.00 in the Auditorium Maximum, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETHZ), Main Building, Rämistrasse 101, 8006 Zürich.

Prof. Dr. phil. Ulrike Zöllner will give the Laudatio.

We look forward to having you with us!

Sincerely,

Heidi Aeschlimann
Präsidentin SBAP.

SBAP.
Schweizerischer Berufsverband für Angewandte Psychologie
Association Professionnelle Suisse de Psychologie Appliquée
Associazione Professionale Svizzera della Psicologia Applicata
Merkurstr. 36
CH – 8032 Zürich
www.sbap.ch

THE 6th IFLAC PAVE PEACE INTERNATIONAL MEDITERRANEAN CONGRESS
September 17 - 21, 2006, Meridian Beach Hotel, Haifa, Israel

With great pleasure we invite you to participate in the 6th IFLAC Mediterranean Congress. Its central theme is: Building Bridges of Conflict Resolution, through Communication, Literature and Culture. Writers, Poets, Researchers, Experts in conflict resolution, and Women Leaders, will jointly explore the role of culture, literature, poetry, and other means of artistic expression and communication in guiding society towards a better world beyond war and hunger.

We are looking forward to welcoming you at the Congress.

Congress President
Dr. Ada Aharoni, ada@tx.technion.ac.il

General Manager of the IFLAC Association Mr. Arie Vangerko , arvn01@netvision.net.il

THE IFLAC
PEACE POETRY AND STORIES FESTIVAL
6th IFLAC PAVE PEACE Mediterranean Congress
September 17 – 21, 2006.

INVITATION to: Dr. Manuel Salvador Leyva Martinez
By Ada Aharoni, IFLAC Founder – President
Vice President: Ernesto Kahan, General Manager: Arie Vangerko

Dear Friends,

You are warmly invited to participate in the IFLAC Peace Poetry and Stories Festival, which is a part of the 6th IFLAC Congress. The Congress will take place at the Meridian Beach Hotel in Haifa. Further details about the Congress and IFLAC:The International Forum for the Culture and Literature of Peace - can be found on the follwing website: and www.iflac.com and www.iflac.com/ada

We are looking forward to welcoming you in Haifa, and to your fruitful participation in the IFLAC 6th Congress. The Festival and Congress will include an exciting Congress Tour of cultural and historical highlights in Haifa, the Galilee and Jerusalem.

We would be delighted to have the pleasure of your participation,

Sincerely,
Ada Aharoni

PS. The ”Gather the Women” Mediterranean Congress will precede the 6th Iflac Congress. Information about it can be viewed on: www.iflac.com and www.gatherthewomen.org

GENEVE CAPITALE MONDIALE de la PAIX
le 18 Decembre 2005

Ms Maria Cristina Azcona

We are happy to to announce that you have been
proposed and nominated for the title of :
Ambassador of Peace
in the framework of the Universal Ambassador Peace Circle.

we send our warmest wishes.

Sincerely,
Jean Paul Nouchi
President Founder
Universal Ambassador Peace Circle
& Universal Peace Embassy

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

*All those who work for peace form a same Spirit, a same Body,
a same Soul and a same Heart, a same Universal Peace Family *
( Universal Ambassador Peace Family )

NOMINATED :

Ms Maria Cristina Azcona

INVITATION TO A PEACE SYMPOSIUM
August 4-6, 2007

EUROPEAN-ASIAN PHILOSOPHERS AND POETS FOR PEACE GATHERING
ON
CELEBRATING THE POETRY OF LIFE CREATING PHILOSOPHIES FOR PEACE

And announcing the formation of a
ASIAN-EUROPEAN NETWORK OF POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS FOR PEACE

This gathering is open to all whom have the long term interests of peacemaking in Asia and Europe, and between Asia and Europe. It is being held in Shiraz because this is one of the most ancient cities of Iran, close to the heart of ancient Asia, and was the home of the great poet Hafiz, whose life and works we will be celebrating at this gathering.

Shiraz is also close to the ruined city of Persepolis which was the spiritual capital of the Persian Empire, and was destroyed by Alexander the Great. Gathering visitors will have a chance to visit the ruins, as we reflect on how to ensure that peace thrives throughout this troubled region, and that the conflicts raging across the border in Iran be successfully wound down to zero and peace and normality return. We will also be doing all we can to advance the cause of peace and international understanding between Iran and other countries, including Europe, as well as the USA,

WHO CAN COME ?

* Hafiz scholars and experts
* Contemporary poets working in any language who hold peace dear to their hearts
* Philosophers interested in comparative spirituality and peace
* Thinkers and scholars interested in bridging the cultural gaps between East and West, Europe and Asia
* Sages and Saints from different spiritual traditions who wish to advance interfaith dialogue for peace
* Sufis and Islamic mystics who respect and revere the work of Hafiz and other Islamic spiritual masters
* Islamic scholars and Islamologists who are interested in the legacy of Iranian mysticism
* Policy experts interested in the insights that spirituality can shed on social and international policy
* Both Sunni and Shiia Muslim experts interested in advancing peace thinking
* Scholars of peace studies and all who wish to help the shift beyond terrorism
* Students in all the above areas interested in comparing notes and perspectives

Hosting the meeting is Dr Thomas Daffern, Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy and founder of the Global Green University (GGU) along with the support of Iranian friends and IIPSGP members from Shiraz.
A similar meeting is scheduled for Palestine/Israel in 2008 (Bethlehem and Galilee).
If you are able to attend, or send a representative, please contact:
The International Institute Of Peace Studies And Global Philosophy,
Rhos y Gallt, Llanerfyl, Nr. Welshpool, Powys, Wales, SY21 OER, Tel/Fax. 01938 820586 (m) 07951 600959 Email:iipsgp@educationaid.net Website: www.educationaid.net

INTERFAITH PEACE CONFERENCE OF THE HOLY LANDS
(ISRAEL / PALESTINE)

WHERE:
This emerging meeting is being called for faith leaders, far and wide, all who hold a special love and affection for the Holy Lands, in order to bring to bear the world’s spiritual focused energy in that region at this critical time in world history. The gathering will take place partly in Galilee (Israel), and partly in Bethlehem (Palestine).

WHY:
It is a symbolic meeting, a gathering for like-minded souls, from across all religions and none, and will include every person who wishes to attend (space allowing, meaning there will have to be some selection principle of invitation) providing they agree with two basic principles:

A) That non-violence and peace are the number one priority for the settlement of all other problems facing the world at the present time, and that violence can never achieve permanent or lasting solutions to political dilemmas and problems

B) That some kind of spiritual or faith accommodation has to be reached on the planet between the protagonists of the world’s religious and ideological factions – that peace between the religions and the spiritual traditions is a vital necessity, and that without this, it will be hard to achieve the goals of humanity, or even to agree on what those goals could and should be.

HOW:
By bringing the faith traditions of the planet to gather in the places of the holy land, places sacred alike in the major Monotheistic traditions of the Middle East, a well as to the earlier primal faiths which preceded them, and hopefully by the declarations, agreements, harmony and peace reached in the microcosmic scale between seekers of different faith persuasions working cooperatively, we hope to send a signal to all those who hold the holy land dear, or who try to follow some of the world’s many spiritual teachings, that real, lasting and sustainable peace can and will be achieved between the faith traditions of mankind.

WHEN:
This gathering was originally scheduled for 1999 but the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the outbreak of the Intifada led to its postponement until now. We feel however that the time has now created conditions in the Middle East and the global body politic, that necessitates the calling of such a gathering sooner rather than later. The exact timing will depend partly on response and support for the project, both on the ground and internationally. We anticipate however that sufficient support will have materialised for the gathering to take place in the Late Summer / Early Autumn of 2007.

WHO:
All people of good will, who support a non-violent solution to the problems of the Middle East and further afield, who endorse in principle the ideal of a two state solution of the problem of Israel-Palestinian conflict, and who adhere to the principle of inter-religious cooperation, agreement and reconciliation.

WHAT:
The Gathering will hopefully achieve several practical outcomes: firstly, it will be a highly symbolic gathering of faith representatives and spiritual leaders, in places of the utmost spiritual significance for mankind; secondly, it will contribute to the hastening of peace in the whole Middle East region, not just in Israel Palestine; thirdly, it will initiate a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East (TRCME) and will take evidence and submissions from all interested parties with a relevant story to share, in the belief that sharing or confessing wrongdoings, can lead to forgive and reconciliation. Fourthly, it will bring together scholars and educators, sages and living saints, in the common task of seeking a way out of mankind’s ongoing catastrophe of violence and revenge, terrorism and counter-terrorism. It will hopefully contribute, in a small but powerful way, to the gradual realisation of a more mature planetary civilisation in which the great faith traditions of mankind can begin to reach philosophical reconciliation in the pursuit of the common good of all mankind.

WHICH:
This initiative is being undertaken by an international NGO which has specialised for over 15 years in the advancement of philosophical dialogue for peace and nonviolence, and which has been based largely in the United Kingdom (originally at the University of London) and which ran a series of pioneering interfaith seminars for peace at the House of Lords in London from 1993 onwards, among many other projects, including the establishment in 1996 of the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation and Education Service.

To register initial interest or to find out more details of the programme, please contact:
International Institute Of Peace Studies And Global Philosophy
via our website www.educationaid.net, or email: iipsgp@educationaid.net.

The project is being undertaken in tandem with the creation of a British-Irish Truth and Reconciliation Commission (also a project of IIPSGP) which is having its inaugural meeting in Anglesey, Wales, on August 6-7, 2006.

Please address all enquiries in the first instance to our International Liaison Secretary, Sheena McDonagh, at sheena.mcdonagh@ntlworld.com

INVITATION TO A PEACE SYMPOSIUM
At Anglesey (Mona) – Holyhead Town Hall
August 5-6, 2006

BRITISH-IRISH PEACE SYMPOSIUM ON
Ending The Wars, Making The Peace

And announcing the formation of an
ECOCOUNCIL OF THE ISLES

This gathering is open to all whom have the long term interests of peacemaking in Britain and Ireland, and particularly the ending of the long conflicts in Ireland at heart. It is being held in Anglesey to make it possible for participants to come both from Ireland as well as through the British Isles.

Mona was sacred to the ancient Druid orders, who formed the educated intelligentsia of both Britain and Ireland in former times, and whose work was specifically involved with mediation, peacemaking and the giving of justice. Among other participants we hope a number of Druids from contemporary Druid orders in both Ireland and Britain will be in attendance.

With the peace process in Ireland having moved so far, it is the hope of this symposium to encourage a healthy debate between both Irish and British peace thinkers, activists and spiritual leaders, so as to vision together a long future for both Britain and Ireland.

We also intend to launch at this gathering a new body, an Eco-Council for the Isles, which will serve as a forum for representation of all those interested in the ecology of the British isles: with seabirds dying off our shores, fishes depleted, and global warming effecting our weather patterns, we have an increasing ecological responsibility to end our conflicts and feuds, and pursue ways of peace, justice and harmony.

All those who have thought for the long term sustainability of our environment, who love and care for this magical part of the world, and who have the protection of our sacred sites at heart, and who have specific news of environmental issues and campaigns in their part of the world, are invited to attend or send representatives.

We are also launching at this meeting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Britain and Ireland (TRCBI) which will examine testimony concerning all aspects of the conflict in Ireland, and allow persons who have perpetrated acts of cruelty and injustice to come forward and apologise to those whom they have wronged, whether in Britain or in Ireland, and also empower those working for peace and reconciliation to come forward and tell their own stories. The TRCBI might also examine Britain’s role in the wider world of international relations, and its nuclear weapons policies, for example, or its involvement in the Middle East, or the Cold War, especially where they relate to British-Irish affairs. We are keen to hear testimony geared towards reinvigorating Britain and Ireland’s ethical wellbeing.

Hosting the meeting is Dr Thomas Daffern, Peace Officer of the Council of British Druids, and Governor of the Saor Ollscoil na h’Eireann (Free University of Ireland); Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy and founder of the Global Green University (GGU).

If you are able to attend, or send a representative, please contact:
The International Institute Of Peace Studies And Global Philosophy,
Rhos y Gallt, Llanerfyl, Nr. Welshpool, Powys, Wales, SY21 OER, Tel/Fax. 01938 820586 (m) 07951 600959 Email:iipsgp@educationaid.net Website:www.educationaid.net

NEWSLETTER FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSE NETWORK

1) Uganda found guilty of invading and looting Congo
Yesterday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Uganda violated the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo, plundered its natural resources and was responsible for human rights abuses when it sent its troops there.
Read HRH's comment: - A long overdue turn of attitudes

2) Protests against the Russian NGO bill
Tomorrow the Russian Duma will have a second hearing on a draft law that will dramatically restrain Russia’s civil society. Activists at the Human Rights Houses of Moscow and Oslo fear that the law is aimed at human rights NGOs that criticize the Chechnya policy.

3) Turkey: Trial against Orhan Pamuk delayed
On Friday, the trial of Turkey's best known writer, Orhan Pamuk, was suspended until next year. Pamuk has been accused of insulting the Turkish nation after his remarks about the mass killings of Armenians in the early years of the 20th Century.

4) Belarus tightens protest laws
On December 8th the Upper House of the Belarusian parliament unanimously approved a new law making it illegal to submit “false information” about Belarus to international organisations. Human rights activists in Belarus ask President Lukashenko to recall the changes in the law.

5) Azerbaijan: Police violence against demonstrators
A number of oppositionals were detained and dozens beaten up during an unsanctioned demonstration in Baku on Sunday. The Azeri Authorities received massive international criticism after the brutal break-up of a peaceful rally in Baku on November 26.

6) Croatia: Human rights situation worsened
For the first time since 1996, the human rights situation in Croatia has deteriorated seriously, said Zarko Puhovski, Chairman of the Croatian Helsinki Committee, on the International Day of Human Rights.

7) Warns against recycling of Colombian paramilitaries
The demobilization of paramilitaries in Colombia should not be supported, the Colombian human rights lawyer Alirio Uribe Muñoz said when he visited the Norwegian Human Rights House recently. He warned that paramilitaries are recycled into the armed conflict, and that the rights of victims are not sufficiently respected.

8) Bosnia: Roma are the most endangered
On the International Day of Human Rights, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina drew attention to the unacceptably poor status of the Roma minority in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

9) Norway: Fakhra Salimi awarded the Ossietzky Prize for 2005
The Ossietzky Prize - Norwegian PEN´s award for outstanding contributions to freedom of expression - was awarded yesterday to Fakhra Salimi. Originally from Pakistan, she has always represented a different voice in Norway´s otherwise rather homogenous and unisone public debate.

******************************************************************
Free of charge news and background service from the Human
Rights House Network, an international forum of cooperation between
independent human rights houses. It works to strengthen cooperation and
improve the security and capacity of the 80 human rights organizations in
the Network. The Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo is the
secretariat.

To subscribe, please send an email to: newsletter-subscribe@humanrightshouse.org

More news and background on www.humanrightshouse.org

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Sent by:
Borghild Tønnessen-Krokan
Editor
Human Rights House Foundation (HRH)
Address: Menneskerettighetshuset,
Tordenskioldsgate 6b, 0160 Oslo, Norway
Tel: (+47) 22 47 92 47, Direct: (+47) 22 47 92 44,
Fax: (+47) 22 47 92 01
Website: http://www.humanrightshouse.org,
http://www.menneskerettigheter.no

CHINAS GRIFF NACH AFRIKA - Schwerpunktthema im neuen "Überblick" (www.der-ueberblick.de)

China überschwemmt die Märkte Afrikas mit billigen Importen. Chinesische Bauunternehmen stampfen dort ganze Städte aus dem Boden. Afrikas heimische Unternehmen werden von der Konkurrenz verdrängt

Weitere Themen aus Marokko, Israel, Indien, Pakistan, Peru, etwa "Opfer wollen keine Wahrheit".

All das finden Sie in der neuen Ausgabe von "der überblick" (Euro 5,50 + Versandkostenm www.der-ueberblick.de, herausgegeben i.A. vom Evangelischen Entwicklungsdienst und von Brot für die Welt).

Vergangene Schwerpunkte: Mediziner für den Norden,AIDS und Gesellschaft, Pfingstkirchen, Entwicklungspolitik, Fisch und Welternährung, Afrika, Umgang mit Tod und Trauer weltweit, Bildung, Migration, Tansania, Sklaverei heute, Energie, NGOs, Exil, Vorsorge, Grenzen, Mexiko, Aids, Gefaengnisse, Maghreb.

NOCH KEIN WEIHNACHTSGESCHENK ? Verschenken Sie ein Jahresabonnement des "Überblick: www.der-ueberblick.de/archiv/200503/200503.091.Geschenkabo/index.html
Die erste Aussendung an den/die Beschenkte(n) erfolgt am Tag des Bestelleingangs.

Mit freundlicher Empfehlung
die Redaktion

AMARC delegation successfully ends the WTO coverage in Hong Kong
Press release
For immediate distribution

December 19th, 2005 - The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has ensured a media coverage of the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference which was being held in Hong Kong, China, from the 13-18 December 2005. The delegation was composed of journalists from community radio stations from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Korea, the Philippines and the United States.

This 6th ministerial conference in Hong Kong ended on the 18 of December with a last minute deal that in part, aims at ending all agricultural export subsidies by 2013. The partial agreement was received with disappointment by civil society and the countries from the global South, which were asking to end the subsidies by 2010. For news about the WTO discussions visit our website: http://www.amarc.org/WTO

AMARC journalists also covered global justice activists' demonstrations against the WTO who faced police brutality and mass arrests. The social movements present at the different demonstrations have decried the violence perpetrated by the police. To listen to civil society perspectives, visit AMARC website at http://www.amarc.org/WTO

AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving community radio. Present in more than 110 countries, this association provides a worldwide network for exchange and solidarity, as well as coordinating and promoting the development of community radio.

For more information visit AMARC's Web site at: http://www.amarc.org.

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

CALL FOR ITEMS

POSTING NEWS:
We welcome items to include in DemocracyNews. Please send an email message to world@ned.org with the item you would like to post in the body of the message.

******************************************************************

Dear World Movement Participants:

The next issue of DemocracyNews will go out on January 11, 2006. In order to make DemocracyNews as useful as possible, we ask you to send us any items related to democracy work that you think would be of interest to others.

The next deadline for submitting items is ** Januyary 30** Please send items to: world@ned.org.

You are encouraged to submit items under any area of democracy work. We welcome items announcing publications, upcoming events, reports on research, new Web sites, and other information, and we are most interested in posting requests for partnerships between organizations on collaborative projects, brief descriptions of collaborative projects already underway or completed, and ideas for new initiatives in which others may be interested. We hope DemocracyNews will be a source not only for information about participants' activities, but also for new ideas about strategies to advance democracy.

Please share this message with your colleagues.

******************************************************************

To subscribe send an email to subscribe-democracynews@lyris.ned.org.

If you do not have access to the Web and would like to access the materials mentioned above, please contact us by e-mail (world@ned.org) or fax (202-293-0755).

DemocracyNews is an electronic mailing list moderated by the National Endowment for Democracy as the Secretariat of the World Movement for Democracy. The material presented in DemocracyNews is intended for information purposes only.

22 December 2005
Dear All,
Seasons Greetings!

Zubaan announces the third publication in its Zubaan-Penguin series - a collection of short stories
These Hills Called Home: Stories form a War Zone by Temsula Ao.

(150pp Pb o Rs.195 o ISBN 81 89013 71 8 o All Rights Available.
Published in collaboration with Penguin Books India.)

More than half a century of bloodshed has marked the history of the Naga people who live in the troubled northeastern region of India. Their struggle for an independent Nagaland and their continuing search for identity provide the backdrop for the stories that make up this unusual collection.

Describing how ordinary people cope with violence, how they negotiate power and force, how they seek and find safe spaces and enjoyment in the midst of terror, the author details a way of life under threat from the forces of modernization and war. No one ­ the young, the old, the militant with his gun, the ordinary housewife, the willing partner, the young women who sings even as she is being raped ­ is left untouched by the violence.

Economical and unadorned, these stories bring alive the poignant and bewildering experiences of a people caught in a spiral of violence. In doing so, they speak movingly of home, country, nation, nationality, identity and direct the reader to the urgency of the issues that lie at their heart.

Temsula Ao has contributed a number of articles on oral tradition, folk songs, myths and cultural traditions of the Ao Nagas in various journals. She has published four collections of poetry and is the author of Ao-Naga Oral Tradition (2000). She is a Professor in the Department of English, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong and also Dean, School of Humanities and Education (NEHU).

For further enquiries, please contact:
Satish Sharma / Elsy
Zubaan,
An imprint of Kali for Women,
K-92, First Floor, Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi ­ 110016 INDIA
Tel: +91-11-26521008, 26864497
Email: zubaanwbooks@vsnl.net and zubaan@gmail.com
Website: www.zubaanbooks.com and www.penguinbooksindia.com

*************************************************************

In other news, Mala Khullar (Ed.) Writing the Women’s Movement: A Reader was interviewed by Shruba Mukherjee in Deccan Herald http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec112005/editpage1723320051210.asp

We are still accepting/processing orders for the ZUBAAN Diary 2006. The Zubaan diary features posters from the Women’s Movement since the 1970s. Poster Women, is a Zubaan project that is a visual mapping of the women’s movement in India and will culminate in a travelling exhibition in 2006.

