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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on June 14th, 2013 
Transforming the Global Economic Paradigm ASAP.
We all know well the challenges facing us. From reversing ecological and economic collapses to meeting the development needs of seven billion (and growing) residents of our planet, we’ve got our work cut out for us.
But what can one person—or one organization—do?
A lot.
Join me on an adventure to transform the global economic paradigm.
Nations, companies, and NGOs are all seeking a new global agenda. Many of these groups are now coalescing around the United Nations’ work to replace the Millennium Development Goals—the targets set back in 2004 for poverty reduction—that expire in 2015.
I’ve been asked by the King of the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan to help the world shift its development model away from the current approach of increasing the throughput of stuff and money through the economy (as measured by gross national product) to an agenda of increasing human well-being, measured as “gross national happiness.” I’m part of an International Expert Working Group, convened by the King to set forth the intellectual architecture for this new paradigm.
Where do you come in? The Expert Group has created the Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity, or ASAP for short, to convene the expertise needed to bring genuine prosperity and well-being to everyone on the planet.
ASAP seeks your ideas. The world needs help and its leaders are asking for your answers.
How do we encourage governments, companies, and an economy obsessed with measuring and growing gross national product to shift to maximizing total well-being? For example, a divorcing cancer patient who gets in a car wreck has added to the GNP. Is she any better off? Clearly not. If you stay home to care for your children you add nothing to the GNP, but have contributed significantly of your family’s welfare, and to a healthier society.
Humankind has all of the technologies needed to solve the crises facing us.
Why aren’t we using them? How do we overcome the gridlock of governments, and inspire the best of the private sector to take more of a leadership role?
Explore the ASAP site at www.asap4all.org. The “Articles” section provides pieces written by ASAP members. See, in particular, “Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature,” with lead author Robert Costanza.
The “Public Forum” invites your best thinking. ASAP experts have been working on this for over three decades.
But the state of the world today is a testament to the fact that we can’t do it alone. The radical utopian forecast is that we can sustain business as usual. It’s not going to be like that.
What sort of future do you want to see for the world? How do you think we can achieve it? What is already working that should be replicated more broadly? That has to be fixed? And what’s the purpose of the economy that we’re all a part of? Do we exist to serve it, or can we transform it, instead, to serve us?
If you have a good idea, but no clue how to achieve it, submit it—maybe another of you has the answer you’re seeking.
We believe that it is possible to transform the global economy into one that delivers greater human well-being and happiness, while nestling gracefully into the larger ecosystem that sustains all life. Indeed, doing this is key to ending the global economic crisis. We can’t achieve one without doing the other. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on May 15th, 2013
The problem at hand are the major interests of the agri-industry’s corn-growers and the chemical industry. In Europe – it all started with corn-borers advancing from East Europe into Central Europe and attacking the roots of corn plants. The corn-growers got help from the chemical industry pesticide-producers. The side effect is that this pesticide kills more then just the corn borers – in effect it kills bees and butterflies as well and without the pollen-transfer by the bees, there THIS IS UNSUSTAINABLE FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW! Small Family farms were the backbone of a Nation and the large oil-based monoculture industry is the anti-thesis to that past. We would like to believe that the whole political spectrum will turn around and churn out ways to save bees and humans as well. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on May 5th, 2013
Canada’s Israel Support Draws Ire From Arab Nations at UN.Author:
World headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, Canada. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Some Arab nations are making an effort to isolate Canada at the United Nations in retaliation for the Canadian government’s pro-Israel stance. Qatar is working to gather votes from 115 countries to relocate the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which determines global rules for airplane transportation, from Montreal to the Middle East by 2016. In addition, Arab UN ambassadors met in New York on April 23 to discuss Palestinian issues, and discussed ways to rally support against the Canadian government among international organizations. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is known for his staunch support of Israel and maintains a close relationship with the Israeli government. In April, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird stoked Arab anger by meeting Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in eastern Jerusalem, an area where the Palestinians dispute Israeli jurisdiction. Joseph Lavoie, a spokesman for Baird, said Canada will “fight tooth and nail” to keep the ICAO in Montreal. “Canada will not apologize for promoting a principled foreign policy,” Lavoie said, according to the Daily Globe and Mail. ——————————- Comment from Mel The United Nations headquarters and its overfed diplomats have earned deportation to the Middle East. The enemies of Western Civilization have not earned the right to enjoy its benefits. New York and Montreal are too good for them. Let’s find out how they like eating and swimming in sand! Permalink | | ### |
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UNITAR is selling participation in an INTRODUCTION TO A GREEN ECONOMY E-learning Course for $US 600. Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on April 12th, 2013
Introduction to a Green Economy: 27 May – 19 July 2013
In order to provide interested stakeholders from government, business, civil society and academia with an introduction to the green economy concept UNITAR in partnership with UNEP, ILO and UNIDO is delivering the e-learning course “Introduction to a Green Economy: Concepts and Applications”, 27 May to 19 July 2013. Participants will learn about different concepts and facets of the green economy, including its contribution to addressing climate change. Special attention is given to global, national and sector-specific challenges and opportunities to advance low-carbon, climate resilient and socially inclusive development. Additionally, participants will begin to acquire basic skills for applying the green economy concept in an economic, policy-making and personal context. The ability of national actors to act on the green economy is key for effective policy making and achieving tangible results. To address this challenge UNITAR is working closely with UNEP, ILO and UNIDO in a new Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), focusing on national capacity development.
Comprehensive information and registration details are available at: www.unitar.org/event/ Registration is open until 17 May 2013. Please feel free to disseminate information about this course through your networks, and don’t hesitate to contact us (envgov@unitar.org) should you need any further information. Yours, The UNITAR Environmental Governance Programme Team ——————————
BACKGROUND The concept of a green economy is receiving increasing international attention, as countries explore new patterns of development that take into account economic, social and environmental sustainability considerations. The recent UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), June 2012, reaffirmed the role of a green economy in achieving sustainable development. The ability of national actors to act on the green economy is key for effective policy making and achieving tangible results. To address this challenge, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is working closely with UNEP, ILO and UNIDO in a new Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), with a focus on national capacity development. In order to provide interested stakeholders from government, business, civil society and academia with an introduction to the green economy concept UNITAR, together with PAGE partners, is delivering an interactive e-learning course from 27 May to 19 July 2013.
TARGET GROUPS The course targets groups and individuals that are interested in obtaining a general understanding about the green economy concept and latest developments. They include: • Civil servants in national Ministries, provincial departments and local authorities • Diplomats from Permanent Missions and Ministries of Foreign Affairs • Environmental managers in private sector and civil society organizations • Faculty, researchers and students • Interested citizens
LEARNING OBJECTIVES Participants will learn about different concepts and facets of the green economy, as well as global, national and sector-specific challenges and opportunities to advance low-carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive development. Additionally, participants will begin to develop basic skills for applying the green economy concept in a real world economic, policy and/or personal context. After completing the course, participants will be able to:
METHODOLOGY The course pedagogy is adapted to professionals in full-time work. Participants are provided with the opportunity to learn through various experiences: absorb (read); do (activity); interact (socialize); and reflect (relate to one’s own reality). The total number of learning hours is 40 over an 8 week period. During weeks 1-5 the reading of an e-book is complemented by a range of learning activities and experiences that include interactive exercises, discussion forums, and an applied case study. Weeks 6-8 are reserved for wrap-up and completing course assignments.
COURSE FEE AND REGISTRATION: The course participation fee is 600 USD. For details please contact the
Register at: www.unitar.org/event/ Registration deadline: 17 May 2013.