Finally, a link sent by Rada Ivekovic of her recent article "French Suburbia 2005: the return of the political unrecognised", http://www.mondialisations.org/php/public/art.php?id=21678&lan=EN

If any of you would like to share articles, website links, comments/announcements please write to: zubaanwbooks@vsnl.net and zubaan@gmail.com

Cheers,
JAYA BHATTACHARJI

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity
(CGNews-PiH)
December 20, 2005

Common Ground News – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab world, and countries with significant Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication, free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and Common Ground News, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

**********

~*~*~ We would like to wish all our readers a joyous season and a peaceful New Year. The next issue of CGNews-PiH will be delivered on January 3, 2006. ~*~*~

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. “Women setting their own agenda” by Asma Afsaruddin
In this fifth article in a series on the role of women in US-Muslim relations, Asma Afsaruddin, Associate Professor of Arabic & Islamic Studies at University of Notre Dame, worries that “women’s roles and their attire assume a disproportionate importance in Western-Muslim relations.” She argues that “the challenge then for women in Muslim societies and in the US is to rise above these superficial and divisive depictions and pursue better communication with one another,” and gives examples of how this can be done.
(Source: CGNews-PiH, December 20, 2005)

2. “For Copts, a conference that shows how Arabs embrace democracy”by Mona Eltahawy
Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian writer, reports on a conference she participated in on “discrimination against Christians in Egypt and ways for Muslims and Christians to combat the growing politicization of religion.” Although there are still many challenges to overcome, this conference with its diverse participants demonstrates that Muslims and Christians, together, are ready to start saying "enough."
(Source: Daily Star, December 14, 2005)

3. “Many Muslims 'do' condemn terrorism” by Samar Dahmash Jarrah
Why don’t moderate Muslims condemn terrorism? Samar Dahmash Jarrah, an Arab-American Muslim writer who lives in Florida, thinks that “it seems strange that many Americans keep asking a question originating four years ago from a few conservative talking-heads and so-called experts.” Pointing out several examples of moderate Muslims who do speak out against terrorism, she suggests that her readers ask the American media.
(Source: Middle East Times, December 9, 2005)

4. “Islam and the process of democratization in Southeast Asia” by Hassan Wirajuda
This article is condensed from a speech given by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hassan Wirajuda, in Jakarta on Dec. 6 at the second international roundtable on Islam and Democratization in Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities. He discusses Indonesia’s transformation to democracy, and shows that the debate is no longer on “the merits of democracy and its compatibility with Islam” but instead on “how to make Islam and all other religions an even more effective force for reform and democratization.”
(Source: Jakarta Post, December 7, 2005)

5. “Expulsion doesn't help” by Benjamin Ward
Benjamin Ward, Special Counsel to the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, challenges the growing European tactic of deporting individuals suspected of supporting or inciting terrorist activity. He argues that this mechanism is counterproductive as it “reinforces the view that “Islam is synonymous with terrorism, and sends a signal to Muslim communities that they are not welcome in Europe, risking further alienation among the region's young Muslim citizens.”
(Source: International Herald Tribune, December 2, 2005)

**********

ARTICLE 1
Women setting their own agenda
Asma Afsaruddin

Notre Dame, Indiana - In discussing the role of women in US-Muslim relations, it is important to first broach the topic of how women are often discursively and symbolically used to demarcate cultural parameters and create a sense of “us” versus “them.” In the “culture war” or, more dramatically, the “clash of civilizations” that is supposedly underway between the United States (or the West in general) and the Muslim world, women’s roles and their attire assume a disproportionate importance. From this vantage point, presumed cultural differences tend to be more sharply etched in people’s minds and contribute to acrimonious debates about women’s well-being, whether defined in physical and/or moral terms on both sides of the divide.

Thus, those who wish to accentuate “civilizational” differences in the West speak of a reified Islam uniformly oppressing women and restricting their civil and human rights. They invoke the veil as a ubiquitous symbol of women’s repression. Their counterparts on the other side of the divide point to the moral degradation of Western women as evident, they will say, in their skimpy attire and the breakdown of the American family. All of this is a consequence, this latter group insists, of the typical decadence to be found in Western societies. Furthermore, some maintain that both human and women’s rights discourses emanating from the secular West are intended to erode the dignity of women and destroy the moral core of Muslim societies.

It is remarkable how persistent these unflattering stereotypes can be both in the West and in the Muslim world, even among relatively educated people. The challenge then for women in Muslim societies and in the US is to rise above these superficial and divisive depictions and pursue better communication with one another. Since women are often deployed as cultural icons freighted with all kinds of political associations, it is women themselves who are in a unique position to dismantle these icons. Women in both parts of the world should assert their own agencies, and in direct communication with one another articulate the complexities inherent in their gendered identities within their specific societal circumstances. Even within a given society, there are huge differentials contingent on socio-economic circumstances, levels of education and support systems, which determine a woman’s sense of well-being and accomplishment. There is, after all, a basic commonality of interests and concerns undergirding women’s lives anywhere in the world. Questions of health, child care, education and employment opportunities are constants in most women’s lives.

It may sound trite to suggest that because women remain fundamentally concerned with the well-being of their families, whether they work or not, certain issues find immediate resonance with them regardless of the ideological framework in which these issues may be found. What follows are two suggestions regarding how women may tap into this reservoir of shared concerns and interests across cultural and religious divides in order to emphasize shared common ground and thus effectively circumvent the rhetoric of divisiveness that forms the master narrative of our times.

The first suggestion is that women from the US and the Muslim world reach out to one another directly and set their own agendas for discussion and negotiation. They can do this both individually and collectively. Individual academics and activists can organize lectures, workshops, and symposia to plan effective ways to empower women socially and politically. Women’s non-governmental organizations in the Muslim world and in the US can initiate collaborative projects with one another. American Muslim women are in a unique position to act as facilitators of many of these projects, since they are able to successfully bridge the cultural divide and be comprehensible to both worlds.

Perceptions are as important as realities: interlocutors who are both American and Muslim can successfully negotiate the pitfalls inherent in the cross-cultural encounters between the US and the Muslim world, especially when the power imbalance is so acute between these two entities. American Muslim women would still be perceived as insiders to a certain extent by their counterparts in the Muslim heartland, making communication less politically fraught.

The second suggestion is that when discussing issues of common concern, one should try to find as much common ground as possible without “ideologizing” these issues. In other words, one should avoid as much as possible replicating the master narratives of civilizational discourses that trumpet greatly accentuated differences between cultures and posit the superiority of one set of values over another (assumed to be the binary opposite). Even the most well-intentioned projects may be undermined by such ideological language. Thus, a respected think-tank in Washington DC recently published a book on women’s rights and roles in Middle Eastern societies, the result of an ambitious survey of a selected number of Middle Eastern countries, conducted by academics and trained researchers in most cases.

Yet an undercurrent of Western triumphalist rhetoric marred the study’s overall effectiveness which assumed that only a relentlessly secular and materialistic perspective would lead to positive results in terms of effecting change in the lives of the women interviewed. As one of the commentators on a pre-publication draft of the survey, I had the occasion to point out that although the survey rightly drew attention to job discrimination against women in a number of Muslim societies and difficulty of access at times to higher education, it barely addressed the issues of health care and did not stress at all governmental and employer responsibilities in providing day care facilities and maternity leaves for women, for example. Veiled and unveiled women all over the world continue to find these issues of pressing concern. If women anywhere choose to define their sense of well-being and empowerment solely in familial terms, then these are the concerns that should be given priority and not the pre-set agendas set by policy-makers and pundits in remote places.

Respecting women’s agency means, first and foremost, letting women articulate their wishes and concerns. It also means listening to them. On such a basis we may collaboratively envision programs and policies that demonstrably improve the quality of women’s lives and of all those around them.

###
* Asma Afsaruddin is Associate Professor of Arabic & Islamic Studies at University of Notre Dame.
Source: CGNews-PiH publishes this article, part of a series of views on "The role of women in US-Muslim relations,” in partnership with United Press International (UPI).
Visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by Common Ground News– Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 2
“For Copts, a conference that shows how Arabs embrace democracy”
Mona Eltahawy

With recent Egyptian parliamentary elections as the perfect backdrop, dozens of Egyptian Christians and Muslims met in Washington in November for the Second International Coptic Conference. If you were to believe the wild accusations that filled the Egyptian media in the weeks preceding the conference, many of us who flew from Egypt to attend were convinced we would be arrested as traitors upon our return.

Instead of convening to discuss discrimination against Christians in Egypt and ways for Muslims and Christians to combat the growing politicization of religion, those wild accusations would have had you thinking we were instead preparing for the invasion of Egypt by foreign troops. Such nonsense was to be expected of course. It was much easier for the government and its media to attack the organizers for holding the conference in Washington than to acknowledge and answer the disturbing questions it raised about discrimination against Christians in Egypt.

The government-controlled media conveniently neglected to mention that the organizers wanted to hold the conference in Egypt, but received no response to the request they sent to Egyptian officials. There was nothing new here - we all remember that the Egyptian government prevented Saadeddin Ibrahim from convening a conference in Egypt in 1994 on minorities in the Arab world. He had to take it to Cyprus instead.

Knowing this, I accepted an invitation to attend and to speak at the conference, for several reasons. It was important to attend as an Egyptian. This is a period that is shaping up to be a real turning point in Egyptian history. It was very apt that the conference was entitled "Democracy in Egypt for Muslims and Christians."

Christian rights belong at the heart of the debate over reform and democracy that has risen to the fore in Egypt over the past year or so. For too long now, the government has presented itself as the only alternative to the politicized Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood. As this year's parliamentary elections showed, the state versus mosque scenario is still very much alive in Egypt. We need an alternative to both. The strong electoral showing by the Brotherhood is a worry not just for Christians, but for all of us who want to separate religion from politics. I share more common interests and concerns with a progressive, secular Christian than I do with a Muslim Brotherhood supporter.

It was also important for me to attend the Coptic conference as a Muslim. The majority of invited guests at the gathering were in fact Muslim. We were there to tell our Christian compatriots that we wholeheartedly oppose the discrimination they face in Egypt. After years of ugly anti-Christian hatred that too often emanates in mosques and government-controlled media, it was imperative that Muslims and Christians, together, said "enough." Many of us who attended as Muslims also share with our Christian compatriots the general lack of rights that is the plight of all Egyptians.

While Egypt's parliamentary elections may have been the perfect backdrop to the debate on democracy at the conference, the ugly riots outside an Alexandria church in October were a sad reminder of sectarianism run amok. And as the violence in Iraq shows, unchecked sectarianism all too easily consumes Muslims too. While it was heartening to see Jordanians take to the streets in protest against the terrorism that caused the recent Amman suicide bombings, it was heartbreaking to hear silence when 10 days later two suicide bombings killed Shiites at prayer in Iraqi mosques. Both episodes must be condemned as terrorism, regardless of whether they killed Sunnis or Shiites.

It was also important to attend the Coptic conference as a woman. While Copts are said to comprise 10 percent of Egypt's population, women - who form 51 percent of Egyptian society - are as marginalized, face the same discrimination, and lack of opportunities that Christians do. In Egypt, there are no Christian mayors, no Christian public university presidents or deans, and there are few Christians in the upper ranks of the security services and the armed forces. There are only two or three Christian ministers at any given time, most Egyptians cannot remember the last time they had a Christian prime minister, and Christians are underrepresented in Parliament. Much the same can be said of women.

The National Democratic Party nominated just two Christian candidates for this year's parliamentary elections - one of whom withdrew after the riots outside the Alexandria church. It also nominated just six women. To end this shameful marginalization, Egypt needs positive discrimination - policies that favour women and Christians.

The conference was a reminder that those who think Egyptians or Arabs can't change or embrace democracy and debate are simply wrong. That was perhaps most poignantly symbolized by the invitation to Raphael Luzon, a Libyan Jew, to speak to the conference about his arrest and expulsion from Benghazi during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

For a conference made up mostly of Arabs to acknowledge the discrimination and persecution that Jews in the Arab world faced, it was a clear message that we were ready to move forward with the debate on minority rights in the Arab world. In learning from the pain of the past, we are determined to move towards a happier future.

###
* Mona Eltahawy (www.monaeltahawy.com) is an Egyptian writer.
Source: Daily Star, December 14, 2005
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by Common Ground News– Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 3
Many Muslims 'do' condemn terrorism
Samar Dahmash Jarrah

Florida - It's true. Many Muslims do condemn terrorism - we just don't hear about it in the American news media.

Yet Americans continue to ask: "Why don't Muslims condemn terrorism? We keep waiting for the so-called moderates to speak out against violence and yet no one comes forward." A man in the audience asked me this question recently when I was invited to speak at a Unitarian Fellowship about what Arabs think about the US and Americans. I had just finished saying that many of the Arab people I interviewed for my book a year ago in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait had condemned fanatics like Osama Bin Laden.

Perhaps the man wasn't listening. And honestly, what if many Muslims condemn terrorism day in and day out? Will this make terrorism go away? I speak to the public several times a month and at half these events the same question is repeated.

I asked the gentleman if he had heard about the Fiqh Council of North America that had recently issued a public fatwa (religious decree) against terrorism. I asked him if he had heard about other prominent Muslim scholars who have taken public stands against terrorism. As always happens with people who ask these questions, he did not know of my examples.

It seems strange that many Americans keep asking a question originating four years ago from a few conservative talking heads and so-called experts. Perhaps this question has been parroted by TV commentators and reporters so much that we have stopped thinking for ourselves. But I believe that we can still think and find the truth on our own. If we try, we might get more answers than questions.

Perhaps we should stop placing blind faith in American news media and look to other sources, perhaps even the Internet for alternative reporting and commentary.

So why does the question persist? The answer is simple. How often do you see Muslims interviewed on American TV? A few here and there. But how many times do you watch TV shows where non-Muslims and non-Arabs talk about Islam and Arabs as if they were experts? Most of the time.

If you really want to know why you're not hearing about Muslims publicly condemning terrorism - ask the US media this question. Ask them why the images of Bin Laden and Zarqawi are better known to the average American than the face and name of Hamza Youssef. Why do such fanatics get more airtime than Youssef and other moderate American-Muslim scholars and thinkers?

Ask why two local newspapers in southwest Florida did not cover a three-lecture series on Islam given by a Muslim, Palestinian-American woman in a Jewish synagogue. Is it because the exchange was civil? Is it because we disagreed amicably? Should we have thrown stones at each other to make the event worthy of coverage?

A year ago I spoke to a group of humanists who complained that the media refused to cover the event. No wonder people still ask me why American Muslims do not participate in interfaith dialogue. We do participate, but we receive little or no news media coverage.

My recent talk was interesting in many ways. A man said, "I agree with only 80 percent of what you said." I replied. "Great! My husband agrees with only 20 percent of what I say."

I was asked if I thought that US troops in Iraq should be withdrawn. "Yes, they should," I replied. "I would especially think so if I were a mother or father of a soldier."

Another man said, "Islam makes people violent because it is like Christianity where followers believe that they must evangelize and convert people into their own faith to be saved. We never hear of Hindu terrorists."

I reminded him of the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and her son Rajeev, and the horrors of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. None of them were Muslim. Would it be fair to condemn their faiths because of the actions of a few?

I asked the man where Judaism and Christianity would be today if Muslims were truly required by their faith to convert Jews and Christians. What were Muslims doing over the past 1,400 years? Not converting others to their faith.

The questions were pointed, thoughtful and challenging. "Did the US attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah cause more terrorism?" "Are the recent bombings in Jordan related to the US Army presence in Iraq?" "What do you think of Ahmed Chalabi's visit to Washington?" "Is it true that Arabs teach hatred of Americans in schools?" One woman asked me what I thought of the statement made by the president of Iran about wiping Israel off the map. Another asked, "If there is an independent Palestinian state, will Gaza survive?"

So you see - there are vibrant, inquisitive American minds wanting to know more and understand better. Unfortunately, such dialogues are not sensational news, so they become missed opportunities. Next time you wonder why you don't hear of Muslims condemning terrorism - ask the American media.

###
* Samar Dahmash Jarrah is an Arab-American Muslim writer who lives in Florida, USA. She is the author of the book Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts, published in May 2005 by Olive Branch books.
Source: Middle East Times, December 9, 2005
Visit the website at www.metimes.com
Distributed by Common Ground News– Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 4
Islam and the process of democratization in Southeast Asia
Hassan Wirajuda

Jakarta - There are two realities that dominate national life in Indonesia today -- realities that also define the positive image Indonesia enjoys in the eyes of the world at large.

The first of these two realities is the fact that Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population -- 90 percent of a total population of 220 million, or some 198 million people. It is a Muslim population that is by and large moderate.

Most of the Muslims of Southeast Asia are, of course, moderate and there are moderate Muslims everywhere else. It just happens that international observers take a special view of this huge concentration of moderate Muslims in Indonesia. Perhaps it reassures them that the largest part of Islam is not a threat but a friend and contributor to civilization. At any rate, we are happy and proud that our country is considered the home of moderate Islam.

The second of the two dominant realities in our national life is the fact that Indonesia today is considered the world's third largest democracy.

It is important to note that following last year's successful direct presidential election, the first in our history, local direct elections have started to take place this year for governors, regents and mayors.

We are acutely aware of the fact that democracy in Indonesia is still very much in need of further consolidation.

In this process of transition, Islam, as a moral force in support of reform, has played a strong and positive role, although it must also be said that there have been times when Muslim militants and extremists loomed as part of the problems we were grappling with.

This is not a new role for Islam. Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders have always participated in the political dynamics of Indonesia since our struggle for freedom and sovereignty. The debate about the relationship between Islam and the state was already taking place before we became an independent country, especially when our Founding Fathers drafted our Constitution. However, when we finally won our independence in August 1945, our Founding Fathers reached a consensus that Indonesia should not be an Islamic state based on sharia, and Islam should not be the religion of the state.

But this is not the secularism that the West is well known for, in the sense of a constitutional separation between the state and religion. Instead, by constitutional mandate, the state has the obligation to promote the religious life of the people.

It is important to note, however, that there has also been a convergence between "Islamist" and "nationalist" political orientations. For example, a good number of significant Muslim leaders have formed political parties with nationalist platforms -- such as the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Political Islam by itself did not make any headway in the country's transition to a more fully democratic system. In the 1999 general election, all 40 of the Islamic parties combined got no more than 17.8 percent of the votes cast. Subsequently, the proposal for the adoption of sharia, initially planned to be tabled by two parties, was graciously withdrawn in the legislature.

To be sure, not every Indonesian Muslim is a moderate. There are a small number of extremists in Indonesian society -- and they are not all Muslims -- who have resorted to violence to advance their respective agendas.

In October 2002, Indonesia itself suffered a massive terrorist attack in Bali, which killed 202 people. Since then, terrorists have struck with murderous effect, twice in Jakarta -- at the Marriott Hotel in August 2003 and in the vicinity of the Australian Embassy in September 2004 -- and once again in Bali last October.

In the wake of each of these attacks, Indonesia responded in the way a democracy should: balancing security needs, the democratic process and respect for human rights. Our police authorities brought the perpetrators to justice through patient investigation and without any violation of human rights. We could not have done less than that, our people demanded it. Because of past experiences, the Indonesian people are very sensitive to the way our police and the rest of the security apparatus work.

While the police are bringing terrorists to justice -- or killing them if they resist lawful arrest -- the government and Muslim leaders are working together to kill terrorist ideas through peaceful and democratic debate.

This, then, is the sum of Indonesia's experience with Islam and democracy: true Islam is moderate and enlightened. Not only can it flourish side by side with democracy, it can also work together with a democratic government to defend society from its attackers and to reform society. There is no debate about that any more -- not in Indonesia and not in various other Muslim countries.

The debate on the merits of democracy and its compatibility with Islam is over. The challenge in Indonesia today is how to make Islam and all other religions an even more effective force for reform and democratization. It is a pragmatic challenge that demands a pragmatic response.

Democracy, too, has its pragmatic challenge: How can we make our democracy an effective one? To my mind, the answer to that challenge lies in an earnest effort at capacity building -- such as the capacity for free and fair elections, the capacity to pass just and wise laws, the capacity to mete out justice. In sum, we have to make democracy work for the welfare of our people.

But even after such capacity building, there are no guarantees that a country's attempt at democracy will succeed. The infrastructure of democracy is not unlike physical infrastructure: It is useful and indispensable but it does not work by itself. It takes human beings to make the infrastructure work.

It takes good citizens -- good men and women -- to make democracy work. Decent men and women who are imbued with civic discipline and high values -- such as the discipline and values of Islam.

###
* This article was condensed from a speech given by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hassan Wirajuda, in Jakarta on Dec. 6 at the second international roundtable on Islam and Democratization in Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities.
Source: Jakarta Post, December 7, 2006
Visit the website at www.thejakartapost.com
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Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 5
Expulsion doesn't help
Benjamin Ward

London - Western European governments grappling with terrorism seem to have settled on a swift and convenient method to deal with the radical clerics seen to be inciting Muslim youths into acts of terror: they simply deport them.

Across the European Union, governments are moving to expel troublesome clerics said to preach hate, together with foreign terrorism suspects. The French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who advocates the expulsion of foreign residents convicted of participating in the recent rioting, has long endorsed deporting Islamist radicals deemed a threat to national security.

Sarkozy championed a change in French law last year that allows the authorities to expel foreigners who incite "discrimination, hate or violence against a specific person or group of persons," a measure designed to target radical Muslim clerics. France has expelled at least six imams since the law entered into force in July 2004.

France is not alone in its enthusiasm for expulsion. German states such as Bavaria are making use of a Jan. 1, 2005, federal law that allows them to expel legal foreign residents who "endorse or promote terrorist acts," or incite hatred against sections of the population.

In August, the British government broadened the grounds for deportation to enable it to remove persons who "justify or glorify" terrorism. Italy has expelled at least five imams since 2003, and an anti-terrorism law adopted on July 31, 2005, makes it even easier to do so.

Britain is determined to deport undesirables even when it means breaching international law. It has moved to deport terrorism suspects to countries where they face torture, based on "diplomatic assurances" from the receiving government, despite clear evidence that these promises are an ineffective safeguard against such treatment. London has already signed "no-torture" agreements with Jordan and Libya, and negotiations are under way with other governments with poor records on torture.

The danger of these measures is illustrated by the case of two Egyptians returned by Sweden in 2001 after "no-torture" promises from Cairo. There is credible evidence that both men were tortured in detention, despite visits from Swedish diplomats. In May, the UN torture committee found that Sweden had violated international law in the case.

The deadly attacks in Madrid and London underscore that Europe faces a real threat from terrorism. And expressions of hatred and violence, especially by those in positions of influence, are reprehensible. But deportation is not the answer. Terrorism is a criminal activity - far better to prosecute those involved than to export the problem. Where there is insufficient evidence, those who are deemed a threat can be put under surveillance, with appropriate judicial safeguards.

Why don't governments go this route? Building a case is painstaking work. And criminal defendants have rights. By relying on deportation - an immigration measure - governments can bypass the safeguards built into the criminal justice system.

In France and Germany, for example, lodging an appeal with the administrative court does not automatically suspend the expulsion, while the new rules in Italy mean people have the right to appeal only after they have been deported. The absence of an appeal before removal increases the risk that a person will be sent back to face torture. While some high-profile expulsion cases have been overturned on appeal, there is little doubt that deportation is far easier to achieve than conviction in a criminal court.

The ease with which the policy of deportation can be pursued, however, should not blind us to its costs. Deportation is a deeply counterproductive answer to terrorism. Muslim leaders across Europe have signalled concern that expelling Muslim clerics for nonviolent speech reinforces the view that Islam is synonymous with terrorism, and sends a signal to Muslim communities that they are not welcome in Europe, risking further alienation among the region's young Muslim citizens.

That is doubly true where a person is sent back to face torture, a practice that undermines more than half a century of efforts to rid the world of that moral cancer.

European Union leaders will meet in Brussels on Dec. 15 and 16 to discuss the EU action plan on counterterrorism, including ways to prevent the radicalization of young people and how to stop them from being drawn toward terrorism. They are right to do so. But deportation is likely to have the opposite effect. Far better to rely on the measures that helped make Europe a beacon for freedom around the world - a fair criminal justice system, tolerance for an open debate and respect for fundamental rights, including protection from torture.

###
* Benjamin Ward is Special Counsel to the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
Source: International Herald Tribune, December 2, 2005
Visit the website at www.iht.com
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At our Workshop in NY, Kjell Skyllstad shared with us a poem that changed the Norwegian Constitution:

CHRISTMAS EVE
by Henrik Wergeland
at http://www.vetssweatshop.net/poem1.htm

Imagine a storm that seems as if heaven
unleashed its very worst?
A storm as if every soul, from Cain to God’s
last condemned, cursing the earth, from hell
escaped and tempted them to betray heaven?

A storm, whose voices of terror can never be
forgotten?
For all would think it must be sent for me
alone, that hurricane’s thunder meant for me and
only me, about whose sins the spirits just have
learned.

A storm the strength of which could teach
priests and pious alike to worship demons in
that element, in which the crash the old man
could hear, from childhood in his moss-grown
ear, an earthquake of the clouds, doomsday of
the air?

A storm that shook the strong man’s heart
hidden to his chest, a storm from heaven, in
which he heard spirits call his name, carried past
him by gales, and every treetop screamed like
ravens?

But the ravens hid in the crevice, the wolf held
his hunger, and the fox dared not go out.
In the house every light was extinguished, and
the leash dog was kept indoors.
In such a storm, God, will you hear prayers?

In such a storm - it was a Christmas eve – when
night fell before the day had reached its end,
there was a Jew, nearly overcome, who found
himself in Sweden’s desolation, the Tived Forest
He was expected in town for the sake of
Christmas, by girls longing for his bag of
buckies, lace and everything they needed for the
morrow, Second day and New Year’s.
Their longing was strong and full of faith, for "old
Jacob" had never missed a Christmas he was as
sure as Christmas was itself.

In such a storm-
"Slush! Was it again the storm that howled
through the branches? It screamed. Now it’s
screaming yet again." And Old – Jacob abruptly
paused and listened for the second time. There,
it was quiet For the storm is increasing the way
a waterfall washed over a drowning man. He
keeps walking "Slush! Again a sound!" – a
sound, cutting through the forest funk. "The
treacherous owl screams like a child. Who
would let a child out in such a storm? Not even
the wolf does that to hers." The old man
trudges again into the snow. Then the scream
set in again, and his doubts fall away, for this
gust, which already flies in a tower over the
forest treetops, carried with it a word, a simple
word and at once he turns to whence a came,
working his way deeper into the forest, deeper
into the snow and the night, which raises itself
as a deep black cliff against his every step, only
visible through the snow, as if the whole forest
were full of flying, shrouded ghosts, howling in
his way, airily on toe they appear, growing
fearsome, then to disappear among the trees.
But the old man fights his way through the
storm. He moves when it grows and holds his
breath when it slows, listening on his knees. But
then he jumps up and walks into the dark as a
dwarf cuts through the black mold. He hears
no more. The old man trembles at the thought
that evil spirits are playing with him, and
mumbles forth his own prayers. Then a cry
comes forth again and quite near, though his
own shout the storm pushes back into his
throat. But here, yes here! Ten more steps!
Something dark is moving in the snow, as if the
storm had played with a log loosened from its
root.

O Lord, an arm! O Lord, a child! A child! But
dead! – "Did the stars think that on this night,
when the Star of Bethlehem shone among them
that nothing good could happen on Earth? For
none of them saw, that Old Jacob, happy as
though he had found a treasure, threw – without
the slightest hesitation – away his entire fortune:
the bag, pulled off his threadbare cloak,
enveloped the child’s limbs, exposed his chest,
and put the cold cheek to it until it awoke from
his heartbeat. Then he leaped up. But to where?
For the storm had covered his tracks – but not to worry.

For in the thunder in the forest tops he only
heard David’s jubilant harps. He saw the gusts
as cherubs, showing him the way on swan white
wings, and in that to and fro, he followed,
feeling the Lord’s strong guiding hand.

But to find a house in the wild Tiveden, in such
a night, when lights were kept unlit? And
midway was only a simple place, the roof of
which could not be told from the snow – and by
a miracle he found it. There he collapsed. He
could go no further – and many gusts he
endured before he took his load and struggled
to the door. He knocked softly at first, so as to
not awake the child, and now for the first time
he missed his old bag, for he had nothing to give
the good, poor people who soon, with
hospitality, would open the door. Oh, he knocked
many times before it answered. "In the name of
our Savior, who comes here in such a night?
"The old Jacob. Don’t you know me? The old Jew?

"Jew?" cried the horrified couple. "Then stay
outside! We have nothing with which to buy,
and only misfortune will you bring to this house,
on this night, when he was born that you killed."

"I killed?"
"Yes, your people, and that is the sin, which
shall be punished through a thousand
generations."
"Ach! In this night, when even the dog is kept indoors?
"Yes, the dog, but no Jew in this, a Christian house."
He heard no more. The harsh words blew
through him colder than the wind, and threw
him, harder than any storm, down into the
snow, bent over the sleeping child. And then it
seemed to him, even while he stared toward the
window, as if the white face appeared again, as
if he sank in feathers, and precious heat flowed
through his veins, and as familiar beings,
whispering like simmer winds, surrounded him,
until a lifted finger said, come, he sleeps. And
into a well-lit hall nearby they went, only the
child stayed at his feet, pulling the pillows more
around him, until at last he felt, that also he fell
asleep - Where the snow was that grew around
the dead man.

"O Jesus! The Jew is still there!" the husband
shouted, when he looked out that morning.
"Then chase him off! It is Christmas morning,"
the wife chimed in. And see the Jewish way in
which he holds his goods to his chest!" "He is
aggressive with his goods. With a stiff gaze he
looks in here, as if we had money with which to
buy." "Though I’d like to see what he has to
sell." "So show us Jew!"
They both went out.
The frozen glaze they saw in the corpse’s eyes.
They paled more than that, they screamed and
shook in remorse.
"Oh Jeremiah!"
"What accident has happened!"
They stood him up and his load came with.
They opened the cloak. And there, around the
Jew’s neck - Margaret, their child – a corpse like
him.
A lightning doesn’t strike, and adder doesn’t bite,
the way horror and pain hit the couple then. The
snow wasn’t as pale as the father, the storm
didn’t howl as the mother "Oh God has
punished us! Not the cold of the storm, but our
own cruelty has killed our child! For naught!
Ah, for naught the Jew for the sake of mercy
knocked on our door!"

When the forest again became fit for travel,
message came from the farm, where Greta was
kept in foster care, and whence she went, when
Christmas bells were rung and before the storm
set in, wandering on her own to visit her parents
on Christmas eve. But they came not to ask
about the child, but about the Jew from the
town girls, whose home to go to church was
postponed to New Year’s if he came.

Where he lay dead before the fireplace, the
husband sat with the fixed stare of the frozen
Jew’s and bending like the corpse, the fire
increased so the corpse was stretched and arms
folded. But before him on his knees was
Margaret’s mother, her daughter’s arms still
stronger around the dead man’s neck. "She
belongs no more to us," she cried. "He has
acquired the child with his death. We dare not
separate little Greta from him, for she must
intercede on our behalf to Jesus with his Father
- because He will listen to a poor Jew."

Ana Ljubinkovic kindly writes to us:

Have you had an occasion to read Harold Pinter's Nobel lecture given just about a week ago? I thought it might be nice to share it with others or perhaps on our web-site if you think it is appropriate. This is the link

http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html

Dear colleague,

The new number of Intervention (Vol 3, No.3 ) is now on its way to subscribers.

I hope you are already familiar with our journal, Intervention, The International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, which brings special focus to local field reports, training, evaluation and practical implementation within this important discipline. The journal is published in close co-operation with the War Trauma Foundation and IRCT.

Volume 3: Number 3: Winter 2005
Special Number: Reconciliation In Practice

Reconciliation - The wrong track to peace?
David Becker looks at the shortcomings of reconciliation in current theory and practice. Describing the experiences of Chile, Sierra Leone and Israel/Palestine, the author concludes that the concept of reconciliation is here to stay, and proposes a definition that does justice to the complex intra-psychic processes connected with integrating conflicts instead of burying the past.

Empirical criteria for reconciliation in practice
Dan Bar-On examines the processes of reconciliation. Although a top-down legal and political agreement between the formerly conflicting parties is certainly necessary, a full solution also requires a complementary bottom-up educational and social-psychological process. These are crucial in allowing people to let go of the hatred, the desire for revenge, the memory of trauma and the mistrust. Bar-On discusses the TRT group which brought together descendents of holocaust victims and nazi perpetrators over a period of thirteen years, and considers some lessons for the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He suggests several empirical criteria for the study of reconciliation in practice.

Can there be reconciliation without justice?
East Timor is undergoing a reconciliation process, but the fact that many of the perpetrators have escaped justice means a high level of anger remains among the victims. The authors consider how to to make provision for the inevitable anger and frustration felt when the perpetrators avoid prosecution.

Reconciliation in the aftermath of violent conflict in Rwanda
Richters et al.prsent their experience of the reconciliation process in Rwanda over an extended period, and under a repressive government. They discuss if, and to what extent, internationally oriented concepts and programs with cultural specific approaches to reconciliation are in themselves in conflict with each other, or whether they have the potential to reinforce each other.

Twelve creative ways to foster reconciliation
Using his considerable experience as a mediator in many conflict areas, John Galtung discusses twelve approaches to reconciliation. Since no single approach is capapble of dealing with the complexities of reconciliation, the author suggests using a combination of approaches which can be discussed and approved by the parties so as to arrive at an optimum blend for their particular local situation.

Online Resources.
Intervention is participating in several online projects to make information available to the widest possible readership. They include the PILOTS Index to Traumatic Stress Literature ( http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/publications/pilots/ )

Call for papers: Ex-combatants
In November 2006 we hope to publish a special issue on the theme: "ex-combatants: reintegration into society". Theoretical contributions, research articles, field reports and reviews of inspiring books are all welcome. If you would like to contribute, or if you know somebody else who could, please contact us.

Perhaps you would like to suggest some other subject for inclusion, or want to take up an issue with one of our authors? Perhaps you know of a librarian who should review the publication, or a colleague who would benefit from a subscription to Intervention...if there is any way in which we can help each other, please do not hesitate to ask us.

Yours faithfully

Guus van der Veer
Editor

Intervention is downloadable!

Our new website contains downloadable versions of past articles
as well as current news and events.
www.interventionjournal.com

HumanDHS Is Now Incorporated in NY State!

In the US, all contributions to Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies are tax
deductible as allowable by law.

Linda kindly writes (17.12.2005):

Now that the HumanDHS has a tax-exempt number in the U.S., Rick and I established a checking account for our organization!--Hooray! If people want to make contributions, they can be sent to:

HumanDHS
5 Rock Street
Framingham, MA 01702

Checks can be made out to "HumanDHS"

The tax-free number for our "DOMESTIC NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION" is
"02-076-0075"

Here is a little quote we can use, if Americans ask us about making donations:

Thank goodness for Nitza and Robin's valuable work that made this milestone possible!! I sent them a thank you note.

Much love to all,
Linda

Linda Hartling, Ph.D., Associate Director
Jean Baker Miller Training Institute
http://www.jbmti.org
Wellesley Centers for Women
Stone Center, Wellesley College - 106 Central Street - Wellesley, MA 02481

The Year Ahead in US-UN Relations

Date: Thursday January 12, 2006

Time: 1:00-2:30 PM

Location: Church Center of the UN
777 UN Plaza, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10017

RSVP: Full contact information to:
Jessica Hartl, UNA-USA
202-462-3446
jhartl@unausa.org

Featured Speaker

Steven A. Dimoff
Vice President, Washington Office
United Nations Association of the USA

Background

With the United States refusing to join the consensus to pass the UN's $3.89 billion biennial budget if more progress is not made on management reform, US-UN relations have reached a critical juncture. What will this budget crisis mean for future US-UN relations? Will this financial pressure move the organization towards speedier adoption of reforms, as some predict in Congress? With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to visit New York in early February, does this signal improving Congressional-UN relations? Mr. Dimoff will offer a detailed account of current U.S. budgetary issues - including the result of appropriations for the UN in 2005, the status of US payments to the UN, and expectations for the 2007 budget. He will address the implications for Washington of what has happened in New York - e.g. the UN reform progress and the fallout from the Oil for Food scandal. And he will provide a wrap-up of Congressional action in 2005, with a preview of important topics in Congress for 2006.

Search for Common Ground Newsletter - December 14, 2005

Search for Common Ground
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.: (1-202) 265-4300
Fax: (1-202) 232-6718
E-mail: search@scfg.org
Web: www.sfcg.org

Search for Common Ground
Rue Belliard 205 bte 13
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: (32-2) 736-7262
Fax: (32-2) 732-3033
E-mail: brussels@sfcg.be
Web: www.sfcg.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Winter 2005-2006

Dear Friend of Search for Common Ground,
As our 23rd year comes to an end, my colleagues and I have the distinct pleasure of wishing you joyous holidays. Despite the precarious state of the world, there is much to be thankful for. Here at SFCG, we are overwhelmingly optimistic. Our hope for 2006 is that many more people - and nations - will realize that everyone on the planet shares common humanity and that all of us can do much better in resolving problems peacefully.

BURUNDI. Burundi provides reason for optimism. We began work there in 1995 after genocide swept through neighboring Rwanda. Lionel Rosenblatt, then head of Refugees International, challenged us: If we could not take action to help stop Burundi from becoming a mass killing field, how could we, in good conscience, call ourselves a conflict prevention organization. Lionel was absolutely right. A month later Susan Collin Marks and I, accompanied by the late Yvette Pierpaoli and Lionel, arrived in Bujumbura. We were armed only with support from Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative (and now a SFCG board member).

Societal Conflict Prevention. We launched a multi-pronged effort to help defuse violence, and Burundi soon became our biggest project. We made a long-term commitment, as we have done elsewhere - in Africa, in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe, in Indonesia, and in the US. Here is what we started in Burundi:

Studio Ijambo. We launched a radio production studio that employed Hutus and Tutsis and that ABC News' Ted Koppel called "the voice of hope in Burundi". The goal was - and is - to make programs (including our first-ever radio soap opera) to counter hate radio and promote reconciliation. Today, we produce 15 hours a week of original programming that airs on five Burundian radio stations.

Women's Peace Center. To mobilize women as peacemakers, we opened this center to work with thousands of women's associations in organizing training, facilitating interethnic dialogue, providing information about women's legal rights, and supporting resettlement of internally displaced people (IDPs).

Victims of Torture Project. This activity brings together the expertise of organizations working in peace-building, traumatic medicine, community organizing, and human rights advocacy. It promotes psychological healing, furnishes legal assistance, and aids in reintegration of victims.

Domestic Shuttle Diplomacy. We engaged Jan van Eck, a former South African ANC Member of Parliament, to promote dialogue and help solve problems among leaders of conflicting parties, including groups outside official talks. Jan became a widely trusted intermediary who is still engaged in good work in Burundi.

Youth. Originally called the Working with Killers project, this effort involves providing young militia members with alternatives to violence. Activities include sponsoring football (soccer) tournaments, training youth in conflict resolution, and widely distributing comic books that deplore violence. . Originally called the Working with Killers project, this effort involves providing young militia members with alternatives to violence. Activities include sponsoring football (soccer) tournaments, training youth in conflict resolution, and widely distributing comic books that deplore violence.

Cultural Events. We organized a national dance competition, along with singing and drumming festivals. We produced music for peace radio programs and enlisted reggae star Ziggy Marley to record public service announcements (PSAs).

Have we made a difference? Burundi has moved back from the brink of genocide. A top-level mediation process led by Nelson Mandela resulted in a political settlement, national elections, and interethnic power sharing. Independent evaluators found that our work contributed greatly to changing the political and social environments. Unfortunately, one rebel group continues armed conflict; many political leaders refuse to abandon their zero-sum approach; and Burundi remains fragile. But compared to ten years ago, there has been extraordinary progress, and we are proud to have played a positive role. To understand better what this means on the human level, here are a few of the stories that describe our work - and there are literally thousands more:

Saving Lives in Kinama. In February 2001, rebel forces invaded Kinama District, and the residents fled. Several Hutu women hid with their children in the homes of Tutsis they had met during conflict resolution trainings organized by our Women's Peace Center. Our staff learned of the crisis after some of the women and their children had been without food for five days. While we do not normally provide humanitarian relief, we worked with both Hutu and Tutsi partners to organize donations and distribute food, while avoiding detection by both the Tutsi-led military and the Hutu rebels. After the fighting ended, a woman came to our office in Bujumbura to say, "When you gave me that small bag of food, I had just lost my child, and my two others would have died today without your help."

Crossing the Divide in Busoro. Léonie Barakomeza and Yvonne Ryakiye were both born in Busoro but did not know each other. In 1993, fighting broke out, and their community was destroyed. Léonie and her fellow Tutsis fled to one side of the river; Yvonne and the Hutus went to the other. In 1996, the two met through the Women's Peace Center and began to work together. Unlike most of their neighbors, they were willing to cross the river. They were accused of being spies and traitors, but they persisted. Other women followed their example, and links grew. The two created a women's association, whose name translates as We Want Peace. They urged people to return home. Despite meager means, the women pooled their resources and built 40 brick houses for both Tutsi and Hutu families. Their efforts were recognized, when, along with eight other Burundian women, they were nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

Reconciliation in Rusengo. The Women's Peace Center has trained hundreds of Burundian women to be facilitators in reuniting divided communities. In 2004, one facilitator was invited to Rusengo, where many ethnic killings had occurred. The community had reached the point where it wanted the violence to end and asked us to facilitate a reconciliation process. A meeting was convened, and our facilitator formed those present into two lines: on one side were the perpetrators; on the other were the families of dead victims. One by one, those in the first group stepped forward to admit guilt. Then, those in the second group took the hand of the person who had confessed and granted pardon. The session ended with a stirring twist. A young man, who had stood with the victims and had just taken the hand of someone who had murdered one of his family, suddenly crossed the space between the lines, joined the perpetrators, and reached across to take the hand of a woman whose husband he had killed. He was forgiven.

SIERRA LEONE. While our Burundi program celebrated its tenth birthday, we reached another milestone in Sierra Leone where our daily radio soap opera produced its 1000th episode. Called Atunda Ayenda (Lost and Found), it airs on all 11 of the country's radio stations. Hugely popular and influential, it tells stories - laced with themes of conflict resolution - of ex-combatants who come home, look for lost loves, and rebuild their lives.

Presidential Soap. In October, Ambassador George Moose, Vice Chair of our Board and a former US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, was part of a visit that a group of our investors took to Sierra Leone. The investors met with, among other people, the President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Needless to say, they were pleased to hear that President Kabbah is a regular listener of Atunda Ayenda and that he believes our radio programs are playing a key role in helping restore peace to Sierra Leone.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA. In partnership with the Ma'an Network of Independent Palestinian TV Stations, we have co-produced a 13-part TV drama series. Called Mazah fi Jad (Seriously Joking), it features three families - two Muslim and one Christian - and focuses on the problems of everyday life for ordinary Palestinians, particularly the young. Themes of peaceful problem-solving abound. The series was televised during this fall's Ramadan holidays.

It shatters Palestinians' stereotypes about themselves. - USA Today

The new soap opera has captivated viewers. - Voice of America

Magazine Series. Since August, we have co-produced with the Ma'an Network a twice-weekly TV magazine series for Palestinian viewers. The segments, which are produced by the ten local TV stations that comprise Ma'an, tell stories that convey the positive, human-interest side of Palestinian society. Episodes to date have profiled the gold market in Tulkarem, tobacco cultivation in Jenin, a look at Bethlehem University, and a portrait of a disabled man in Nablus who lives a wholly self-sufficient life.

Legislative Redux. In 1997, Palestinian authorities arrested Daoud Kuttab, a leading Palestinian journalist, for airing live TV coverage of the Palestinian Legislative Council, including discussions of alleged corruption. Daoud was kept in prison for eight days, and the broadcasts stopped. Since August 2005, the Ma'an Network, in partnership with Daoud, Al Quds Educational TV, and us, has resumed broadcast of the Palestinian legislative sessions. We believe that these C-SPAN-like programs promote transparency and non-violence in the Palestinian political process.

AFRICAN ELECTIONS. During recent Burundian and Sierra Leonean elections, we formed consortia of journalists to report on results. By having reporters on the ground as the votes were being counted, we reduced the possibility of fraud and violence. This fall, Liberia held elections, and we partnered with UN Radio and a private station to cover them. The Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation, Agnes van Ardenne-van der Hoeven, described the initiative thusly:

Let me mention a recent success of our cooperation with civil society: during the Liberian presidential elections, the first since the civil war, we funded the NGO, Search for Common Ground. This NGO relieved social tension during the elections through radio broadcasts in sixteen local languages. The programmes featured debates between the candidates, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and former soccer player George Weah, and gave callers the opportunity to denounce any irregularities live on the air.

ANGOLAN YOUTH. In Angola, as elsewhere, we put special emphasis on working with young people. We bring together youth from the MPLA and UNITA, the opposing sides in the former civil war, to empower them to co-create projects that promote reconciliation. This work is particularly important in dealing with youth violence, which has a highly negative impact on Angola. Here is a statement made by a participant in one of our workshops:

I began by disrespecting my teachers and assaulting stores with an armed street gang known as AKM. Then, I wanted to leave that life behind because I was tired and a guy by the name of Paixão told me about the trainings. Today I am completely different as a result of the trainings… They gave me tools with which to resolve conflict without violence.

THE DIFFERENCE OUR INVESTORS MAKE. Financial investment from people like you is crucial to our work. Individual support represents a personal commitment to a non-adversarial way of dealing with conflict, and it enables us to expand greatly our reach and our impact. We are committed to changing the world, and, as you can see from the descriptions in this letter, we are working with some of the most courageous and extraordinary people on the planet. Your support strengthens their resolve and ensures their viability and sustainability. My wife Susan and I make a substantial annual contribution to Search for Common Ground. We ask you to join us as a Common Ground Partner and make a three-year pledge. Please mail in your reply or click on our secure website, http://www.sfcg.org/help/help_home.html .

With best wishes,

John Marks
President

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org
December 2005

POSTING NEWS:
We welcome items to include in DemocracyNews. Please send an email message to world@ned.org with the item you would like to post in the body of the message.