—————————— United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Website: www.unitar.org Permalink | | ### | ||||||||||
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on April 10th, 2013 On Rwanda Genocide, UN Silent on Its Own Role, So ICP Asks, Duhozanye Answers
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 9 — When the UN invited two Rwanda genocide survivors to speak on April 9, commemorating 19 years after UN peacekeepers left in the face of mass murder, one expected the “lessons learned” to also be about the UN. But the formal presentation asked Daphrose Mukarutamu, founder of the Duhozanye organization, and her fellow survivor only about reconciliation in the country. The UN Women panelist, Nahla Valji, spoke about the gacaca courts. But in terms of “Never Again,” what of the UN’s own performance, its abandonment of the victim, even helping the genocidaires to escape into Eastern Congo? As we have noted, current chief of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous in 1994 as Deputy Permanent Representative of France advocated for and facilitated this rescue of genocidaires, through “Operation Turquiose.” Ladsous refused to answer Inner City Press questions about his role, then refused to answer ANY questions from Inner City Press, including about rapes by the Congolese Army, his partners.Video at On Tuesday night, the UN did not ask about these issues either. So Inner City Press did. YouTube video as above. Daphrose Mukarutamu replied with dignity that members of Duhozanye have testified in Arusha against those who committed the genocide, and the government is trying to track more down. But what of, for example, Callitxe Mbarushimana, who while working for UNDP in 1994 used UN vehicles and radios to kill at least three dozen Tutsis, including Florence Ngirumpatse, the director of personnel at UNDP’s office in Kigali? The UN let him keep working for them, in Angola where he was not even language qualified, until he was outed in 2001 working for the UN in Kosovo. Even then, he was paid an additional $35,000. After Inner City Press’ question, and Daphrose Mukarutamu’s answer, a participant hissed to Inner City Press, do you think that question elevated the discussion? It had to be asked. It should have been in the introduction. It should have been in Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s canned statement over the weekend. And it will continued to be asked. Duhozanye is composed of, and cares for, genocide survivors, now focusing on those who are aging without family members to take care of them. They want to start a retirement community. The event was strangely lacking in contact information for them. But we suggest an Internet search: Duhozanye. And check out, as well, Callitxe Mbarushimana and the history of Herve Ladsous, while you’re at it. Footnote: the UN Department of Public Information, the evening’s host, does some good programs, and surely will do more. But they should have included some mention of the UN’s own role. And, just within UN Headquarters itself, they should be more forthright about how and why they raided the office of Inner City Press without consent or even notice on March 18, and how photographs they took were leaked to BuzzFeed.com on March 21. The Rwandan mission is aware of what DPI did, even referred to it on UNTV earlier this month. Accountability, high and low. Or impunity? Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on April 5th, 2013 Search Results
 Reports of Saudi Paralysis Sentence (Taken Question)Taken Question Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
April 5, 2013
Question: What is the U.S. response to reports that a Saudi judge gave a court order for a prisoner to be surgically paralyzed? Answer: If these reports are true, they would be incredibly disturbing. We expect the Saudi Government to respect international human rights norms. We regularly make this point as part of our bilateral dialogue.
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Texas Refinery Is Saudi Foothold in U.S. Market. By CLIFFORD KRAUSSThe Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, the largest in the United States, ensures a bigger market for Saudi crude and a stronger global voice for the kingdom.
============================== www.timesofisrael.com/
This can now be seen in context!