******************************************************************

CONTENTS

DEMOCRACY ALERTS/APPEALS
1. Aid Agencies Call on UN Security Council to Protect Civilians from Rebel Attacks in Uganda
2. Democracy Activist Imprisoned and Facing Possible Execution in Ethiopia
3. Editor Freed After 14 Months in Prison
4. News Reports: Nepal Government Will Not Issue Travel Documents to Refugees

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
5. "China's Conscience," Distinguished Writer Liu Binyan, has Died
6. Call for Applications: Distance Learning Course on Campaigning for Access to Information
7. Stanford 2006 Summer Fellows Program
8. African Network (ADF) Newsletter Now Available Online
9. IFES's Democracy at Large Focuses on Asia

CIVIC EDUCATION
10. Publication: Islam and Democracy: Towards Effective Citizenship
11. ICTJ Announces Essentials Course on Transitional Justice

ELECTIONS
12. World Forum for Democratization in Asia Reports on Sri Lanka's Elections

HUMAN RIGHTS
13. Current Issue of Individu Focuses on Violence in Pakistan
14. NGOs Call for Credible Human Rights Council at UN
15. Violations of Human Rights alongside UN WSIS Summit
16. Court Orders Trial of Civil Society Leaders in Venezuela

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY
17. New Book on Post Authoritarian Transitions Published
18. Seminar Summary of the Czech Republic's Transition Experiences

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
19. New Funding Opportunity for Documentary Producers
20. African Free Expression Groups Launches Network

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH
21. Applications for International Volunteerism Summit
22. Telecentre.org to Offer Support to Grassroots Technology Centers around the World

POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
23. New Publication: NDI Political Party Research Series

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION
24. Conference on International Anti-Corruption Held in Guatemala
25. GOPAC Launches New Web Site

RESEARCH
26. Global Integrity Seeks Experts in Governance and Corruption Issues

WOMEN'S ISSUES
27. New Advocacy Tool for Reform of Family Law in Muslim-Majority Societies
28. Submissions Deadline Extended for Women's Stories and Art

29. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

******************************************************************

DEMOCRACY ALERTS/APPEALS

1. Aid Agencies Call on UN Security Council to Protect Civilians from Rebel Attacks in Uganda
Fifty international aid agencies have requested that the UNSC help protect children in the northern region of Uganda. They say the violence by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters is claiming 1,000 lives every week. Their call comes as a high-level UN Security Council delegation is due to begin talks with the Ugandan government. British-based charity Oxfam calls it the world's worst case of mass child abuse, with 20 children being abducted every week by the rebels. The organization Save the Children takes the view that this is no time for half measures and says the Security Council must challenge the government to protect its own people. LRA attacks have risen in the last month since the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the five top rebel leaders.
Go to: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4420488.stm

2. Democracy Activist Imprisoned and Facing Possible Execution in Ethiopia
Berhanu Nega, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) vice chairman, New York-educated economist, was imprisoned for participating in peaceful demonstrations against the government of Ethiopia on October 31. Academics from Nega's alma mater, the New School, are asking U.S. Secretary of State Rice, Senator Clinton, and Ethiopia's representative at the United Nations to intervene and help free him. According to Amnesty International, Mr. Nega is one of hundreds of Ethiopians detained by the government in the wake of the protests. Along with almost a dozen CUD leaders and journalists, the economist has been listed by the organization as a "prisoner of conscience." Students at the New School working on behalf of Mr. Nega's release said he is reported to be in solitary confinement and limited to one meal a day.
Go to: savenega.org/

3. Editor Freed After 14 Months in Prison
Reporters Without Borders voiced delight at the release of Paul Kamara, the founder and editor of the independent daily "For Di People," after 14 months in prison for urging the Sierra Leone government to keep its promise of democracy and put an end to its repression of the news media. "After more than a year of waiting and suffering, Paul Kamara is finally being reunited with his family and his newspaper," the press freedom organization said. Reporters Without Borders added: "Any further serious press freedom violations such as the imprisonment of one of the country's most respected journalists would cause irreversible harm to Sierra Leone." Kamara was released by the Freetown appeals court, which overturned his October 5, 2004 conviction of two 24-month sentences for "seditious defamation." He left the court smiling, accompanied by his wife and daughter, his newspaper staff, other journalists, and his lawyer.
Go to: www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15761

4. News Reports: Nepal Government Will Not Issue Travel Documents to Refugees
A Nepal government source told Nepal News that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) recently approved a policy decision denying travel documents to refugees including those from Tibet. This latest move is likely to pose serious difficulties for all refugees living in Nepal who are traveling to third countries and likely to raise international concerns especially in the West. Travel documents issued by host nation for refugees are regarded as passports for overseas journeys. Denial of travel documents would further isolate refugees from the outside world. It is estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 Tibetan refugees enter Nepal every year after a long and arduous journey through the Himalayan passes from the Chinese Autonomous Region of Tibet. The Nepal government's decision would remain in effect for an indefinite period, the source revealed. The government claims that the total number of Tibetan refugees in Nepal is not more than 15,000.
Go to: http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2005/oct/oct24/news11.php

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

5. "China's Conscience," Distinguished Writer Liu Binyan, has Died
One of China's most distinguished and revered writers, Mr. Liu Binyan, died at the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on December 5. The cause of death was advanced colon cancer that had spread to other organs. He was 80 years old. In 1956 he published "On the Bridge Worksite," which exposed bureaucracy and corruption, and "The Inside Story of Our Newspaper" about press control. The two works had a powerful nationwide impact among readers, but the following year, 1957, Mr.Liu was labeled a "rightist" and expelled from the Communist Party. He spent the next 21 years in and out of labor camps. In 1985, when the Chinese Writers' Association was allowed (for the first and last time) to elect its own leaders, Liu Binyan received the second-highest number of votes. In spring of 1988, he came to the United States for teaching and writing; after publicly denouncing the Chinese government for its Beijing massacre and nationwide crackdown in June1989, he was barred from returning to China and consequently never returned. Although largely separated from his Chinese readers, he continued to read and write about China, and to interview visitors from the country, in every way he could. In recent years, while fighting his losing battle with cancer, Liu wrote several letters to China's top leaders asking permission for one last visit to the country he loves. The letters were delivered, but Liu received no response, not even a notice of rejection. Liu is survived by his wife Zhu Hong, son Liu Dahong, daughter Liu Xiaoyan, and two grandsons, Liu Dongdong and Li Dakuan.
Go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/international/asia/06liu.html

6. Call for Applications: Distance Learning Course on Campaigning for Access to Information
The global free expression group, Article 19, and the human rights organization, Fahamu, invite applications for a distance learning course on Campaigning for Access to Information. This course, available to those in southern Africa, looks at why access to information is important, what an access to information law should contain, and how to set about campaigning for one. While several countries in southern Africa have draft laws for access to information in place, South Africa is the only country in the region that has a proper access to information law. But even when a law or a draft law is in place, it is important to have the ability to critique it in order to make sure it includes the best provisions possible. Participants who successfully complete this course will be awarded a certificate from Article 19 and Fahamu. Applicants should send a one page summary CV, with a letter of 500 words or less explaining why they should be selected for this course.
Applications should be sent to: info@fahamu.org
Go to: http://www.fahamu.org/foi.php

7. Stanford 2006 Summer Fellows Program
The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, California, invites policy makers and activists from countries undergoing political, economic, and social transitions to participate in its second annual Summer Fellows Program on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law to be held July 31 - August 18, 2006. This program offers a unique approach to studying the ways in which democratic institutions and institutions that foster economic development can be established and strengthened in varying country contexts. The curriculum draws on the combined expertise of Stanford scholars and practitioners in the fields of political science, economics, law, sociology, and business and emphasizes the links between theory and practice. This program is aimed at early to mid-career policy makers, academics, and leaders of civil society organizations who will play important roles in their country's democratic, economic, and social development. The deadline for the applications to the program is January 6, 2006.
Go to: cddrl.stanford.edu/summerfellows/

8. African Network (ADF) Newsletter Now Available Online.
The African Democracy Forum (ADF) recently issued its second ADF Newsletter, which is now available online. This issue features three articles: "The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Role of Civil Society: Lessons from Ghana"; "Critical Analysis of the Economic and Social Rights of Congolese Citizens Recognized in the Transition Constitution"; and "A Critique of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections." The newsletter also includes reports on ADF activities and a profile of ADF member organization, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.
Go to: www.africandemocracyforum.org

9. IFES's Democracy at Large Focuses on Asia
The December issue of Democracy at Large, a quarterly magazine published by IFES, designed for professionals and others interested in democracy development worldwide, focuses on Asia, with articles on India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Afghanistan and China. The issue features articles by Roland Rich ("Designing Democracy in Pacific Asia"), Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino ("Coping with Corruption in the Philippines"), and a profile of Women Power Connect's Ranjana Kumari, and more.
Go to: www.democracyatlarge.org

CIVIC EDUCATION

10. Publication: Islam and Democracy: Towards Effective Citizenship
This book is an Arabic-language guide to teaching about democracy in Muslim societies intended for leaders involved in grassroots education in their communities. The guide was written by authors from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Jordan in collaboration with Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) and Street Law, Inc.
Go to: www.islam-democracy.org/

11. ICTJ Announces Essentials Course on Transitional Justice
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), in association with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculty of Law, has established an Essentials Course: a 4-day intensive, non-credit course on Transitional Justice. The course will cover the essential themes, mechanisms, and case studies in the field of Transitional Justice. The first course will be offered from February 2-5, 2006. The venue for the course is the historic Irish College in Leuven, Belgium, just outside of Brussels, where the ICTJ is in the process of establishing a new office. The cost of the course is 390 Euros, payable within 15 business days following admission into the course. The program is primarily targeted at (1) pre-mission field staff of international and regional multilateral bodies, and (2) mid-level and senior human rights academics and practitioners who cannot spare long periods away from their jobs and families. To be considered, an applicant will need to prove gainful employment in human rights or a related field, and possess a Master's degree or equivalent. Each course will be limited to a maximum of 30 participants. Graduates of the course will receive a Certificate of Completion.
Go to: www.ictj.org

ELECTIONS

12. World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA) Reports on Sri Lanka's Elections
WFDA reports that the presidential election that took place November 17th in Sri Lanka was one of the key contests requiring regional attention. People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) were applauded for their efforts in regional observation and monitoring missions. The election was peaceful in most of the country and participation was high with a turnout reported at over percent. However, WFDA states that improvement is needed in the north and east regions of Sri Lanka and that these LTTE controlled regions were unable to vote or boycotted the elections. According to WFDA, democracy in Sri Lanka cannot be considered to be complete until all citizens are able to participate.
Go to: www.wfda.net/news_detail.htm?id=210

HUMAN RIGHTS

13. Current Issue of Individu Focuses on Violence in Pakistan
The current issue of "Individu -spotlight," a monthly newsletter that appears on Individu-land's Web site, entitled 'While Gilgit burns...' focuses on the violence in Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) in Pakistan and the political basis for this violence. "Individu-land" is a cyber space where the individual is considered as the most important actor. The principles that connect the various individuals at "Individu-land" include: individual freedom, social responsibility, rule of law, pluralism, equality before the law, independent judiciary, democracy, free market economy, and secularism.
Go to: www.individualland.com/newsletter/newsletter.html

14. NGOs Call for Credible Human Rights Council at UN
A coalition of 62 civil society organizations from around the world wrote to the UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson urging prompt "establishment of an effective, credible, and authoritative Human Rights Council." Coordinated by Human Rights Watch and the Democracy Coalition Project (DCP), the broad coalition of democracy and rights groups outlined the essential elements needed to "fulfill the promise that engendered this reform." DCP has additionally called for a UN Democracy Caucus position on the Human Rights Council, as well as on resolutions introduced in the General Assembly dealing with rights abuses in seven countries around the world.
Go to: www.demcoalition.org/pdf/Joint%20HRC%20Letter%20on%20Timeline%20-%20Dec.%206%20%2020051.pdf

15. Violations of Human Rights alongside UN WSIS Summit
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) reports that in front of participants of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), journalists and human rights defenders were jostled, insulted, and then violently beaten. On November 14, 2005, at Place d'Afrique in Tunis Omar Mestiri, a founding member of the National Council for Freedom in Tunisia (Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie - CNLT) was seized by police as soon as he arrived for the meeting of the coordinating committee of the Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS)." Mr. Mestiri was then beaten by the plainclothes policemen who were impatiently awaiting international and Tunisian delegates and members of civil society. The law enforcement agents shouted, jostled, and tried to physically intimidate the on-site Tunisian journalists. When members of international NGOs, such as the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Human Rights Watch, the Danish Human Rights Institute and other civil society representatives tried to intervene, the police officers moved away from the journalists, and manhandled the international delegates in turn. "
Go to: www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=2430527

16. Court Orders Trial of Civil Society Leaders in Venezuela
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), by ordering a trial of four civil society leaders on charges of treason, a Venezuelan court has assented to government persecution of political opponents. A court in Caracas has ordered that María Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz be tried on treason charges brought by a public prosecutor because their nongovernmental organization, Súmate, accepted foreign funds for a program that encouraged citizen participation in a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's presidency in 2004. Two other Súmate leaders, Luis Enrique Palacios and Ricardo Estévez, will also be tried on charges of complicity with this alleged crime. Machado and Plaz have been charged under Article 132 of the Venezuelan Penal Code with "conspiracy to destroy the nation's republican form of government." If convicted, they face up to 16 years in prison. Súmate engaged in voter outreach and education that encouraged participation in a national referendum to determine whether Chávez should remain in office.
Go to: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/07/08/venezu11299.htm

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY

17. New Book on Post Authoritarian transitions Published
"Transiciones: La Experiencia de Europa del Este" (Transitions: The East European Experience) has recently been published in Argentina by the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL), a think tank that advocates for development in Latin America, together with the Miami-based Center for the Study of a National Option (CEON) and the Bratislava-based Pontis Foundation. Several transition leaders were present in both Argentina and Chile for the book's presentation, including former Bulgarian Prime Minister Philip Dimitrov and former Vice-President of the Czech Senate Jan Ruml. The book will also be available via PDF format for free download at the CADAL Web site. It aims to inform Latin Americans, especially Cubans and Cuban-Americans, about the pitfalls and opportunities that post-authoritarian transitions represent. It covers political, institutional and economic reforms, and is divided into three sections: Policies, Results and Lessons.
Go to: www.cadal.org

18. Seminar on the Czech Republic's Transition Experiences
On October 18, 2005, a seminar, on the Czech Republic's Transition Experience was held in Coral Gables, Florida at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, at the University of Miami with the cooperation of the Transformation Promotion Unit of the Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic. The Czech delegation gathered at this seminar to share their real life experiences of transition and to present their views on possible lessons for a Cuba in transition. The transcript of the seminar is available electronically.
To request a copy, email: ctp.iccas@miami.edu
Go to: http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

19. New Funding Opportunity for Documentary Producers
Independent Television Service (ITVS), a US-based initiative to ensure that diverse voices be championed on public television, is funding a new initiative for international producers. They are seeking programs that present people, cultures, and points of view that are seldom seen on U.S. television. Single documentaries by international producers (non U.S. residents) about international issues will be considered. The deadline to apply is January 20, 2006.
Go to: www.itvs.org/producers/imdf_guidelines.html

20. African Free Expression Groups Launches Network
Free expression groups from across Africa have launched a new initiative aimed to improve the environment for freedom of expression and press, as well as to strengthen collaboration among free expression organizations on the continent. The Network of African Freedom of Expression Organizations (NAFEO) unites 33 African and international organizations under one umbrella to campaign against criminal defamation laws, promote access to information and media pluralism, and monitor attacks on journalists and media outlets. Launched at a conference in Accra, Ghana, which took place on October 28-30, 2005, the new network will put in place a rapid response mechanism to deal with crises that seriously affect free expression in Africa. It will also work to build and strengthen the capacity of regional and sub-regional organizations, especially in the East and North Africa regions.
Go to: www.ifex.org

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH

21. Applications for International Volunteerism Summit
The International Youth Volunteer Summit: Social Entrepreneurship in Youth Volunteerism will take place at Northwestern University (USA) on February 23-26, 2006. Keynote speakers, panel discussions, and project-focused workshops will be featured, giving delegates a chance to build the knowledge, skills, and contacts to be more productively engaged across borders. The summit will bring together young people from a variety of backgrounds including international students, young social entrepreneurs, academic experts, and NGO representatives.
Go to: iyvs.org/

22. Telecentre.org to Offer Support to Grassroots Technology Centers around the World Telecentre.org, a $21 million collaborative initiative that will strengthen the capacity of tens of thousands of community-based "telecentres" around the world was launched at the World Summit on the Information Society. A first round of social investments is being made in telecentre networks in India, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, Chile, and the Americas. Investments will also be made in the Non-Profit Enterprise and Sustainability Team and TakingITGlobal, two organizations that will play a key role in providing support services to telecentre networks. Telecentres and other public access computing initiatives that bring the benefits of the information economy to isolated villages and communities on every continent provide a community gathering place where people can access computers, use the Internet, learn new skills, and tackle local social issues.
Go to: about.takingitglobal.org/d/media/releases?view=102

POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

23. New Publication: NDI Political Party Research Series
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) recently published a unique series of research papers that blends theoretical knowledge, empirical research and practical experience. "Political Parties and Democracy in Theoretical and Practical Perspectives" explores four topics central to the role and function of political parties: party law, party finance, intra-party democracy and communications. NDI recruited eminent scholars Kenneth Janda, Michael Johnston, Pippa Norris and Susan Scarrow to write the papers, and engaged party leaders, democracy practitioners, NDI staff members and other noted academics in each stage of the writing process. It is hoped that the series will help readers gain a better understanding of each topic, and in particular, the complexities of the issues addressed. The complete texts of these papers are available online.
Go to: www.ndi.org/globalp/polparties/programspp/research.asp

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION

24. Conference on International Anti-Corruption Held in Guatemala
The 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) held on November 15-18, 2006, in Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala. The conference theme was "Towards a fairer world: Why is corruption still blocking the way?" The meeting offered the opportunity for an honest and rigorous examination of the continuing obstacles posed by endemic corruption around the world. Government officials, and civil society and business people met to exchange information and ideas about the fight against corruption, assessed existing strategies, and developed new approaches. Transparency International, which serves as secretariat to the IACC Council, worked with its national chapter in the country, Acción Ciudadana, and the government of Guatemala to hold the conference.
Go to: www.transparency.org/iacc

25. GOPAC Launches New Web Site
The Global Organization Against Corruption (GOPAC) recently launched its new Web site. The Web site is intended to serve as a portal for parliamentarians and others interested in joining forces to fight corruption and promote good governance. It is available in English, French and Spanish. GOPAC is an international network of parliamentarians dedicated to good governance and combating corruption throughout the world.
Go to: www.gopacnetwork.org

RESEARCH

26. Global Integrity Seeks Experts in Governance and Corruption Issues
Global Integrity is seeking qualified and motivated experts to assist them in the field in 2006. Global Integrity invites journalists, social scientists, and academic experts from any country with expertise in governance and corruption issues to send a resume/curriculum vitae (including full contact information and three references), and an expression of interest in joining the 2006 team. For each country, Global Integrity is looking for one lead reporter to write the Reporter's Notebook, one lead social scientist or academic expert to score the Integrity Indicators, and 3-5 readers. Experts' independence from corporate or government influence is a critical qualification; a working proficiency in English is strongly preferred but not essential. Reporters and social scientists should be currently working in-country; readers can be both in-country and out-of-country experts.
Go to: http://www.globalintegrity.org/inviteletter/

WOMEN'S ISSUES

27. New Advocacy Tool for Reform of Family Law in Muslim-Majority Societies
"Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb" is the first volume in a new Translation Series launched by the Women's Learning Partnership. The series aims to communicate a shared vision of legal reform supporting the development of more egalitarian families, communities, and societies. The Guide outlines a process that empowers women's capability to make deliberate and thoughtful choices for meaningful social change. In each module, the Guide presents the current state of the law, and then proposes religious, human rights, sociological, and domestic legal arguments for reform.
Go to: www.store.yahoo.com/learningpartnership/gutoeqinfain.html

28. Submissions Deadline Extended for Women's Stories and Art
The International Museum of Women and the "Imagining Ourselves" Global Team invite young women in their 20's and 30's all over the world to submit their stories and art that answer the question: "What Defines Your Generation of Women?" The Online Exhibit will feature an interactive multi-lingual gallery of over 300 interpretations of young women in answer to this question. Young women with images to share, a story to tell and a voice that wants to be heard should get involved in the "Imagining Ourselves" conversation.
Go to: imaginingourselves.org/guidelines/guideenglish.php

29. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

* African Democracy Forum (ADF) - www.africandemocracyforum.org
* Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) - www.islam-democracy.org
* Democracy Coalition Project (DCP) -- www.demcoalition.org/2005_html/home.html
* IFES -- www.ifes.org/
* National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) - www.ndi.org
* Pontis Foundation -- http://www.pontisfoundation.sk/en/10311
* Street Law -- www.streetlaw.org/
* Transparency International (TI) - www.transparency.org
* Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) - www.learningpartnership.org
* World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA) - www.wfda.net

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Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
December 13, 2005

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, all copyright permissions have been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and CGNews-PiH, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

**********

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:
1. ~YOUTH VIEWS~
“On these Muslim Streets” by Bill Glucroft
“Europe has a problem, but it is not the Muslims. Muslims have a problem, but it is not Europe.” Bill Glucroft, a student of journalism at Emerson College in Boston, MA, looks at a lack of economic opportunity as an impediment to Muslim integration in Europe and calls on both European governments as well as European Muslims to take steps to overcome this obstacle.
(Source: CGNews-PiH, December 13, 2005)

2. “Bravo to the Arab Media” by Hassan Yassin
In this timely piece that follows yesterday’s assassination of Lebanese newspaper publisher and columnist, Gibran Tueni, Hassan Yassin, a Saudi businessman based in Riyadh, praises recent efforts by Arab media practitioners and adds that this “rapidly increasing professionalism and accountability of the Arab media is all the more significant in light of the very difficult circumstances which Arab journalists are faced with.”
(Source: Arab News, December 13, 2005)

3. “Open Societies Make Good Muslims” by Hera Diani
Hera Diani, Jakarta-based journalist, makes a case for democracy in predominantly Muslim countries based on the comments of leading Muslim thinkers in Thailand. Surin Pitsuwan, former Thai foreign minister, explains, "In the teachings of the Koran and Hadiths, there is always room for human beings to take charge of their own affairs. This is an issue of accountability, responsibility, participation, as well as individual and collective obligations,"
(Source: The Jakarta Post, December, 7 2005)

4. “Western Muslims: Can we talk?” By Geneive Abdo
A Western Islamic identity is necessary, agree European and American Muslims at a recent conference organised by the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium to determine how Western governments can begin to address Muslim isolation in their countries. Geneive Abdo, a fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, highlights the contribution of participants who feel that their new identity must take into consideration religious expression as well as full participation in society, and believe that the media are key in changing perceptions of them in their respective countries.
(Source: International Herald Tribune, December 7, 2005)

5. “Spoilers at the table” by Neil Stormer
Using examples from the Middle East, Neil Stormer, who works in conflict resolution and foreign policy in Washington, DC, discusses how bringing extreme opponents to the table can bring an end to armed conflict by providing a “public, nonviolent venue for discussion of the extremist groups' issues and bring[ing] all shareholders to the table.” Although acknowledging the risk of bringing in dissident voices and giving them veto power over the process, he refers to the Nelson Mandela quote: “You don't make peace by talking to your friends; you have to make peace with your enemies.”
(Source: Jordan Times, December 7, 2005)

**********

ARTICLE 1
On these Muslim Streets
Bill Glucroft

Milan –The violence that shook French society in November has fizzled out. Though these symptoms of a social and economic disease have for the moment disappeared, the disease itself remains present and virulent. If France – and the whole of Europe – wishes not to take the violence as a warning sign, it does so at its peril.

I arrived in Europe almost fifteen weeks ago expecting a continent roiling in cultural distress. The only news crossing the pond to the US pertained to the Franco-Dutch one-two punch against the EU constitution, economic woes in Germany, and, against a backdrop of the July terror attack in London, the smoldering problem of integrating Muslim immigrants in Europe.

Europe’s colonial past and welfare present make it a haven for millions of Muslims desperate to escape the stagnation of the Middle East and North Africa. For decades, traditionally Christian Europe accepted such immigrants either as cheap labor or, increasingly, through regular immigration programs, making a tacit compact with them to provide social benefits so long as the recipients demanded little else in return. Post-Holocaust Europe was eager to demonstrate its tolerance, but was not yet prepared to undertake the significant and necessary step of truly accepting the presence of these new immigrants. Thus, Muslims and other Europeans have, by and large, existed within separate spheres that rarely intersect. Today, however, particularly in France, the factory jobs the immigrants once held are long gone, but the state has taken little interest in creating new sources of employment, worsening the situation.

Only an event as dramatic as 9/11 was capable of upsetting this status quo and demonstrating its inequities. The unseen, but growing populations of Muslim immigrants suddenly became visible, and Europeans began to grow anxious about these people lurking in the shadows of their societies. Unfortunately, the foundations for dialogue had not even been created, as Europe never made a genuine effort to reach out to its immigrants – and vice versa. Given the information vacuum, when controversial Dutch film-maker and critic of misogynistic practices by Muslim immigrants, Theo van Gogh, was slain in Amsterdam, and bombs rocked the Madrid and London metro systems, suspicion of the foreigners in its midst reached a peak.

Europe has a problem, but it is not the Muslims. Muslims have a problem, but it is not Europe. The issue is the absence of respect, the result has been suspicion and fear, and the solution is neither more stringent immigration policies nor stricter law enforcement nor for Muslims to isolate themselves from the societies that surround them. To bridge the artificial cultural rift, the same antidote to Middle East backwardness must also be applied to Europe.

Lack of economic opportunity is the world’s foremost cause of instability. For their part, European governments need to cease relying on social benefits and the welfare state as a means to satisfy and pacify and instead offer true economic opportunity. Free medical care, subsidised housing and education can only go so far. People everywhere want and need the dignity and respect derived from a good job that provides steady pay. They can accomplish this through actions such as making it easier for immigrants to open small businesses (a step that would benefit all of France, whose onerous labour regulations and taxes make creating and running small businesses incredibly difficult), cracking down on overt racism, and sensitising police to immigrant issues. The night-time rioting on the streets of Paris’s broken suburbs is a clear indication of how much energy France’s North Africans retain. Clearly, all that is lacking is a productive outlet for it.

Muslim immigrants in Europe must make efforts as well. They must not be afraid of involving themselves with the greater European population. Integration is not the same as assimilation, and a European Muslim is not a contradiction in terms. European Muslims do not necessarily have to take part in, but must accept, certain norms of their host countries that conservatives may find distasteful. The availability of alcohol and drugs, the supremacy of civil over religious law, and differing policies on marriage are but a few examples. Community leaders should encourage their people to be proud Muslims and productive Europeans (and Europe must allow Muslims to be both). After all, those who spew hate and preach division will succeed only in making Europeans less accommodative to the needs and desires of Muslim immigrants. Only by incorporating themselves into the greater society will Muslims achieve the respect as fellow citizens they rightly deserve.

On this matter, Europe might benefit from America’s example. Certainly, the U.S. continues to wrestle with its own racial demons, but it has more or less succeeded in incorporating various demographics into a single, contiguous society. Unlike in Europe, Muslims in America have been able to rise to the middle class. The fact that they can take part in American prosperity, not just be spectators to it, is evidence that the problem is primarily economic. Since American Muslims participate in their communities, particularly through running small businesses, they are known and subsequently less feared. Instead of existing literally on the periphery as in France, Muslims in the U.S. are part of society. This may help explain why, post 9/11, relatively few hate crimes occurred.

If the French wish to prevent further anarchy, the country needs to alter course rather than bury the event in the past and try, with half-measures and promises of more government help, to return to the country’s tense status quo. The recent three weeks of instability were predominantly the result of longstanding economic repression, intended or not. There is nothing unique to Europe’s Muslims that predisposes them to such extremism; their actions are a product of the times. A hungry man is an angry man and Europe’s Muslim immigrants are hungry. Europe best find a way to feed them.

###
* Bill Glucroft is a student of journalism at Emerson College in Boston, MA.
Source: CGNews-PiH, December 13, 2005
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Bravo to the Arab Media
Hassan Yassin

The Arab media have come a long way recently. Only a decade ago the media
landscape in the Arab world looked pretty bleak. Only a handful of sharp and
courageous writers were then publishing their eye-opening articles in
newspapers printed abroad. Today that situation has completely changed. The
Arab public now has several independent news channels and many more
outspoken commentators in a variety of newspapers to choose from. This is
indeed a momentous development.

In an article entitled "Courage in their Coverage" (Dec. 7, 2005) in the
Washington Post, respected columnist David Ignatius calls our attention to
the courage and professionalism of a growing number of Arab journalists.
Ignatius himself, I must add, is a most respected journalist. He has that
rare ability of capturing and reporting stories which others do not see or
hear, and his articles are always stimulating, balanced, and to the point.

Ignatius cites, among others, the example set by Hussain Shobokshi, whose
views in the Saudi press and on the Al-Arabiya news channel have challenged
many a preconceived idea and courageously proposed alternate or otherwise
hushed visions for the future. Ignatius' mention of this particular
individual is especially meaningful in the light of Shobokshi's unrelenting
dedication to the freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Shobokshi's example in turn has encouraged many other journalists, many of
whom are today playing a fundamental role in the changes and reforms taking
place in the Arab world. Speaking of his contacts with Arab journalists at
the Arab Thought Conference held last week in Dubai, Ignatius noted that he
was hearing "a new voice of professionalism and accountability that is
shaping the movement for change in the Arab world."

This rapidly increasing professionalism and accountability of the Arab media
is all the more significant in the light of the very difficult circumstances
which Arab journalists are faced with. Ignatius pays tribute to the many
Arab journalists who have paid with their lives for their commitment to
revealing the truth and to expressing their opinions freely. Whether in
Lebanon or in Iraq, the dedication of these journalists and their sacrifice
speaks mountains for the vital and indispensable role that they are playing
in Arab society and indeed in the international community, today.

There has also been a significant increase in the number of women
journalists in the Arab world. These women are now questioning their
position in society and demanding that more avenues be opened to them. They
are questioning religious edicts and want a return to the real Islamic views
on women where equality is not on paper, but practiced in everyday life.

It is time that we, also, recognize these journalists and applaud them.
Whether we agree or disagree with their opinions, we should be grateful to
them for the essential duty which they are fulfilling in moving our
societies forwards. It is also significant that Arab governments have
realized that past practices of censorship have become irrelevant and indeed
counterproductive. Today they also are moving towards the conception that
whether they agree with certain views or not, it is still better to have
someone alerting them to what they may be doing wrong or what they could be
doing better.

This is a very healthy development in Arab society and we can be proud of
the huge strides taken by our media in stimulating debate, making our
leaders more accountable, and moving our societies forward. In fact, we may
even be showing up the Americans in their own supposed promotion of freedom
and democracy.

Ignatius notes that the courage and growing professionalism of the Arab
media make him "all the more disgusted by recent revelations that [his] own
government has been corrupting the nascent Iraqi free press by planting
stories."

Arab society, along with the Arab media, is maturing rapidly. It is
important that we openly express our gratitude and respect to the outspoken
Arab journalists for the job they are doing and for the crucial role which
they are playing in our society's development.

We must also thank and support foreign journalists like Ignatius for their
valuable contributions to the Western understanding, and indeed our own
understanding, of where the Arab world stands. These are extremely positive
developments, which can only be beneficial to us all.

###
* Hassan Yassin is a Saudi businessman based in Riyadh and former head of
The Saudi Information Office in Washington, D.C.
Source: Arab News, December 13, 2005
Visit the website at www.arabnews.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Open Societies Make Good Muslims
Hera Diani

To be a good Muslim, it is far more virtuous and valuable to be in an open society, instead of living in a closed society where people are forced to follow the dictates of the religion, a prominent Thai Muslim scholar says. Surin Pitsuwan, a former Thai foreign minister, said here on Tuesday that every human being must be responsible for their own conduct and exercise free will.

"In the teachings of the Koran and Hadiths, there is always room for human beings to take charge of their own affairs. This is an issue of accountability, responsibility, participation, as well as individual and collective obligations," he said on the sidelines of a discussion on Islam and democracy in Southeast Asia, which was sponsored by the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP). Democracy, he said, demands that every person is aware of that responsibility, participation and contribution.

"Prophet Muhammad is a model of the perfect human being for every Muslim. We have to try to approximate that by taking our responsibility seriously, which can only be fulfilled in an open society," Surin said.

The aspect of secularism is therefore necessary in this era of modernity and globalisation, he added.

"(But) total separation between religion and state, like what exists in Europe won't work here (in the region). It's not secularism in the sense that you have no consideration for religion, but in the sense that every religion is equal and protected under the law," he said.

In Thailand, Surin said, secularism was a necessity for minorities to play a role in the society.

"For the Muslim minority, it’s not a choice of whether or not there is an Islamic state. Let the majority rule, but let the minority take a role as well. Every society must deal with social deviance, minorities who deviate from the majority."

ICIP chairman Syafii Anwar highlighted in his paper the growing number of Muslim politicians and activists who had changed their responses and shifted strategies concerning the democratic system.

Nonetheless, challenges and problems still exist, as revealed by a Freedom House survey in 2002, as among Muslim countries, only 11 out of 47 states (23 percent) could be grouped as democratic states, with their governments elected democratically.

The survey also showed that there was a "democracy deficit" in certain Muslim states controlled by authoritarian regimes.

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi once confirmed that many governments in Islamic states have manipulated religion as justification for their tyranny and despotism, practicing authoritarianism and condoning human rights violations in the name of Islam and holy struggle.

"Not only is democratisation a must and precondition of a modern and civilised world, but it is in line with the spirit and purposes of sharia, that is to uphold a just society," Syafii said.

With the challenges of radical movements that hamper democracy, Surin said that a long process of education, social transformation and empowerment, as well as leadership was necessary to create an open society.

"Pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) must realise these challenges and transform their mindset and mentality. We can't be too dogmatic or too monopolistic in our approaches. But I think the challenge of globalisation has made the period more compressed, more urgent," said Surin.

He pointed out that, in Indonesia, the two largest Muslim organisations -- Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah -- have already given up the idea of establishing an Islamic state.

###
* Hera Diani is a Jakarta-based journalist.
Source: The Jakarta Post, December 7, 2005
Visit the website at www.thejakaratpost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Western Muslims: Can we talk?
Geneive Abdo

Brussels - The U.S. ambassador to Belgium hosted an extraordinary event here recently, one that exposes the shortcomings of the Bush administration's militarised "war on terrorism." He organised a conference with Muslims to hear about their lives in the West.

Ambassador Tom Korologos and other U.S. officials intervened at times, but mostly they were more like flies on the wall as Muslims from the United States and Europe - activists, journalists and lawyers - discussed their concerns among themselves, talking about Islam and their experiences practicing their religion in Western societies. There were no self-declared "experts" and no interpreters speaking about Islam on behalf of Muslims with whom they have little real contact.

That was the foremost reason that this conference was more effective than most sponsored by branches of the U.S. government, or even by Washington-based research institutes, and why its approach should be used as a model for understanding how Western governments can begin to address the increasing isolation of Muslims living in the West.

But there were others: For one, the conference addressed the underlying reasons for the increasing alienation of Muslims in the United States and in Europe. It asked Muslims to identity why they feel they are targets of discrimination. Is it the media, generally biased against them? Is it their lack of participation in their respective societies?

For another, Muslims from the United States were asked to compare their lives with those of their Belgian co-religionists. Who suffers more from bigotry in the media? Who is targeted more by law enforcement? Is it one's socio-economic background that determines the degree of integration?

Perhaps surprisingly, young American Muslims learned from their Belgian peers that economically the Americans might be better off. Their parents struggled as immigrants, but managed to climb the social ladder, and the immigrants' children are now doctors and lawyers. Some of the Belgians, however, were born to parents who emigrated from Morocco or other Muslim countries for low-paying jobs. One young Moroccan woman explained that her mother, even after years of living in Belgium, is still illiterate. And unlike many Muslim-American participants who grew up in America's suburbs, the Belgians were reared in urban ghettos.

"European Muslims came from more trying backgrounds," said one American Muslim, who is a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a 10-year-old advocacy group based in Washington. "Our parents came from affluent backgrounds. Over 60 percent of American Muslims have an average annual salary of $62,000," he said.

But some said they felt Muslims in America, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, are being ghettoised by mainstream society, despite their lives of relative riches. Why then, they asked, are Muslim Americans treated by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies like terrorist suspects if they are part of middle-class society? "The notion of Islam is better developed and more understood in Europe than in America," said one American Muslim. "The way we are treated is based on ignorance."

Both groups agreed that the media were the key to changing perceptions of them in their respective countries. If the media shape public opinion, and public opinion becomes more favourable toward Islam and Muslims, everything else will follow, they said.

"It is important for us to form Muslim media," said one Muslim American. But he cautioned against preaching to the choir. "But it is more important for us to get involved in the general media."

In order for that to happen, they said, Muslim Americans must encourage their children to become journalists, rather than higher paid doctors and lawyers.

Both groups agreed that living as Muslims in the West requires the formation of a unique Western Islamic identity. What that means is crafting a life that allows for religious expression while fully participating in mainstream society.

How to go about creating this identity is yet to be determined. But in the end, it could be the key to solving the integration problem.

###
* Geneive Abdo, a fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, is completing a book on Muslims in America.
Source: International Herald Tribune, December 7, 2005
Visit the website at www.iht.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 5
Spoilers at the table
Neil Stormer

Washington, DC - The question of how to deal with spoiler groups with large followings is not easily answered. The most extreme opponents seldom make welcome negotiating partners, but without their involvement many settlements collapse.

Nelson Mandela, discussing the difficulty of dealing with spoilers, offered this prescient advice: “You don't make peace by talking to your friends; you have to make peace with your enemies.”

Moderates are more willing to negotiate, but what is implicit in Mandela's words is the need to deal directly with those who are causing trouble, rather than to exclude and subsequently try to marginalise them.

The United States has begun to see the wisdom of Mandela's advice. The insurgency in Iraq is hardly a monolithic force comprised of like-minded extremists seeking to undermine the future of Iraq. It is a patchwork of groups and individuals, each with their own reasons for adopting violence. Recognising the disparate aims within the insurgency, the US and Iraqi governments have begun to pursue a negotiated settlement with one of the largest and most powerful contingents, Sunni nationalists, in the hopes of reducing violence and splitting the insurgency.

This shift in policy represents a new set of tactics that the Bush administration hopes will bring stability to Iraq in the run-up to the Dec. 15 election and beyond. Instead of trying to silence the Sunni groups who would otherwise play the role of spoiler, many have been encouraged to have their grievances heard by participating in the political process and discussions at the negotiation table.

On the other side of Jordan, recent polls suggest that a former spoiler, Hamas, will have significant representation in the Palestinian parliament after the upcoming elections. Israel has voiced opposition to including militant groups in Palestine's parliamentary elections, and the US still considers Hamas a terrorist organisation. Still, Hamas' involvement in the political process is seen by some in the United States as a positive step for peace. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested that Hamas' ability to play the role of spoiler in the future could be curtailed. Rice stated that after the election, and once Hamas has entered the official political process, it will be easier to force them to disarm.

Using force against extremists and insurgents has and will bring increased violence in return and will alienate their constituency. Bringing potential spoilers to the table can bring an end to armed conflict in several ways. It can provide a public, nonviolent venue for discussion of the extremist groups' issues and bring all shareholders to the table — a crucial step if peace is to last. This strategy can also allow the more moderate factions within the group to be co-opted into the peace process, causing a potentially ruinous rift within the extremist group.

Co-optation is a legitimate means to draw the moderates from both the party and the constituency into the peace process and a way to create dissension in extremist factions that could well bring about the demise of such groups.

The danger in excluding a potential spoiler is that it prevents a moderate subgroup within the extremist camp from having its issues addressed in a legitimised arena. This leaves “terrorism” as the only recourse; marginalisation of this sort begets violence, which draws further ire from legitimate political forces.

Allowing extremists to participate in peace negotiations is a risky venture, for it provides them with the ability to sabotage the process from the inside. Their inclusion provides them with a veto over any agreement reached and, seemingly, rewards the spoilers for their violent tactics and encourages others who want to be included to increase the violence.

But as long as spoilers remain aloof and disgruntled by their exclusion from the political process, efforts to maintain a steady peace, foster economic interaction and engender social integration amongst the parties in conflict will fail.

Neither Iraq nor Palestine can afford this outcome; the survival of both depends upon finding an end to their respective protracted conflicts.

Sceptics may say that the risks of including the spoiler parties are too great. They would do well to revisit the experience of Northern Ireland. Having failed to achieve peace after several rounds of negotiation, the major breakthrough in the Northern Ireland conflict came with the acceptance of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the extremist Irish Republican Army, at the negotiation table.

While the IRA's violent history long made dealing with Sinn Fein unpalatable, peace-making efforts advanced because Sinn Fein's support comprised upwards of 20 per cent of the Catholic population. Without the backing of this large constituency, no deal would have succeeded in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. The years of exclusion of the extremist group produced little in the way of transforming the relationship; it was only with their involvement in the peace deal that the groups could begin to work towards a permanent settlement.

There is no guarantee that the experience of Northern Ireland will be repeated in Iraq and Palestine. It is possible that negotiations with Sunni nationalists will not end their involvement in the insurgency. Likewise, some are sceptical that Hamas will reject the use of violence in the pursuit of a viable and just Palestinian state. Accepting spoilers at the table means understanding that there are no givens. But if there is to be an end to the conflicts in Iraq and Palestine, then peace will be made between those who, for now, consider themselves enemies.

###
* Neil Stormer lives in Washington DC, and works in conflict resolution and foreign policy.
Source: Jordan Times, December 7, 2005
Visit the website at www.jordantimes.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. This service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.

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Free Educational Resources for Students and Teachers Exploring More Constructive Approaches to Intractable Social Conflicts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You might be interested in an update on the many free resources currently available from Beyond Intractability.org — the website of the Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project. This system, which focuses on society's most difficult and dangerous conflicts, includes over 3000 pages of material written with the help of more than 250 experts.

While everything is freely available, we are asking users who can afford it to make a small donation to defray the cost of system operation. Now that the Hewlett Foundation (which funded the creation of Beyond Intractability) has withdrawn from the field, we are depending on these small contributions to keep the system operating. More information can be found on our "Guidelines for Using the System" page (marked as 12 on the highlighted home page):
http://www.beyondintractability.org/open-source.jsp

We'd also really appreciate any help you could give us in publicizing the system's availability (by forwarding this e-mail to potentially interested colleagues and students, for example) or sending us suggestions of people and organizations who we should contact.

Hamburg, December 13, 2005

To all interested in the work of the Trauma Research Net,

The TRN-Newsletter´s news-ticker section is updated every three months.
The news-ticker Winter 2005-2006 is now online. To gain access, you are kindly asked to register for the informal membership in our research network.
The news-ticker delivers a continous stream of information about trauma-related research, lectures, events, new websites, working-groups, etc. and keeps you up to date with the latest trauma research briefs online. Since Summer 2004 Newsticker, we've added a new section to call your attention to the latest publications from Trauma Research Net Members. If you have anything about your own publications or general trauma-related news to add, please contact the editor via Cornelia.Berens@his-online.de

Please go to http://www.traumaresearch.net, click on 'newsletter' at the top left and fill in the registration form which opens below of the login-field.
Soon after we´ve received your registration, you will be given a password which allows your access to the complete TRN-Newsletter.

TRN-Newsletter 1 brings VIDEO TESTIMONIES into focus. You will find contributions from Ulrike Jureit, Nathan Durst, Dori Laub, Johanna Bodenstab, Jessica Wiederhorn, Cathy S. Gelbin, Gillian Caldwell und Margarete Schauer.

TRN-Newsletter 2 concentrates on trauma within the limits of literature (and literary studies) and is online since August 22, 2004.
TRAUMATIC HISTORY: SPEAKING THE VOID IN LITERATURE
Geoffrey H. Hartman, Trauma within the limits of literature
Sven Kramer, Talking around trauma: on the relationship between trauma, narration, and catharsis in literature (on Stefan Zweig and Jean Améry)
Anja Lemke, How to speak? Non-semantic representation of the Shoah in the writings of Paul Celan
Birgit R. Erdle, The rhetoric of the void and its ambiguities (on Patrick Modiano´s book "Dora Bruder")
Kay Sulk, Zoé etc. - J.M. Coetzee, Biopolitics and Testimony. Abstract

The newsletter also presents several reviews, a comprehensive book list, conference reports and quite a few articles in its forum section.

TRN-Newsletter 3 with focus on "Traumatic effects of political repression and imprisonment in the former GDR" will come out in spring 2006. The Trauma Research Net´s website is currently being re-designed and will be relaunched together with publication of issue 3 of the Newsletter on the web.