Jewish Times // The Times of Israel ‘Shell to dump energy firm over its ties to Israel’Australia’s Woodside Petroleum has a 30-percent interest in Israel’s Leviathan natural gas fieldApril 5, 2013, 3:28 pm 2
Related TopicsTHE HAGUE (JTA) – Royal Dutch Shell declined to comment on reports that it will divest its stake in an Australian energy firm because of that firm’s investment in Israel’s gas fields. According to the RTL Dutch television network, a spokesperson for Shell said on Wednesday that he had no comment on a report by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia which said Shell would likely dump its 23.1-percent stake in Australia’s Woodside Petroleum. The report said Shell planned the move to avoid the risk of boycott by Arab countries following Woodside’s agreement to purchase a 30-percent interest in Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field. RTL reported that Shell’s stake in Woodside is worth more then $7 billion. Last year, Shell said that involvement with Woodside was “incompatible” with Shell’s “long-term plans.” Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on April 4th, 2013
On Mali at Columbia, Nameless Discussion of Colonialism & Other Big Issues
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 2 — On Mali there was an event at Columbia University Tuesday night, advertised as “free and open to the public, but please register by writing.” So Inner City Press did, identifying itself as the Press, listing its office at the UN. Columbia’s Stephen Wertheim, the last name you’ll see in this piece, wrote back, “You are now registered for the talk, which starts at 7:30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there.” After that, notice of the event was further publicized on the website of the Free UN Coalition for Access, as still is another event at the UN this Thursday. After a final story about the day’s Arms Trade Treaty vote in the UN General Assembly, Inner City Press arrived at the event. There were twenty to twenty five people, of all ages — and all nameless here. After a lengthy speech and two social media missives, as the question and answer began, the moderator suddenly said — and we’ll paraphrase and not quote here — that he should have said so from the beginning, this would be under Chatham House rules, you can use the idea but no quote. And so what were the ideas? That the media focuses too much on the military offensive, which one participant called the kinetic aspect. That there is a lot of corruption even in the south of Mali. That the Malian military commits human rights violations, and that the UN does not have the resources to have a crew of human rights observers ready to go there. That the UN will soon name a Special Representative of the Secretary General. That the Malian press is reporting rumors of relations of Nicolas Sarkozy and the MNLA. (Inner City Press has been more focused on Sarkozy’s hardly concealed try out to help invest Qatar’s money, with his contacts in the center-right government in Spain.) That the Security Council implicitly endorsed the French approach. Inner City Press, which is surely free to report its own questions but apparently not the answers, asked if the envisioned “parallel force” would be under UN control; if coup leader Amadou Sanogo will continue to play a role in the Malian military, and how the fast action to defend Bamako differed from the decision to let Bagui in the Central African Republic fall. There was a response to each question, but how to report the answers under the spirit of the Chatham House rules is not clear. As Inner City Press left it was told, despite the language of the invitation and its RSVP as the Press, that it is somehow understood that events in the university are under Chatham House rules. No, that is not automatically understood. People give on the record speeches at universities. In fact, since students have Facebook pages and blogs and, yes, Twitter accounts, it is entirely unclear what restriction on a class or seminar would look like, or how they could work. Nevertheless, Inner City Press has complied with the belatedly announced Chatham House rules. Who is served? The Security Council hears Wednesday on Mali. Watch this site. Footnote: the UN office that Inner City Press listed on its RSVP has, as we’ve noted, been raided by the UN and others on March 18.
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on March 29th, 2013
Prehistoric phallus among ancient findings in northern IsraelStone Age artifacts uncovered on the route of a planned rail line show a developed culture 9,000 years agoBy Matti Friedman, March 28, 2013, In the Times of Israel.
Archaeologists have uncovered remnants of a Stone Age culture on the route of a planned rail line in northern Israel, including obsidian arrowheads and fertility objects like a stone phallus and a carved depiction of female genitalia. The oldest ruins at the site date to 9,000 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority said, but it was still inhabited thousands of years later. The location was excavated in a salvage dig ahead of the construction of new train tracks from Haifa to Carmiel. The findings include the most complete buildings from that time discovered so far in Israel, and some of the oldest evidence of organized legume agriculture in the Middle East, archaeologists Yitzhak Paz and Yaakov Vardi said in a statement. The objects discovered at the site also show that residents traded with faraway cultures, they said. “The large number of tools made from obsidian, which is not found in Israel, shows trade ties with Turkey, Georgia and other areas as long ago as this period,” read the statement, released earlier this month. The fertility objects, like the small stone phallus, “also represented the fertility of the land,” they said. The archaeologists link those findings to a civilization that existed in what is now Israel between 5500 and 4500 BCE. The civilization, known as the Wadi Rabbah culture, was named for the first site at which it was discovered northeast of Tel Aviv in the 1950s. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 22nd, 2013 ON FEBRUARY 4, 2013 WE POSTED THE FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT THIS FIRST-OF-A-KIND PEACE EVENT AT THE UN.