TRN-Newsletter 4 dealing with research on trauma, victimology, and restorative justice is in preparation for fall 2006.
Shortly before Christmas or at the latest on January 8, 2006, will also be releasing previously unpublished texts from a 2004 forum organized as part of the scholarship program of the Heinrich Boell Foundation. These four papers on the notion of trauma in psychology and cultural studies were presented last year and are now ready for publication. The texts will be available in German with English abstracts. In a departure from the procedures otherwise adhered to by the Trauma Research Net, we have agreed in this case to make the complete papers available to all internet users without restriction.

Last, but not least, Iet me remind you of our Call for Papers for the 3rd International Trauma Research Net which can be found at
URL http://www.traumaresearch.net/remarks/fr_conf_stigma.htm

Best wishes from Hamburg,
Cornelia Berens

Trauma Research Net (International Network for Interdisciplinary Research about the Impact of Traumatic Experience on the Life of Individuals and Society)
Cornelia Berens, M.A.
Hamburger Institut fuer Sozialforschung
Hamburg Institute for Social Research
Mittelweg 36, D-20148 Hamburg

Office hours: Mon, Tue, Wed 10a.m.-1p.m., 2p.m.-7p.m. & by appointment
Tel. (+49 40) 41 40 97 - 38, Fax. - 501 (or - 11)
URL http://www.traumaresearch.net (CfP for 3rd TRN-Conference 2006 now online)
URL http://www.his-online.de (German and English)

Email Cornelia.Berens @ his-online.de

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

wie bereits vor einigen Tagen angekündigt, lädt AfricAvenir auch am vierten Advent,
- Sonntag, den 18.12.2005 um 17.00 Uhr – zu einer Veranstaltung im Rahmen von „African Perspectives“ ein. Wir freuen uns, Sie zu unserer dritten szenischen Lesung in der Galerie der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung begrüßen zu dürfen, es werden Auszüge aus dem Theaterstück „The Island“ von Winston Ntshona, John Kani und Athol Fugard dargeboten. Die beiden zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilten politischen Gefangenen John und Winston kämpfen auf Robben Island tagtäglich um mentale und emotionale Unversehrtheit. Ihr Kampf für die politische wie moralische Legitimation des Widerstandes gegen das Apartheidregime manifestiert sich in dem Einproben der griechischen Tragödie „Antigone“ für einen Theaterabend.

Die Veranstaltung findet in Kooperation mit dem Schauspiel-Ensemble abok und der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung und mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit bei der Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Frauen statt.

Schauspieler: Errol Harewood, Michael Ojake; Regie: Philippa Ebéné

Am: Sonntag, den 18. Dezember 2005
Beginn: 17.00 Uhr
Ort: Galerie der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Eintitt: 3 Euro

Ausblick 2006:

Am Mittwoch, den 11. Januar 2006 um 19.30 Uhr dürfen wir Sie zum ersten Dialogforum einladen. Benny N Nonyane vom panafrikanischen und südafrikanischen Parlament wird über "Challenges of the Pan African Parliament" vortragen (Ort wird rechtzeitig bekannt gegeben).

Am Sonntag, den 29.01.2006 werden wir Ihnen dann innerhalb unserer Reihe „African Perspectives“ mit der Filmvorführung von „Little Senegal“ ein weiteres Highlight bieten. Die Veranstaltung findet wieder im Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe um 17.15 Uhr statt, weitere Informationen werden wir Ihnen aber wie immer rechtzeitig über unseren Newsletter mitteilen.

AfricAvenir möchte sich bei allen Freunden und Interessenten für die Teilnahme an unseren Veranstaltungen, das Interesse und die Unterstützung unserer Organisation in den vergangenen Monaten sehr herzlich bedanken. Wir wünschen Ihnen erholsame und fröhliche Weihnachtsfeiertage und anschließend einen guten Rutsch ins Jahr 2006, zu dem wir Sie hoffentlich wieder bei möglichst vielen neuen Terminen begrüßen dürfen.

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

Dear Friends! Please see a message from Katie Roche further down!

Dear All

I am writing to let you know that the Diasporas, Migration and Identities Programme website is now live and can be found at www.diasporas.ac.uk.

The website is fully functional but is not complete as various project details etc have still to be added, and this will be an ongoing process.

I hope you will find it useful.

Katie Roche
AHRC Programme Administrator
Diasporas, Migration and Identities
Address: Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds LS2 9JT
Tel: +44 113 3437838
Fax: +44 113 3433654
email: k.a.roche@leeds.ac.uk
http://www.diasporas.ac.uk

Poem-plea by Francisco Gomes de Matos in the ET - COMMUNITY NEWS:

By Francisco Gomes de Matos
an EFL educator and applied peace linguist from Recife
fcgm@hotlink.com.br
December 13 2005

During the mid-forties they challenged you to write textbooks
The first applications of Linguistics then took place
You gave LT materials linguistically "good looks"
Then other problems you creatively had to face
Language, Culture, and Society you are asked to relate
Learners´ errors you contrastively work to systematize
Language, Mind, and Brain you boldly seek to integrate
Language Policy and Planning you also want to prioritize
Language users everywhere you can inspire
On how communicative problems to solve
See yourselves as professionals of a new kind
By doing Applied Linguistics with a deep resolve
Among the emerging areas in your macro domain
Deserving a place in your interdisciplinary sun
Peace Linguistics help sow, develop and sustain
Please bring Communicative Peace to everyone!

Call for Papers: The Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict

The Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict seeks contributions to a special issue on « dealing with past crimes ». Indeed, 2005 marked several tragic anniversaries, among others:

- 60 years ago: end of the second world war, Hiroshima, Dresden, etc.

- 30 years ago: Pol Pot takes power in Cambodia

- 10 years ago: massacre in Srebrenica and negotiations of the Dayton accord.

It also showed that the past may reemerge: the attacks on the Japanese embassy and consulates in China, the loss of immunity for several former heads of states and members of government in Latin America, the opening of the commemoration building to the victims of WWII in Berlin, etc.

In particular, the editors are looking for articles, case-studies and speeches focusing on:

- The different methods to deal with past crimes;

- Crimes committed by the allied forces during the second world war;

- Japan, the second world war and the Asian continent;

- Srebrenica;

- Cambodia;

- The end of impunity in Latin America.

Deadline for the submission is 1 May 2006. Contributions should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words and follow the attached instructions for authors. The JILPAC only accepts articles in German or English.

Please contact
Noelle Quénivet
noelle.quenivet@rub.de

Daphne II Programme to Combat Violence Against Children, Young People and Women.

Update: December 2005

What's New?
The 2006 call for proposals is open. The deadline for submission of the proposals is 10 February 2006. The documents related to the call for proposals, as well as the guidelines, are available in 20 languages in the right hand menu of this page. In this same menu, you find other useful information to prepare your project proposals, including a link to the Daphne toolkit (a website with information on past Daphne projects, their results and impacts), instructions on how to use the Daphne helpdesk (PDF file 116 KB) (daphne-helpdesk@transtec.be) and an updated FAQ file. We are regularly updating this website so please consult it frequently.

Daphne now has its own logo!

The Commission has created a logo for the Daphne Programme to allow organizations running Daphne projects to identify their participation in the programme, and users across Europe and beyond to recognize publications, audio-visual materials and other output as originating in the Daphne experience. This distinctive logo will be used by the Daphne Programme and those participating in it to identify projects and products supported by Daphne. You will find an explanatory statement of the logo (in all EU languages), as well as technical specifications for its use (in English, French and German) in the right hand menu.

New publication: The Daphne Experience 1997-2003 – Europe against violence towards children and women. Based on an external evaluation report presented in 2004 analysing and summarising the activities carried out by the Daphne Programme, the Commission has published a broschure which extracts the main findings of this evaluation and also gives the Daphne history, background information on violence and information on the achievements and outputs from Daphne funded projects up to 2003. The broschure is available on-line in all EU languages in the right hand menu.

Call 2005: The proposals received under the 2005 calls for proposals have been evaluated and the applicants have been informed in writing about the result. If you have not received this letter, please contact the Daphne Helpdesk.

What is the Daphne II Programme?
The Daphne II programme runs from 2004 until 2008 with a budget of EUR 50 million. It aims at supporting organisations that develop measures and actions to prevent or to combat all types of violence against children, young people and women and to protect the victims and groups at-risk.

The need for concerted worldwide action to defend human rights and to eliminate violence has long been recognised at different levels and in different ways.

Several measures have been taken along these lines, such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the platform for action of the 1995 Beijing Conference, and the 1996 Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action at the first World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.

At the second World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, in Yokohama in December 2001, the Daphne programme implemented by the European Commission was acknowledged as a very useful tool.

Why a European programme to prevent violence against women and children?
The Daphne II programme runs from May 2004 to 31 December 2008. It is complementary to programmes that exist in the Member States of the European Union, especially in the way it focuses on the exchange of good practices about violence across the Union.

Daphne represents the starting point of NGOs and voluntary organisations cooperation at EU-level in the fight against violence towards children, young people and women. It encourages NGOs to set up or reinforce European networks and helps them implement innovative projects, the results of which can be disseminated to other Member States and regions.

In many cases, these organisations offer services which the public authorities do not have the power or the ability to provide. Society will only benefit from the expertise and experience of the NGOs if their ideas and programmes are disseminated throughout the European Community and shared with like-minded organisations in other Member States.

What are the characteristics of the Daphne II programme?
The Daphne II programme closely follows the lines of the first programme, and covers the same areas of violence in favour of the same beneficiaries and supports similar activities: networking of organisations, exchange of good practices and awareness raising actions.

However, Daphne II proposes a number of improvements with a view to enhancing the impact of the programme :

The budget is EUR 50 Million for the period 2004-2008. This increased budget allows facing both the consequences of enlargement to 10 new countries and the large demand from organisations. The annual budgets will be EUR 8.3 Million in 2004, 10.2 in 2005 and 10.5 for each of the next three years.

The activities that can be supported (with the Call I for specific projects) are:

-identification and exchanges of good practice and work experience with a view in particular to implementing preventive measures and assistance to victims;
-mapping surveys, studies and research;
-field work with the involvement of the beneficiaries in all phases of project -design, implementation and evaluation;
-creation of sustainable multidisciplinary networks;
-training and design of educational packages;
-development and implementation of treatment programmes and support for victims and people at risk, as well as for perpetrators;
-development and implementation of awareness-raising activities targeted to specific audiences;

From the total budget of EUR 50 Million, the Commission will use 15% at its own initiative to improve the programme’s impact and to play a more proactive rule with a view to the dissemination of good practices. Activities to be covered are threefold. First, to develop indicators on violence, so that the extent of a number of violence phenomena can be quantified. A second axis is to extract and deduce policy issues, wherever possible, from the work achieved by funded projects, with the aim of suggesting common policies on violence at Community level and reinforcing judicial practice. Finally, the third axis aims to disseminate, on a Europe-wide scale, good practices stemming from funded projects. These activities will be supported with the Call II for transfer and adaptation of results and by calls for tenders.

Finally, the Commission established a help-desk to assist non-governmental organisations especially those participating for the first time, to elaborate their projects, to liaise with other partners, to report to the Commission and to use and benefit from the Daphne acquis.

How does Daphne work in practice?
Following the publication of a call for proposals on the present website, proposals may be submitted by a partnership that must include at least two organisations from two different Member States and propose a work that corresponds to one of the above seven activities or to the priorities of the year. Projects of a sufficient quality may be co-funded by the Commission up to 80% of the total cost of the project. Further details on these elements are available in the annual plan of work for the current year.

Who can apply?
The Daphne II programme shall be open to participation by public or non-profit making private organisations and institutions (local authorities at the competent level, university departments and research centres) working to prevent and to combat violence against children, young people and women or to protect against such violence or to provide support for victims or to implement targeted actions to promote rejection of such violence or to encourage attitude and behaviour change towards vulnerable groups and victims of violence.

Organisations from the 25 Member States are fully eligible to participate, as well as those from the EFTA/EEA countries, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the EEA Agreement and to organisations from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. For these last three countries, a specific agreement must be first signed between the country and the Union before their organisations can be funded. However, the participation of these organisations without a funding from the European Commission is allowed.

What is the European Commissions role in the Daphne programme?
To implement Daphne, the European Commission is assisted by an advisory committee consisting of representatives of each Member State and chaired by the Commission. The European Commission's role is also to implement, monitor and evaluate Daphne II and its projects. In 2002, it presented a mid-term report to the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers on the first two years of implementation. In 2004, the Commission issued a final evaluation of the programme where its mechanisms, relevance, effectiveness and efficiency were analysed.

How much money has been set aside for Daphne?
The total budget for the Daphne programme is set at EUR 50 million.

Achievements to date
Since 1997, Daphne funded 303 projects, of which full details can be found on the DVD Daphne-toolkit and on the corresponding website.

Exhaustive studies have been carried out by way of monitoring and interviews of all the projects of a given year. Synthesis reports giving an appraisal of the results and impacts achieved so far were issued each year.

These studies, together with the constant monitoring and evaluation of the projects enables the Commission to present illustrative cases on particularly interesting projects (be it in terms of content, management, results or impacts on beneficiaries). Furthermore, in order to disseminate wider the available information and good practice, a booklet and CD-ROM, entitled "Europe against violence: messages and materials from Daphne", was published. It compiles messages and materials produced by awareness-raising campaigns funded under Daphne. All this material is free of rights and can be used European-wide. Tips and advice for translation and use are also included. By the beginning of 2005, a DVD will be available, that includes all the outputs of all the projects achieved so far.

How to apply this year?
From 2004 onwards, Daphne II will publish two calls for proposals every year around November with a deadline around mid-February or March of the following year.

The first one (Call I) follows closely the lines of the calls undertaken under Daphne I. It aims at selecting high quality projects that will be co-funded by the European Commission. Proposals made under this call must cover one of the specific objectives and priorities listed in the text of the call.

The second one (Call II) intends to select high quality projects aiming at the dissemination and the use of existing results. The goal of this call is to disseminate as largely as possible the existing good practices. It seeks at raising the level of prevention and protection from violence across the Union. This call intends to select high quality projects aiming at :

-direct application, use or dissemination of existing good practices (developed under Daphne or elsewhere);
-developing indicators on violence and related data collection;
-synthesis reports and extraction of policy issues from the work achieved by the Daphne funded projects.

Organisations wishing to apply for funding under one of these calls, must use the provided forms (here on the right hand column) and make sure they supply all necessary documents as explained in the text of the calls for proposals. It should be emphasised that all documents will be available in all 20 official languages, gradually.

HumanityQuest.com:

Please see humiliation Resources Website contains; quotations, definitions, etymology, stories, discussions, cartoons, art and more about humiliation.

The Practice of Peace: A Program for Peacemakers
New York City
January 15-18, 2006

Overview:

In a world splintered by deep and destructive divisions the search for wholeness, health, and harmony - Peace - approaches desperation. Deep fissures have appeared across the mosaic of humanity, and while the press may fixate on the larger divisions between nations, religions, and cultures, the story elsewhere is no less troublesome. Families, communities, businesses and organizations of all sorts and sizes display the destructive pathology of fragmentation, disease, and discord.
Our efforts in search of peace, although well intentioned and energetically pursued, appear destined to the fate of Sisyphus who was condemned to roll a boulder up a steep hill, only to have it roll back over him as he reached the top. It is not for lack of trying, but the Peace we seek always seems beyond our grasp.
Perhaps we are working too hard in the pursuit of something that will arrive all by itself, given sufficient space and time? Fond hope? Dangerous delusion? Outrageous possibility? Or – a workable reality requiring only that we give up our eternal (and illusory) quest for control?
Based upon the serendipitous and remarkable discovery of over twenty years’ experience with Open Space Technology (see http://openspaceworld.com/), the outrageous possibility comes tantalizingly close to being an established fact. Through thousands of applications in more than 100 countries, groups of all sorts and sizes (over to 2000 people) have discovered that hugely complex and conflicted issues can be dealt with productively in an environment of respect, hope, trust – and even a degree of intimacy and affection amongst prior sworn enemies. Even more remarkably, all of this occurs without prior training in conflict resolution or the intervention of an army of facilitators and mediators. Observably, it seems to happen all by itself. The people do it themselves with minimal to no assistance. Some have called it magic.
It has become apparent that the “magic” in this situation has virtually nothing to do with the technique of Open Space. It has everything to do with the fundamental power of self-organization that underlies Open Space, as indeed everything else. If we are to believe the growing conviction of the scientific community, it is the power of self-organization that accounts for the organization of the Cosmos and all its creatures, great and small. In a word, it is nothing new. In fact it has been there from the very beginning at the moment of The Big Bang, and ever since for the past 14,000,000,000 years.
In this program we will experience and learn to apply the powers of this age old force in our search for Peace. It would not be inaccurate to say that the elemental tools for effective peacemaking are already in our hands. We need only to use them.

The Program

The program will take place over 3-4 days. The first day will focus on fundamentals –specifics of conducting an Open Space event, including core principles, the planning process, when to use Open Space, role and behavior of the facilitator, and action approaches.
Each of the next three days will begin with a brief presentation by Harrison Owen designed to stir the pot and get things moving. This will be followed by a full day in Open Space, where the real work will be done as all participants share their questions, insights and inspirations, building their own Practice of Peace.

The focus for each day is as follows:

Peace and Peacemaking in Pieces - Peace considered and defined along with a sympathetic, though critical look at our present activities of Peacemaking. Conclusion: We’ll never get there going the way we are going.
Muddling Through - A brief consideration of the remarkable fact that after 14 billion years and multiple disasters we are all still here to complain about how badly things are going. All of which is to say that things have been working rather well under the circumstances, at least sufficiently well to enable countless generations to come to fruition and pass their wisdom and skills on to the succeeding generations.
Simple Question - How come? Proposed answer - Self-Organization rules! And if we can only learn to leverage the power that has brought us this far, we might make it all the way! It could also be that engaging in an effective Practice of Peace is less about doing something new and different - but rather simply doing consciously and intentionally what we have been doing all the time.
The Practice of Peace - The heart of the matter with the description of a Practice of Peace that has worked for many and will work for you. Peace begins at home with self.

Who Should Come?

If you live on a planet, reside in a nation, domicile in a community or work in an organization where fragmentation, dis-ease, and discord have reached levels toxic to your soul and you want to do something about it, this program is for you. Peace and peacemaking is often thought to be the special preserve of diplomats and professional negotiators, but Peace is too important to leave to the professionals. It is everybody’s business. Furthermore, when we have to call in the professionals, that is clear and certain evidence that we (all of us) have not been doing our job. Peacemaking is an everywhere, everyday, everyperson job.

Note: Although Open Space Technology and the global experience with Open Space are very central to this program, this is not (strictly speaking) an Open Space training program. Nor is prior experience with Open Space as participant or a facilitator an essential prerequisite – however, it will definitely help. If you are new to Open Space you will find it very useful to have read or at least skimmed, Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide (Harrison Owen / Berrett Koehler – available at www.amazon.com) or read
The Practice of Peace (Harrison Owen / Human Systems Dynamics Institute available at sales@openspaceworld.org).

If you are interested in the facilitation of Open Space Technology, the first day of the program is essential, as well as having read two of Harrison’s books (Berrett Koehler) – Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide and Expanding Our Now: An Introduction to Open Space (available at www.amazon.com).
In addition, we encourage you to have practiced facilitating an Open Space gathering.

Tuition:
Corporate Nonprofit/individual
Jan. 15-18 (4 days) $1000 $750
Jan. 16-18 (3 days) 750 550
Jan. 18 (1 day) 250 150
Fees include materials, lunches and snacks.

Space limited. A 20% discount if full payment received by 12/14/05.
Non-refundable cancellations fee $100.

Your Hosts:

Harrison Owen
Harrison is President of H.H.Owen and Co. His academic background and training centered on the nature and function of myth, ritual and culture. In the middle '60s, he left academe to work with a variety of organizations including small West African villages, urban (American and African) community organizations, Peace Corps, Regional Medical Programs, National Institutes of Health, and Veterans Administration. Along the way he discovered that his study of myth, ritual and culture had direct application to these social systems. In 1979 he created H.H.Owen and Company in order to explore the culture of organizations in transformation as a theorist and practicing consultant. Harrison convened the First International Symposium on Organization Transformation, and is the originator of Open Space Technology. He is the author of Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations, Leadership Is, Riding the Tiger, Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide, The Millennium Organization, Tales From Open Space, Expanding Our Now: The Story of Open Space Technology, The Spirit of Leadership, The Power of Spirit: How Organizations Transform and The Practice of Peace.

Karen J. Davis
Karen, a consultant with organizations globally for over thirty years, is committed to enhancing the health, effectiveness, and joy of human systems. She is dedicated to building global community by working and learning with colleagues throughout the world. Karen is on the faculty of the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago de Chile and is co-founder of its graduate program in Organizational Behavior and Development. She has been part of the leadership of the Organization Development Network, the International Organization Development Association and the Latin American Organization Development Association. Karen serves on the board of a large healthcare organization as well as on the boards of various community and cultural organizations. She has been involved with Open Space since before its naming. When not traveling or working around the world, she lives in New York City, returning regularly to her native Arizona. Summers, she is on her farm in Quebec, Canada. Karen describes herself as a gardener and a world citizen.
(Note: A sliding fee scale is available by request. Our desire is to include all who wish to participate. If your budget does not fit the stated fees, please contact Karen at 1-212-595-9107 or kdavis@concentric.net.)

Ralph Copleman
Ralph is a sustainability activist, poet, frequent open space facilitator, and veteran management consultant. Ralph serves a range of nonprofit organizations, corporations and communities. His consultations focus on helping people and institutions align plans and operations with chosen ideals. In this vein, he has served Russian entrepreneurs, Iraqi Kurdish political parties, corporate executives, and entire communities in American locales as diverse as Michigan, New Jersey, and South Carolina. In 1997 he served as a lead facilitator at the national Volunteer Summit organized by Colin Powell and co-sponsored by President Bill Clinton and all the living former presidents to that date. In 2001, he created the Earth Center in the Delaware Watershed, a nonprofit aimed at transforming the relationship between humans, their institutions and the Earth. Ralph is the author of The Talk Among Stones, a collection of poems. When not consulting, opening space or writing, he can usually be found on a bicycle. He lives in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Registration

Any questions? Contact Karen at 1-212-595-9107 or kdavis@concentric net

Dear Friend!

Please consider the following message concerning The Discovery Program, an exciting opportunity:

We are searching for 18 exceptional young people (nine Muslims & nine Jews) from eighteen different countries between the ages of 16-18 to participate in an historic project. Together, they will create an unprecedented Muslim-Jewish Relations Guidebook to Mutual Discovery.
It will be distributed to Jewish and Muslim communities all over the world at the end of 2006.

We need your help to get this information/application into the hands of the 16-18 year-olds in your communities. Applications are due no later than January 20th.

Applicants must be:
- highly motivated
- prepared to engage with the project via the Internet on a daily basis for four months
- feel comfortable communicating in basic written English with other mostly non-native speakers
- have access to a camera and a willingness to explore their religious community through photography
- knowledgable about their own religious tradition and comfortable serving as a peer educator to those from the other community
- willing to serve as an ambassador for Muslim-Jewish relations both in their own community and abroad

Please be in touch with us directly if you have any questions and thank you for forwarding this email to the right people.

Sincerely,
Eli Epstein, Chairman
Gul Rukh Rahman, Co-Executive Director
Ari Alexander, Co-Executive Director
Houda Abadi, Director of Education
Irfan Syed, Director of Development

Discovery Program:

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the World"
Nelson Mandela

The Discovery Program is an intensive four-month online seminar that is
designed to act as an educational gateway in bringing together Muslim
and Jewish youth to examine their current, as well as prospective
relations. Youth from all over the world are encouraged to engage in
thought-provoking discussions that tackle themes related to religion,
political debates, and the Arab-Israeli conflict and its effect on
Muslim-Jewish relations. The program also provides an open forum to
critically analyze the different forms of media and their impact on
these two communities. The Discovery Program creates new opportunities
and possibilities to learn about the 'other' by providing young Muslims
and Jews with a platform to understand one another, to appreciate their
respective culture and tradition, as well as to explore the similarities
in beliefs and practices.

Along the lines of the notion that "a picture is worth a thousand
words", the participants also discover their shared spiritual values
through photography and thought provoking discussions. Each group of the
discovery program consists of eighteen students, 9 Muslims and 9 Jews,
who are selected from Jewish and Muslim communities from all over the
world to take pictures of Muslim and Jewish religious themes, symbols,
rituals and events. These photos serve as powerful and spiritual visual
tools that both challenge and prompt the students to explore and reflect
on many issues that are considered 'taboo'. At the end of this
educational journey, the students work together to publish a photo essay
that serves as an educational tool for use in Muslim and Jewish schools
and communities around the world. This photo essay is a combination of
photos and essays compiled by the participants in order for them to
share their discoveries, insights and realizations with other Jews and
Muslims locally and globally.
The main goals of this four month long seminar are to:

1. Become leaders in Jewish and Muslim youth dialogue
2. Discover common theological and cultural beliefs and practices
3. Foster interaction between Muslim and Jewish teenagers around the world, with the aim of restoring a culture of respect based on knowledge and understanding
4. Become pioneers in the exploration of Jewish and Muslim traditions and breaking down the walls of mistrust, hate, and rivalry
5. Build creative and practical skills for peace-building and open dialogue between the two communities.

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Le programme Discovery est une confrence intensive en ligne de quatre
mois. Discovery se prsente comme une plateforme ducative destine aux
jeunes musulmans et juifs en les rassemblant pour examiner leur courant
et tisser des relations entre eux.

Les jeunes du monde entier sont ainsi encourags a engager des
discussions provocantes sur des themes comme la religion, le dbat
politique et le conflit arabo-isralien et ses effets sur les relations
entre juifs et musulmans. Le programme est galement un forum ouvert pour
accueillir des analyses critiques sur les diffrentes formes des mdias et
leurs impacts sur les deux communauts. Discovery est donc un programme
qui cre des opportunits et possibilits pour apprendre et connatre
l'autre dans un dbat bas sur la comprhension des cultures et des
traditions rciproques et permet d'explorer les ressemblances entre les
deux communauts.

A travers la notion de une image vaut plus de mille mots , les
participants dcouvrent galement leurs valeurs spirituelles partages par
la photographie et les discussions provocantes et les penses. Chaque
groupe du programme se compose de dix-huit tudiants, 9 musulmans et de 9
juifs, qui sont choisis au sein mme des deux communauts a travers le
monde. Ils sont invits a prendre des photos sur les thmatiques juives et
musulmanes, les symboles, les rituels et les ftes. Ces photos servent
d'outils visuels puissants et spirituels que les deux groupes peuvent
explorer et rflchir sur beaucoup de sujets considrs comme tabou. la fin
de ce travail, les deux groupes choisissent les photos qui seront
regroups dans un recueil et serviront comme un outil ducatif dans les
coles musulmanes et juives a travers le monde. Cet essai de photos porte
la signature de tous les participants par la prsence de leurs photos
respectives et par les compilations qu'ils ont choisi a partir de
thmatiques locales ou globales.

Les objectifs de ces quatre mois de sminaires sont :

1. devenir le leader dans le dialogue entre jeunes juifs et musulman
2. Dcouvrir les courants thologiques et culturels et les pratiques des deux communauts
3. Favoriser une interaction entre jeunes musulmans et juifs dans le monde en instaurant une culture de respect base sur la connaissance
et la comprhension de chacun.
4. Devenir le pionnier dans l'exploration des traditions juives et musulmanes et briser le mur de la mfiance, la haine et la rivalit
5. Construire une plateforme crative et pratique pour installer la paix et le dialogue entre les deux communauts.
-----------------------------

APPLICATION FORM

Please email your completed application to houda@children-of-abraham.org
OR fax it to (+1) 718-237-8765 no later than Jan. 20.

***The Actual Discovery Program starts on February 6th 2006. ***

Our postal address is
25 Washington Street
4th Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11201
United States

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
December 6, 2005

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, all copyright permissions have been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and CGNews, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. “Speak and Act Before It Is Too Late: Let Go of CPT Peace Workers in Iraq!” by Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Associate Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University’s School of International Service, Mohammed Abu-Nimer, points to the works of contemporary and historical Islamic scholars to denounce the “sacredness” of terrorist acts such as the recent kidnapping of Christian Peacemaking Team members in Iraq. He warns that “the massive and influential Muslim and Arab public voice is resounding in its silence” and it is clearly “the only force that can delegitimise such acts and marginalise the groups committing them.”
(Source: CGNews-PiH, December 6, 2005)

2. “Interfaith Dialogue: The Overlooked Objectives” by Mohamed Mosaad
Mohamed Mosaad, an Egyptian psychiatrist, anthropologist, and freelance writer, discusses the dissonance between liberal bourgeois interfaith dialogue and the “conflicting masses” who are either uninterested or not invited to the table. To overcome this gap, he urges scholars to “create and develop an authentic discourse of peace and understanding” and religious communities “to get directly involved in dialogue and peace-building.”
(Source: CGNews, December 3, 2005)

3. The globalisation of Islamic Relief
Ehsan Masood, project director of the Gateway Trust, looks at the growth and international impact of one of several non-government organisations with its origins in Islam. What is interesting, he points out, is “the “Muslim” in Muslim Aid is the same as the “Christian” in Christian Aid: the charity’s recipients do not have to be Muslim, or religious at all, to be eligible for assistance.” Although they will face challenges as a result of their modernisation and international expansion, they represent the potential for other organizations to start thinking “bigger” as well.
(Source: www.openDemocracy.net, November 29, 2005)

4. Who is the 'moderate Muslim'?
Abukar Arman, a freelance writer and a council member of the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio, considers the argument that "moderate Muslims” are the "only legitimate defense against Islamic extremism." Without disputing the need for a “moderate” voice, he uses controversial examples to demonstrate that America’s “moderate Muslim” may not be the Middle East’s “moderate Muslim”. Arman warns that “if the goal is to defeat extremism in the marketplace of ideas, both Muslims, whose religion has been eclipsed by terrorists, and the United States, whose foreign policy has been highjacked by ideologues, ought to find genuine Muslim moderates to support.”
(Source: International Herald Tribune, November 11, 2005)

5. “Faithful build bridges with books” by Jane Lampman
"In light of what's going on in the world, it just wasn't acceptable for me to be ignorant of Islam. It's not acceptable for Muslims to have little idea of what Jews are about. Or for Christians, either." Staff writer at the Christian Science Monitor, Jane Lampman, describes how an interfaith book club has strengthened the faith of its members, as well as the friendships they have developed with each other.
(Source: The Christian Science Monitor, November 30, 2005)

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ARTICLE 1
Speak and Act Before It Is Too Late: Let Go of CPT Peace Workers in Iraq!
Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Washington, DC - The November 27th kidnapping of four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)—Tom Fox (54), of the United States, Norman Kember (74) of Great Britain, and James Lonely (41) and Hameet Singh Sooden (32) of Canada—who were working in Iraq in solidarity with the Iraqi people is another sad reminder of the danger facing the Muslim and Arab world if we continue to tolerate those “elements” or forces of darkness who operate from within.

As a Muslim, scholar of Islam, and practitioner of conflict resolution and inter-cultural dialogue, I find one of the most appalling and frightening aspects of the recent kidnapping the fact that such acts have become an accepted operating principle for so-called “resistance groups” in Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim and Arab world. Attacking and terrorizing civilians, human rights advocates, relief workers, and peace advocates has never been an Islamic way of resisting occupation or fighting oppression.

In the past decade, many books, articles, and studies have been published by Muslims and non-Muslims that systematically explain and document that foundational Islamic teachings have never prescribed such blind, shameful, and undignified ways of fighting injustice. Scholars have tried to remind Muslims and non-Muslims alike that the primary message, strategies, and values of Islam have been based on peace, achieving justice through nonviolent means, and the extremely limited use of force. Especially in the period of Islam’s early formation, Muslim religious thinkers –Faqih and Imams—spent centuries defining the strict conditions under which force can be used, hoping that their effort would restrict and reduce violence.

Recent Muslim scholars as well as peace and justice activists have sought to revive such work, including: Iqbal Ahmed, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Jawdat Said, Sathan Anand, Khalis Jalabi, Abdul Aziz Said, Khalid Kishtainy, etc. These writings offer systematic interpretations based on authentic Quranic and Hadith sources, and the authors’ analysis and attention to textual nuance leaves no doubt that there is no religious justification within Islam for brutal and ruthless actions like beheading, randomly attacking Mosques, or terrorizing civilians of any nationality.

Offering cultural and religious bases for and interpretations of peace and nonviolent resistance, writing academic books, and conducting international conferences has proven to be a limited strategy in confronting this “evil force” in the Muslim and Arab world. These peaceful and academic gatherings are often aimed at the Western public and policy makers, to convince them that Islam is a religion of peace and is founded on the principles of pluralism and democracy.

Although this work is important and can possibly contribute to a reduction in prejudice and negative stereotypes directed at Muslims in Western public opinion, it seems to be based in the assumption that changing US and European foreign policy towards Muslim and Arab countries is the proper first step in confronting “evil” Muslim forces in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Algeria. I think that this belief is an illusion, another way to cover our heads and escape the responsibility of looking inside the Muslim house. The real battle continues to remain in the Arab and Muslim homes and streets. A second tragedy highlighted by this kidnapping is that those Muslims and Arabs who are fighting the battle at home lack international and regional support and face constant oppression by internal political regimes and other parties in their societies.

Without the empowerment of such individuals and groups to organize, it is hard to realistically hope for success in blocking terrorism in the Muslim world.

What needs to be done?

The massive and influential Muslim and Arab public voice is resounding in its silence on these matters, even though it is the only force that can delegitimize such acts and marginalize the groups committing them. Despite all of its sophisticated weaponry, the American army cannot “flush” these elements out of society. They might be able to kill many of them and chase others away to underground caves and hideouts. However, they will eventually come back and renew their operations in different ways and under different covers. Unfortunately, many in the American public have not yet reached such a realization, and continue to ignore other alternatives of dealing with the problem.

Why doesn’t the Muslim and Arab public speak loudly against such terrorist actions?

First, terrorist groups adopting such methods have taken advantage of the public sentiment that the primary goals and practices of Western governments are aimed at exploiting Muslim and Arab national resources and at promoting Western hegemonic power over Muslim and Arab society and culture. Second, most Arab and Muslim regimes receive military and security support from the US and European countries despite oppressive internal policies that deprive opposition groups of meaningful political space. Such regimes constantly violate human rights and are mainly occupied with accumulating individual wealth or elite dominance. Third, many in the Arab and Muslim world live in fear because of state security apparatuses, which have been the main tool for governing throughout the post-colonial era rather than legislative bodies or publicly elected officials. Indeed, prisons are filled with thousands of political prisoners who dared to speak against the regimes. Fourth, economic underdevelopment and deprivation found within many Muslim and Arab societies has reached a level of desperation and hopelessness that it can be mobilized into support for acts providing temporary relief, venting of frustration, anger, or desire for revenge, especially those acts which are framed in terms of resistance to oppression. This process displaces blame and responsibility for the current crisis in Muslim and Arab societies onto colonial, foreign, and Western [Christian] powers, and becomes the easiest outlet for escaping individual and collective responsibility and best rationale for complacency.

We Arabs and Muslims who oppose these individuals and groups (al Qaeda, Zarqawi,etc.) can not rely on foreign forces and agents to clean our societies of terrorist forces for us. Arabs and Muslims must take to the streets and mobilize all of our social, cultural, and political institutions to fight these groups and their messages of hatred, exclusion, and blindness. When all those who oppose such actions and strategies- teachers, pharmacists, journalists, imams, housewives, and shopkeepers- claim the public space, the credibility and legitimacy of such ideology and terrorism will become a religious, cultural, and political taboo.

Each and every Muslim and Arab is responsible for the kidnapping of the four peace workers who came to express their solidarity with and help the Iraqi people. Regardless of the reasons for silence for Muslims and Arabs around the world to not massively move and speak out against these actions should be considered a silent crime against our own future generations; it is internally destructive. Such groups or individuals, motivated by hate and intolerance, do not stop with kidnapping foreigners; on the contrary, they are capable of attacking their own people in mosques, restaurants, weddings, and schools. There is no “Haram” or sacredness in their view of the world, and their level of “ignorance” will not stop them from harming anyone in their society who thinks or feels differently from them.

To delegitimize such horrendous actions, we all have to talk, stand, and act to our full capacity and using all available social and cultural space. The Jordanian public reaction to the terrorist bombings was a promising glimpse of what can be done, as was the Lebanese response to the assassination of Hariri. Thousands of people went to the streets and many nongovernmental groups and associations spoke against the crime committed.

Speak and act now before it is too late!

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*Mohammed Abu-Nimer is an Associate Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University’s School of International Service in Washington, DC, and is the Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute
Source: CGNews-PiH, December 6, 2005
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Interfaith Dialogue: The Overlooked Objectives
Mohamed Mosaad

Cairo - Dialogue is the first step to peacefully end conflicts; interfaith dialogue is its religious version with one of its objectives being to end religiously motivated conflicts. This promising approach is anything but unusual. Many regional and global interfaith meetings are held, and attended by high-ranking religious scholars. To counter the vehement exchange of theological arguments among the masses, these scholars have issued statement after statement emphasizing the message of love and peace which naturally exists in all religions of the world. These statements, however, never materialize into palpable change in the reality around. The dissonant picture we have now is one of a liberal bourgeois enclave of interfaith dialogue surrounded by a vast terrain of conflicting masses who are either uninterested in, or not invited to, that enclave.

To repair this picture let us consider two objectives, which are unfortunately frequently overlooked. First, scholars should apply their knowledge to seriously counter the conflict discourse. In its Islamic variant this discourse evolves around a number of essential concepts such as Jihad, Martyrdom, The Jews, Holy Land, Islamic Caliphate and the Prophecy of the end of world. Here Jihad is used to mean an eternal war against non Muslims; Martyrdom is used to legitimize suicide operations against civilians; The Jews are a people destined to eternal hostility against Muslims; and the Holy Land has a special sacred nature which imposes specific political regulations. The Islamic Caliphate, which was a specific historical formation, now becomes a substantial part of the practice of Islam; Muslims believe if it does not exist then they cannot really be Muslims. All these concepts, and their discourse, are led by a prophecy, a vision of the future, whose main feature is a fierce war between Muslims and Jews that will mark the end of the world. The creation of these religio-historical concepts and their weaving together is a recipe for eternal violence that nice rhetorical preaching of peace or promising economic incentives cannot neutralize.

To call this discourse fundamentalist and attribute it to some fringe extremists, who “do not represent the real Islam”, has always proved to be a failing and, in fact, a hypocritical strategy. The overwhelming Muslim majority believes Jihad, Martyrdom, the Holy Land, and the Islamic Caliphate are essential parts of its religion. They continuously listen to Friday preachers quoting Quranic texts, which plainly condemn the Jews for their hatred of Muslims; and were they to put these quotations aside, how would they ever escape a prophecy they consider an essential part of their creed? On the other hand, a common prescription to shift from a wrong literal reading to a correct interpretative one has fallen on deaf ears. Both the absolutely literal reading that never attends to the sociocultural context and the absolutely interpretative reading that renders the text almost irrelevant have not found their way into mainstream Islam. It has always been something in between, a negotiated reading that dynamically correlates the text and the context. Moreover, it was ironically an interpretative reading which legitimized suicide operations and a literal reading which strictly prohibited them.

Scholars, therefore, must quit composing peace statements, a task many people can do, and commit themselves to the task only they can promote. They should create, develop and further an Islamically authentic discourse of peace. Such a discourse must be tradition-friendly; one that pays serious attention to the holy text and builds on, not ignores, the Muslims’ historical experience and socio-cultural forms . Only a discourse like this can serve as a legitimate outlet for the majority of religious Muslims, who long for peace but cannot neglect their faith. Such a discourse is not impossible, given the richness and diversity of a multi-layered tradition that has been carved out and produced through a plethora of times and locales.

The second ignored objective is the engagement of religious communities in interfaith activities. Interfaith dialogue has to move from the five stars hotels to the neighborhood mosques, churches and synagogues. Religious people of different religious backgrounds have to meet frequently, listen to each other, communicate humanely and share what they value the most: their individual religious and spiritual experiences. That should be allowed and nourished in a safe space devoid of political representations and full of personal and intimate relations.

In conclusion, scholars have to create and develop an authentic discourse of peace and understanding. The religious communities, on the other hand, need neither preaching nor clerical leadership. Motivated by an authentic discourse, they have to get directly involved in dialogue and peace-building. The activist scholar/theologian laity situation we are locked in has to be urgently reversed.

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* Mohamed Mosaad, an Egyptian psychiatrist, anthropologist, and freelance writer. He is an interfaith dialogue activist and serves currently as the Middle East and North Africa Coordinator of the United Religions Initiative (URI). This article is published in partnership with the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: CGNews, December 3, 2005
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
The globalisation of Islamic Relief
Ehsan Masood

London - The experience of one Islamic charity with modest English origins is symbol and portent of changes in the landscape of NGOs worldwide, says Ehsan Masood. In August 2002, a young executive dressed in a suit and tie approached me with his business card. I was in the press-conference hall of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, a gathering of the great and the good to mark the tenth anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. A planned briefing from yet another honourable minister for the environment had been delayed, so I had loitered towards an exhibition of NGOs in search of more stimulating company.

The business card said “Islamic Relief Worldwide”. Somewhat nervously, I asked if this was the same “worldwide” organisation that once had its headquarters in a small office in Birmingham, England. He replied that it did, that the United Kingdom head office now had more than 100 staff, and that there were field offices in other countries. Islamic Relief, he told me, was at the Johannesburg summit to observe the negotiations, lobby policymakers, and network with other NGOs.

This story came back to me as images from the Kashmir earthquake cascaded through the television screen in October 2005. There was Islamic Relief once more, this time next to Oxfam, the United Nations children’s fund (Unicef) and other international organisations responding to calls for aid in the aftermath of a tragedy that has taken more than 79,000 lives. The charity had announced an immediate donation of £1 million. This has since been more than doubled. It all seemed a world away from 1984 when Islamic Relief opened for business with a donation of…20 pence.

Why should this be surprising?

At one level it shouldn’t. Islamic Relief today operates as would any large international charity based in Britain: it sources its income from a mix of individual donations, business, and government. It has a network of worldwide field offices. Its senior officials – not just its founder, Hany El Banna – have access to heads of state, ministers, top-level civil servants and the media in the countries it works in. And it has its teeth sunk firmly in the international aid policy agenda.

Yet, while none of this is innovative for an international non-profit in the modern age, it does represent a milestone of sorts. What we are witnessing is possibly the world’s first international NGO with origins in Islam. Add to this the fact that this particular NGO is headquartered not in Riyadh or Cairo but in London, and its story becomes even more interesting. Islamic Relief may be the largest of its kind, but it is not alone: other British Muslim aspirants for international NGO-dom are the charities Muslim Aid and Muslim Hands. The message is clear: watch this space.

A new horizon

It has been a long journey that reveals a mix of continuity and change. Like other, older British charities, Islamic Relief, Muslim Aid (1985) and Muslim Hands (1993) began life as small organisations, deeply serious about the practice of religion and focused on helping people of the same faith. Today, they are big, still serious about the practice of faith, but no longer consumed by a desire to help people of their own faith alone.

What has happened is that they have grown up and they have modernised. The “Islamic” in Islamic Relief today refers to the act of giving. The “Muslim” in Muslim Aid is the same as the “Christian” in Christian Aid: the charity’s recipients do not have to be Muslim, or religious at all, to be eligible for assistance. True, the majority of the staff of Britain’s Muslim charities are still Muslim, but it is only a matter of time before this next milestone is crossed.

The principal tension for charities such as Islamic Relief is to maintain the support of their traditional donor base as they expand, while at the same time knowing how to handle the many overtures from governments that inevitably come their way – especially when a charity based in the United Kingdom becomes large and influential in parts of the world where the British government is not very popular. Islamic Relief’s close links to the British government will not be lost on those of its donors who are angry with Tony Blair’s support for and participation in the invasion of Iraq.

A secondary tension is that most ordinary Muslims in Britain are not at all used to the modern, professional charity run by people who carry laptop computers and write their emails on a Blackberry. The idea that hard-earned donations from the people on low incomes in Britain could be used to recruit lobbyists, campaigners, researchers and press officers (as opposed to directly helping the poor in other countries) will for many not be altogether welcome.

Modernisation and international expansion have inevitably brought new tensions. But these trends also offer something different and potentially very exciting: the prospect of real change within the world of international NGOs, still dominated by wealthy and powerful organisations based in the rich countries of the global north.

For if a relatively small twenty-year-old British community charity called Islamic Relief has the ability to go global in a relatively short space of time, the potential for much larger organisations elsewhere to think bigger than they do at present is there for the taking.

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* Ehsan Masood is project director of the Gateway Trust.
Source: www.openDemocracy.net, November 29, 2005
Visit the website at www.opendemocracy.net
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Who is the 'moderate Muslim'?
Abukar Arman

Hilliard, Ohio - Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the disastrous war in Iraq, the argument that "moderate Muslims" - the so-called MM Factor - are the "only legitimate defense against Islamic extremism" has found its way onto center stage and has found acceptance in certain circles.