On March 5, 2013 the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN will host a special event in the UN General Assembly hall – a concert by the Israeli-Iranian singer Rita. Among the attendees will be Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic, ambassadors, celebrities, and Jewish and Iranian community leaders. Rita will sing some of her greatest hits in Persian, Hebrew and English, and songs from her childhood in Tehran. Her Persian album, My Joys, was an international smash hit, and created a large fan base for Rita in her native Iran. ————————————————————————————- Our comment: Please note that the concert happens at a time that Iran and Israel are in the news, US Secretary of State John Kerry and then US President Barack Obama go to the Middle East, an important attempt at finding a solution of conflict with Iran goes on in Kazakhstan, and elections for a new President of Iran are in the works as well. In Israel the time is running out for the formation of a new government. Rather then insults – what will be heard at the General Assembly Great Hall at the UN will be music of love at a time of spring and renewal. ================================================== OUR ORIGINAL POSTING OF FEBRUARY 4th READ: “RITA – the Iranian-Israeli cultural treasure to appear at the UN in the run-up to Nowruz 1392 (2013); if the UN is ready to gather courage this could melt Middle East ice. As the media gets these news – there will be many updates.” Last November we wrote with enthusiasm about RITA’s performance at the New York City Town Hall. Now, from Matthew Russell Lee at the UN we learned that in March she will appear at the UN – in the great Assembly Hall of the UN General Assembly. I can already see with the eyes of my mind how people will dance in their seats, and if possible all over the sides of the Hall. ‘Nowruz’, “New Day” in Persian, is the name of the Iranian New Year; it marks the beginning of the corresponding traditional celebrations in Iranian calendars. An Iranian Spring that this year will coincide with the start of the election process of a new Iranian President that will replace Mr. Ahmadi-Nejad. A beginning of a new year, marked by the first day of spring that comes with the equinox! It is celebrated by the different Iranian peoples and the related cultural continent. These celebrations have also spread to many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and some groups in the Balkans. In 2009, Norwuz was registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – here we start talking real politics wrapping up our best hopes. Also, important to remember that UNESCO has its Palestinian Statehood difficulties and here a chance to show a positive side. Nowruz 2013 – Islamic year 1392 – this year’s celebration falls on Thursday, 21 March 2013 – or just 45 days from now. It seems that the Israelis and the UN will set March 5th as the date for RITA’s appearance at the UN – whatever – this will be clearly in the run-up to Nowruz.Would it not be nice to see in this an Iranian Spring at the UN or if you wish an Iranian-Israeli love fest? My mind starts swirling like that of a Derwish. Will the UN for once step up to its goals? Rita, who came with her parents from Tehran in Iran to Ashkelon in Israel – is bi-cultural and while an openly declared treasure in Israel – surely as well a hidden treasure in Iran. Will the UN have the courage needed to have her build bridges with her appearance on the UN stage? ———- Matthew writes: Israel Plans UN Concert by Iranian-Born Singer Rita, March 5, 2013 Showdown By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive UNITED NATIONS, February 1, 2013 — With the UN on edge over Israel’s air strike on Syria and possible reactions not only from Damascus but Tehran, Inner City Press has learned of a planned Israeli-sponsored concert slated for March 5, by Iranian-born singer Rita Jahanforuz. The concert, sources tell Inner City Press, has already occasioned controversy in the UN. The concerns only grew when the Viva Vox choir, invited to perform a concert at the UN by General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic, ended with the controversial song “March on the Drina.” Then, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Martin Nesirky if the Secretariat had provided any financial support. The first day the answer was “no.” The next day at least $26,000 for “technical support” was disclosed (that is for the Serbian event I assume). Sources tell Inner City Press that while the UN Department of Public Information will now assist with Israel’s Rita concert, initially it was suggested to the Israeli Mission that they try for sponsorship from UNESCO. While some laughed at this — since Palestine was voted in as a member of UNESCO, the US cut its funding — others saw it as potentially savvy, a way for UNESCO to change its image. Be that as it may, the concert is now slated with some DPI support for March 5; preparation and coordination meetings have begun. It would be difficult to postpone it, as the General Assembly Hall where it is to be held will be closing down in April for renovation. How will Iran, Syria and others react? ——– We think that bringing it closer to March 21st would have made the timing pinpointed, but having it ahead of the spring revival is just OK and the event will be a multi-level eye-opener nevertheless. Thank you Matthew for bringing this to our attention. Please see our previous article about RITA: Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 14th, 2012 ========================================================== UPDATED: Unlikely Coupling: Iranian-Israeli Rita to Perform at UN (VIDEO)February 5, 2013 10:35 pm on Algemeiner.com
 Rita performs in Jerusalem, 2009. Photo: Wikipedia.