But, who are these "moderate Muslims"? What is the ideological engine driving them? What indicators are there to authenticate them? And, more important, who should interpret the readings of such indicators?

Before an objective debate on these questions could get under way, neocon activists like Daniel Pipes have been spinning the whole MM Factor in order to push a handpicked list of what he describes as "anti-Islamist Muslims." Not surprisingly, the list includes controversial figures like Khalid Duran, a notorious Islam-basher and a friend of Pipes; Irshad Manji, who hosted "Queer Television" on Toronto's City TV; and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a self-declared atheist who collaborated with the murdered film-maker Theo Van Gogh on a film offensive to many Muslims.

Granted, these are individuals who are exercising their freedom of expression and who may want to "shock the system" from the periphery. But this tack will not moderate the current trend of extremism. Bringing Islam back to its original nature of being a middle-ground faith, as taught by the Prophet Muhammad, would require a moderate tone and judicious dialogue. Lending support and a platforms to individuals considered pariahs could simply undermine the whole MM-Factor.

Credibility and sincerity is the name of the game.

For anyone to be accepted as a moderate voice and for his or her message to resonate with the broader Muslim population in the United States and around the world, one must demonstrate, among other things, the following three characteristics:

First, that he or she is a devout Muslim with a track record of community service - an individual without any apparent ulterior motive. Second, he or she is an independent person with an independent mind, an individual not predictably on the same side of any issue all the time, since neither truth nor justice is predictably on the same side. Third, he or she is a sensitive bridge-builder willing to cultivate a peaceful, tolerant community that respects the rule of law, who supports his or her position through Islam's main authority - the Koran and the Sunnah (the legacy of Prophet Muhammad).

Unfortunately, there seems to be a competing standard for moderation based on one's position on the Israel-Palestine issue - not on the moot question of whether Israel has the right to exist, but whether the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and to resist oppression and occupation. This is what the overwhelming majority of Muslims in America have gradually come to understand as the real litmus test.

Muslim thinkers and activists who are apathetic or oblivious, or are supportive of the status quo are readily embraced as "moderates" while others, regardless of how moderate or liberal they might be, are declared radicals or terrorist sympathizers.

A case in point is the routine harassment of prominent Muslim activists like Yusuf Islam - formerly known as Cat Stevens - who is famous for his peace songs and indeed activism; of widely respected moderate Muslim scholars like Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who made a career campaigning against extremism and radical literalism; and of "liberal" thinkers like Tariq Ramadan, who is known for being a pioneer in bridging Islamic values and Western culture. All three were, in one way or another, denied entry to the United States for "national security reasons."

Recently the U.S. Embassy in Cairo denied Sheikh Abdul Hamid al-Atrash, the head of Al Azhar Fatwa Committee, an entry visa give to lectures and sermons at a number of American Islamic centers during Ramadan. Ironically, in addition to being the oldest and most prestigious Islamic university, Al Azhar is considered the most moderate Islamic educational institution.

It goes without saying that any such subjective alienation and deliberate silencing of those widely recognized as genuine moderates will only fuel more cynicism, anti-Americanism and extremism. If the goal is to defeat extremism in the marketplace of ideas, both Muslims, whose religion has been eclipsed by terrorists, and the United States, whose foreign policy has been highjacked by ideologues, ought to find genuine Muslim moderates to support.

And until a bona fide definition crystallizes, there will always be the risk of blindly embarking on yet another quixotic foreign-policy endeavor.

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* Abukar Arman is a freelance writer and a council member of the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio.
Source: International Herald Tribune, November 11, 2005
Visit the website at www.iht.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
Faithful build bridges with books
Jane Lampman

Cambridge, Mass. - Laughter rings out in the salmon-colored living room of the parsonage at First Church in Cambridge, Mass. More than a dozen women - Christian, Jewish, and Muslim - are sharing insights garnered from "Gilead," a 2004 novel about the faith and struggles of a Christian minister in Iowa.

The easy camaraderie as they discuss their distinctive approaches to prayer reflects three years of monthly meetings of the Daughters of Abraham, as they call themselves. The book club has explored the realms of the three monotheistic faiths - and blossomed into comfortable relationships that reach into each other's daily lives.

"My hope was we'd come to know and respect the other two faiths while deepening our commitment to our own," says the Rev. Anne Minton, a retired college teacher and Episcopal priest. "What I didn't anticipate was the deepening of relationships in the group."

In fact, 10 of the 18 members traveled together to Spain last January, where they explored sites of the medieval golden age of Muslim-Christian-Jewish coexistence, which spawned an intellectual flowering. They are planning a trip to Jerusalem next May.

The club's origin, however, lies in the immediate anguish of Sept. 11, 2001. That night, an interfaith service hastily called by the minister at First Church (United Church of Christ) packed the sanctuary.

"The service was powerful and people were crying; there were women in head scarves sitting next to me," recalls club founder Edie Howe. "I had this strong thought of how we were all the children of Abraham, and how unnecessary and tragic it was. I thought, 'What can I do about this?'"

Her answer was to start the women's book club as a first step toward improving understanding. To ensure a joint commitment, she sought out Jews and Muslims who might share her interest and held planning discussions. A group of 18 met for the first time in September 2002 and has been meeting ever since. Though expectations vary, all share an interest in how other faiths are expressed in individual lives.

"I wanted the benefit of how to guide my reading on this," says Rona Fischman, a real estate agent active in a local synagogue. "In light of what's going on in the world, it just wasn't acceptable for me to be ignorant of Islam. It's not acceptable for Muslims to have little idea of what Jews are about. Or for Christians, either."

Keeping a booklist, they vote on priorities and read a book a month, alternating among the three religions. Tastes range across novels, history, poetry, memoirs, and religious philosophy. During their summer hiatus in 2004 - after the group had developed a level of trust - they read books on the history and politics of the Middle East.

"The Crusades Through Arab Eyes," was particularly informative, says Ms. Fischman, because of its non-Western vantage point.

"One book that really struck me was 'The Rock,' a historical novel by Iraqi author Kanan Makiya about the building of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem," says Ms. Minton. "The book quotes extensively from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sacred texts but doesn't give you the footnote on the page. The quotes are so similar you can't tell where they come from without looking them up in the back."

From Islamic poetry, to a mystery involving the ritual baths of Jewish tradition, to C.S. Lewis's exploration of good and evil in "The Screwtape Letters," the varied choices spur conversation on the commonalities and differences in beliefs and practices. And sometimes they reveal surprising similarities.

Sepi Gilani, a Muslim physician and mother who is a member of one of two spinoff book clubs (a third is planned for next year), says that "Lying Awake," a novel about an American nun in Los Angeles, resonated for her. The nun's devotional experiences reminded her of her grandmother in Iran, who after her husband's death, spent her time focused on prayer, reading, and worship. But it also rang a bell with her own life in the United States.

"The nun leaves a devout group and goes out into the secular world where many don't believe, and God is the last thing on their minds," she recalls. "When you are constantly thinking of God and the mechanisms of the universe, sometimes it seems the rest of the world is very aloof. Yet when you meet someone who is religious in their own way, whatever their faith, there can be more of a connection with that person than with someone who claims to be of your faith."

She found similar pleasure in the discussion on "Holy Days," about the life of the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn.

Muslims in the US are not as regularly active in the book clubs as Christians and Jews. That's largely because the younger generation is working and raising children, Ms. Gilani believes, while the older generations of immigrants are less sure of their English. Some also travel - two members are now in Egypt and Pakistan.

Most club members are heartened by the way it has spilled into their lives.

"People meet for lunch, help out when members are not well, suggest a good movie - like Jewish or Iranian film festivals - and [have] dinner ahead of time," says Ms. Howe. "And they attend weddings, bar mitzvahs, celebrations at the end of Ramadan."

For Fischman, it was meaningful when some came to the shiva after her father died. They had learned about Jewish mourning during club discussions. "We can talk about the symbolism of our faiths' rituals, but it won't click unless we happen to attend and see what it means in a family's life," she says. "It's about what's in the head and in the heart."

Wherever the book club discussions roam, they clearly have come to be meaningful for those participating. It's still going strong, Minton says, because of the quality of the relationships, the fun and laughter, and the intellectual stimulation.

"We discuss a book, and people think, 'well after that we could read these five others!' " she adds. "We always come out of the meeting feeling better than when we went in."

###
* Jane Lampman is a staff writer of the Christian Science Monitor.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, November 30, 2005
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
For copyright permission, please contact lawrenced@csps.com

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The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. This service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.

Every week, CGNews-PiH will distribute 5 news articles, op-eds, features, and analyses that aid in developing and analyzing the current and future relationship of the West and Arab/Muslim world. Articles will be chosen based on accuracy, balance, and their ability to improve understanding and communication across borders and regions. They will also reflect the need for constructive dialogue around issues of global importance. Selections will be authored by local and international experts and leaders who will analyze and discuss a broad range of relevant issues. We invite you to submit any articles you feel are compatible with the goals of this news service.

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Carol Lee Flinders, Ph.D.
"At the Root of this Longing: Spiritual Hungers Meet Feminist Thirsts"
January 13-15, 2006
Charleston, SC

Something that feels very much like a women's movement is gathering momentum (circle on circle, closing in on a million!), and while it's aligned with movements of the past, it has its own character. Its vision is wider: its outlook is consistently global. Its proponents want their life choices to enhance the lives of women everywhere, and they are convinced that a world that is safe and welcoming for women is safe and welcoming for everyone else as well. They are alert to the connections between women's issues and environmental issues. They see a special role for women in peace work. Their work is grounded in spiritual practices and informed by spiritual perspectives.

It's a thrilling prospect that makes perfect sense to Carol Lee Flinders, who believes that the longing for depth, connection, and identity that fuels women's movements is just as truly a religious longing: "Feminism catches fire when it draws upon its inherent spirituality. But it's also true that a woman's religious path can bring her up hard against doors that feminist insight alone can unlock."

The relationship between feminism and spirituality is so layered and complex that it is best approached from several angles: from one's own life experience as well as that of women mystics, spiritual activists, and . . . men. Spiritual feminism doesn't stop with women, it asks, rather, how we all might move together into radiant wholeness.

If women are to bring forth a new paradigm, built on inclusiveness, mutuality, and reverence for nature, their inner work must be as sustained and systematic as their analysis and their activism. To that end, this workshop will offer a meditative practice that can be carried out in any religious tradition (or none), and that is an ideal foundation for spiritually informed activism.

Carol Lee Flinders is a national speaker, retreat leader, and author of Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics, Rebalancing the World, and one of our favorites, At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst . Dr. Flinders has taught courses in mystical literature at UC Berkeley, and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She is currently a Fellow of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University. In May 2006, Penguin/Putnam will publish her latest book, Enduring Lives: Living Portraits of Women and Faith in Action, which profiles contemporary women she believes live and work in the "spiritual mother-line" of Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Genoa. She has written about natural foods, co-authoring the popular Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks. Carol lives in Northern California at the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation with her husband Tim.

Their website, www.tworock.org, offers more information about their work and vision.

Tuition: $195 by December 30; $250 after.

www.TheSophiaInstitute.org
843.722.4186
26 Society St and 297 East Bay St.
Charleston, SC 29401

Interfaith Youth Core Program Assistant
Job Description

Summary of Organization: The Interfaith Youth Core is a Chicago-based international organization that seeks to encourage better understanding and cooperative service among religiously diverse youth through our various programs that build the interfaith youth work movement. See www.ifyc.org for more information. This is a young and rapidly growing organization.

Summary of Position: This individual provides proficient and advanced support to the Executive Program Director and assists in coordination and advancement of IFYC Chicago program activities such the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Interfaith Youth Service and IFYC national program activities such as the Conference on Interfaith Youth Work.

Supervision: This person reports directly to the Executive Program Director

Status: Full-time position, 40-50 hours/week. Starts January 3, 2006.

Responsibilities

Support Executive Program Director

Assist in Coordination and Advancement of Chicago Program

o Assist Chicago Program Director faith community outreach and recruitment as well as community service project preparation, implementation, and evaluation for 2006 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Interfaith Youth Service.

o Conduct Shared Values Education Workshops

o Deepen relationships with local faith communities and youth leaders (specific focus on minority religions)

o Provide Logistical support during this event.

o Build relationships with community service partners.

o Assist with 2006 Season of Interfaith Youth Service steering committee.

o Represent the Interfaith Youth Core at Chicago Area events.

Assist in Coordination and Advancement of National Program

o Stay up to date in knowledge of current events, particularly those related to religion and youth

o Provide significant content and logistical development support for National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work

Qualifications

1. Collegiality

2. Willingness to do both the grunt work and high level program work

3. Bachelors degree

4. EXCELLENT organizational, written and verbal communication skills.

5. Superb ability to meet deadlines and handle various projects simultaneously

6. High-level problem solving and system development skills

7. Ability to work in a culturally diverse environment

8. Computer software skills (Microsoft Word, Access, Excel, Outlook are essential; FrontPage, and Publisher are a plus)

9. Typing speed of 50wpm

10. 2-3 years of full-time professional experience

Compensation: Salary mid-twenties, based on experience; healthcare, personal time and professional development benefits.

To apply: Send cover letter and resume to Garth Katner, Ph.D., Education and Training Director at garth@ifyc.org or fax to 312.573.1542. Call with questions: 312.573.8826. First interviews will be scheduled for December 10 through 15.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Auch in den kommenden Tagen lädt AfricAvenir im Rahmen von "African Perspectives" zu drei weiteren Veranstaltungen ein. Ganz besonders freuen wir uns, Sie am Freitag, den 09.12.2005 zur Vorstellung des neugegründeten Verlags Exchange&Dialogue und zur Präsentation der zwei ersten Bücher aus der Anthologie von Prof. Kum' a Ndumbe III. im Roten Rathaus begrüßen zu dürfen. Am Sonntag, den 11.12.2005 folgt dann die lang ersehnte Vorpremiere des diesjährigen Berlinale Gewinners "U-Carmen e-Kayelitsha" im Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe. Außerdem erfolgt, wie bereits angekündigt, am Sonntag, den 04.12.2005 der Tourneestart des tschadischen Films "Abouna - Der Vater". Details weiter unten...

Prinz Kum’ a Ndumbe III.: "Ich klopfte an deiner Tür" und "Ach, Kamerun! Unsere alte deutsche Kolonie…"
Buch- & Verlagspräsentation

Prinz und Universitätsprofessor Kum’a Ndumbe III. aus dem Königshaus der Bele Bele/Bell in Douala, Kamerun, bietet eine etwas andere Analyse aktueller Entwicklungen in Europa und auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent. Sein Blick auf die europäisch-afrikanischen Beziehungen und auf die Entwicklungen der deutschen Gesellschaft ist überraschend und ungewöhnlich. Der Grenzgänger zwischen Kontinenten und Kulturen pendelt zwischen Europa und Afrika. Nach der Präsentation des Verlags liest der Autor Auszüge aus den ersten zwei Büchern seiner elfbändigen Anthologie, um den Dialog mit Presse und Leserschaft fortzusetzen.

09. Dezember, 18.30 Uhr
Rotes Rathaus Berlin / Berliner Rathaus
Rathausstr. 15
10178 Berlin
Pressesaal (Raum 338)

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‘U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha – Carmen in Khayelitsha‘
Regie: Mark Dornford-May, Land: Südafrika 2005, Dauer: 120 Min., Sprache: Xhosa mit Untertiteln (OmU)

Im Rahmen der Filmreihe ‘African Perspectives‘ laden AfricAvenir International e.V., die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) e.V. und der South African Club Berlin e.V. am Sonntag, den 11. Dezember 2005, um 17.15 Uhr zu einer Filmvorführung mit anschließender Diskussion ins Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Gezeigt wird der diesjährige Gewinner des Goldenen Bären der Berlinale ‘U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha‘. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit der Journalistin und Filmemacherin Dorothee Wenner statt.

Am: Sonntag, den 11. Dezember 2005
Beginn: 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Eintittspreis: 5 Euro

Kurzinhalt des Films:
Dank seiner faszinierenden Mischung aus Liebe, Hass, Neid, Rache, erotischem Verlangen, Exotik, Wahnsinn und Realismus ist die Oper Carmen von Georges Bizet noch heute erstaunlich lebendig und aktuell. Auch in U-Carmen wird gedealt, geschmuggelt, geliebt und getötet wie in der Originalfassung. Die neue Version von Carmen spielt allerdings in einem südafrikanischen Township namens Khayelitsha. U-Carmen verfolgt die Liebesgeschichte des Paares Carmen und Don José bis zu ihrem tragischen Ende. Carmen ist auch in der nach Südafrika umgebetteten Version eine einfache Arbeiterin in einer Zigarettenfabrik. Hier ist Carmen jedoch kein klischeehaftes Konstrukt einer “gipsy femme fatale“. Sie ist vielmehr eine sinnliche, unabhängige Frau, deren Liebe zur Freiheit und Courage auch im Angesicht des Todes fortbesteht.
Eine Kooperation mit dem Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe, dem Berliner Entwicklungspolitischen Ratschlag (BER) und dem Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ). Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Botschaft der Republik Südafrika und der South African Airways (SAA).

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Abouna – Der Vater
R: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Tschad/Frankreich 2002, 84 min. O.m.dt.U.

Gemeinsam mit der Initiative südliches Africa und dem South Africa Club Berlin lädt AfricAvenir International e.V. am Sonntag, den 04. Dezember um 17.15 Uhr zur Premiere von ‚Abouna – Der Vater’ in das Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Im Anschluss an den Film besteht die Möglichkeit zur Diskussion mit dem Regisseur des Films Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.

Tahir und sein jüngerer Bruder Amin leben in Ndjamena, der Hauptstadt des Tschad. Als ihr Vater auf geheimnisvolle Weise verschwindet, machen sich die beiden Schüler auf die Suche nach ihm. Bei einem Kinobesuch glauben sie, sein Gesicht auf der Leinwand wieder zu erkennen, doch ihr Versuch, die Filmrolle aus dem Kino zu stehlen, scheitert und sie werden der Polizei übergeben. Ihre überforderte Mutter schickt sie daraufhin in eine strenge Koranschule, wo ihnen wieder Ordnung beigebracht werden soll. Der Regisseur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun hat mit ‚Abouna – der Vater’ den ersten international bekannt gewordenen Spielfilm des Tschad realisiert.
Eine Kooperationsveranstaltung mit dem Evangelischen Zentrums für Entwicklungsbezogene Filmarbeit (EZEF) und der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb.

Am: Sonntag, den 04. Dezember 2005, 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, 10178 Berlin)
Vorbestellung unter: 030 - 2 83 46 03 (MO-SA ab 14.30 Uhr/SO ab 10.30 Uhr)
Eintrittspreis: 5 Euro

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

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Teachers College, Columbia University

Department of International and Transcultural Studies
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS (PEACE STUDIES IN EDUCATION)

Position: The programs in International Educational Development (IED)/Comparative and International Education (CIE) in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies seek a faculty member to provide leadership through teaching and scholarship in peace studies in education. Students interested in peace studies in education can be found in the IED/CIE concentrations in peace education and comparative politics of education, which typically attract strong masters and doctoral students. The current concentration in peace education includes the study of the pedagogical dimensions of peace education, the role of non-governmental and international organizations in promoting global co-operation, and the teaching of human rights in educational context. The current concentration in politics of education encourages scholarship on the international comparative dimensions of education and political change, citizenship education, education and democracy, and education in post-conflict settings. The programs are committed to educational equity.

Responsibilities: The new appointee will be based in the programs of IED/CIE and should contribute to peace studies in an international context. In addition to research, teaching and advising responsibilities, the new appointee is expected to network well with academic communities and international organizations devoted to the study of peace and education. The appointee is also expected to strengthen links with centers and institutes at Teachers College and Columbia University that are committed to peace studies.

Qualifications: Earned doctorate in peace studies, education, international affairs, political science, or a related social science field, with a record of peer-reviewed publications in peace studies broadly defined. Research in development studies or comparative education is an asset. In addition, applicants should show evidence of a strong research agenda and demonstrate a record of exemplary teaching and advisement.

Rank: Open Rank, Tenure Track or Tenured.

Send CV, an overall letter of interest with details on how you meet the criteria for the position, two writing samples, example of a syllabus related to peace studies, and three letters of reference to Professor Ofelia García, Box 211. All application materials must be received by February 15, 2006. Minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Appointment begins September 1, 2006.

Teachers College as an institution is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in employment. In offering education, psychology, and health studies, the College is committed to providing expanding employment opportunities to persons of color, women, and persons with disabilities in its own activities and in society. Candidates whose qualifications and experience are directly relevant to College priorities (e.g., urban issues, education equity, and concerns of underrepresented groups) may be considered for higher rank than advertised.

Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/

Special Issue "Social Psychology and Peace" of the Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie (German Journal of Social Psychology) - Call for papers

Guest editors: J. Christopher Cohrs (Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany) & Klaus Boehnke (International University Bremen)

In 1945 UNESCO proclaimed that "since wars begin in the minds of men [sic], it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." Yet, we constantly witness violent conflicts all over the world, ranging from hostilities toward immigrants and asylum seekers in numerous countries via lasting conflicts between religious, national, or ethnic groups in several regions of the world to massive military interventions. We therefore believe that psychology, and in particular social psychology, should be more emphatic in explaining the coming about of violent conflicts and in finding ways to develop peace. The focus of this special issue is to examine the role of social psychology in this context: How do social psychological theories (e.g., Social Identity Theory), concepts (e.g., justice, social responsibility), and methods (e.g., attitude measurement, experiments) help understand social conflict and improve psychological interventions for peace?

We invite submissions that examine one or more aspects of the aforementioned question for consideration in this special issue. The special issue is an opportunity to assemble excellent papers on social psychological approaches to peace. Contributions should be theory-based; original empirical papers are just as welcome as literature reviews. They can be written in English (preferably) or in German. To facilitate planning, we ask you to submit a long abstract of approximately 1000 words first, giving details of the content and structure of your paper, by February 28th, 2006. Please send your abstract as an e-mail attachment (preferably PDF) to both guest editors (christopher.cohrs@uni-jena.de, k.boehnke@iu-bremen.de). You will receive our feedback by April 14th, 2006. The submission deadline for full manuscripts is September 30th, 2006, but only manuscripts of authors who have submitted a long abstract will be considered for the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo the usual peer-review process of the journal, being reviewed by at least two experts in the field.

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Dr. J. Christopher Cohrs
Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
International Graduate College
Wildstr. 1
07743 Jena, Germany
Tel. +49 (0)3641 945273
Fax +49 (0)3641 945192
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http://www.uni-jena.de/svw/igc/