Rita, the Israeli-Iranian singer who has been a cultural bridge between the otherwise diametrically opposed nations, will be appearing at the UN on March, 5. The show will be titled “Tunes for Peace” and seeks to “build bridges, foster inner-cultural dialogue, and connect people to people,” according to a flier for the event. The performance will take place in the General Assembly Hall. In an interview published by The Algemeiner last year Rita explained what she sees as her role in being a cultural ambassador: “I believe that it’s up to us, the simple folks, to do all we can to break through barriers. I know the people of Iran, I grew up there. They are the most human-loving people there are, so modest and family oriented. It makes me want to show the world the ‘other’ Iran – It’s there. The extreme regime is not the people at all. People kept asking what made me sing in the language of Ahmadinejad, and I answered that his role is so minimal in such an astonishing culture and rich history, he’s just passing through.” Watch a video of Rita’s “Shah Doomad” at: www.algemeiner.com/2013/02/05/unl… —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— THE ISRAELI PRESS RELEASE OF TODAY – Friday, FEBRUARY 22, 2013 reads: Invitation to a concert at the General Assembly hall.On March 5, 2013 the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN will host a special event in the UN General Assembly hall – a concert by the Israeli-Iranian singer Rita. Among the attendees will be Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic, ambassadors, celebrities, and Jewish and Iranian community leaders. Rita will sing some of her greatest hits in Persian, Hebrew and English, and songs from her childhood in Tehran. Her Persian album, My Joys, was an international smash hit, and created a large fan base for Rita in her native Iran. Please find attached a press release: THE ISRAELI MISSION MAKES HISTORY AT THE UN WITH A CONCERT BY ISRAELI POP ICON RITA, SINGING IN BOTH PERSIAN AND HEBREW FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY HALL
Rita, Cultural Ambassador, and Ron Prosor, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Partner for “Tunes for Peace” Concert. The Israeli Mission to the UN announces a first-of-its-kind event to be held in the UN General Assembly Hall: a concert by world-renowned Israeli musical artist Rita. The performance, titled “Tunes for Peace,” will take place on March 5, 2013 at 7:00 PM. Among the attendees will be UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the UN General Assembly Vuk Jeremic, ambassadors, diplomats, and leaders of the Jewish and Iranian communities. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor: “In the General Assembly, the voices that we hear are usually those of condemnation and criticism towards Israel. Rita’s concert will allow the world to hear different voices – those of peace, hope, and multiculturalism. These are the true voices of Israel. Rita’s beautiful melodies will echo from the chambers of the UN General Assembly to the hearts and minds of Iranians and Israelis, fostering better understanding between our two peoples.” Rita and her nine-piece band will perform her popular hits in both Hebrew and English, as well as songs in Persian from Rita’s latest album, My Joys. The album, which has received widespread international acclaim, interweaves the Iranian melodies of Rita’s childhood with the rich tapestry of contemporary Israeli music. My Joys achieved gold status within a month of its release and created a new legion of Rita fans in her native Iran. Rita’s UN concert, “Tunes for Peace,” seeks to build bridges, foster inter-cultural dialogue, and connect people to people – the very foundations upon which the United Nations was established. Rita: “Our country has a strained relationship with the Iranian leadership. I stress the leadership – not the people. I was amazed at how enthusiastically the new album was embraced by the people of Iran. Its success drew the attention of the media, which began referring to the album as a symbol of hope and connection”. Known to the world simply as “Rita,” Rita Yahan-Farouz, emigrated from Iran at the age of eight. Over the course of her 25-year career, Rita has sold over a million albums, and currently serves as Israel’s most prominent and prolific pop voice. She recently completed a concert tour in the United States. =============================== from: Karean Peretz, Spokesperson ————————————————— PERMANENT MISSION OF ISRAEL ?????? ?????? THE ISRAELI MISSION MAKES HISTORY AT THE UN WITH A CONCERT BY ISRAELI POP ICON RITA, SINGING IN BOTH PERSIAN AND HEBREW New York, NY: The Israeli Mission to the UN announces a first-of-its-kind event to be held in the UN General Assembly Hall: a concert by world-renowned Israeli musical artist Rita. The performance, titled “Tunes for Peace,” will take place on March 5, 2013 at 7:00 PM. Among the attendees will be UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the UN General Assembly Vuk Jeremic, ambassadors, diplomats, and leaders of the Jewish and Iranian communities. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 22nd, 2013 NEW ZEALAND MISSION to the UNITED NATIONS Te Mängai o Aotearoa _________________________________________________________________________________ UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
ARRIA FORUMULA MEETING ON THE SECURITY DIMENSIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
STATEMENT BY STEPHANIE LEE CHARGÉ D’AFFAIRES A.I.
15 FEBRUARY 2013
I thank Pakistan and the United Kingdom for refocusing the Security Council on this important issue. In 2011 New Zealand supported the group of countries from the South Pacific and elsewhere who were calling on the Security Council to recognize the security implications of climate change. The fact that the Council adopted PPRST 2011/15 was a welcome step. But it was only a very modest beginning. A more intensive examination is now required.
While the global climate has always been variable, human-induced climate change is occurring at an unprecedented rate. It is not only small island states in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean that are threatened, but climate change is also having an impact on security in regions such as Africa where decreased rainfall is increasing competition for scarce water and food. It is now beyond argument that international security depends on our collective ability to manage climate impacts in a shorter timescale. Globally, there is a tremendous body of scientific knowledge: we have a good idea of what is going to happen and what we might be able to do about it. And the Security Council needs to be a part of the process of raising awareness. We agree with the Secretary General’s report that the best way to avoid climate change impacts is through comprehensive adaptation and global mitigation action. In the UNFCCC, New Zealand is therefore committed to developing a comprehensive legally binding climate change agreement, whose design ensures the participation of all major emitters and an ambitious outcome. A rules-based system with bounded flexibility – and differentiation on a continuum of commitments – will support both of these essential goals.
But climate change is an issue that must also be addressed across most of the international agenda. While it is not the Security Council’s role to be the author of a new rules-based system, it can and should add its weight to the case for an effective global response. Moreover the Council must step up its efforts for preventive diplomacy and conflict avoidance. Internationally, and especially here in the United Nations, we already have mechanisms that address the kind of security challenges posed by climate change, whether competition for scarce resources including land and water, food security or disaster response. Existing mechanisms, including the Security Council, must recognise the threat multiplier that is climate change.
Security threats can be most effectively mitigated where climate change is “mainstreamed” in sustainable development planning to build confident, resilient communities, who have choices about whether to relocate or remain. At a national level, building adaptive capacity allows countries to better cope with climate-related events before they spiral into major security challenges. Work under way in the UNFCCC to consider arrangements on loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change in developing countries will be an important part of that.
Co-chairs, In 2011 New Zealand had the privilege of chairing the Pacific Islands Forum – a regional body that represents some of the smallest and most vulnerable states on this planet. We share the fundamental concern of Pacific Island countries, and other particularly vulnerable countries, about the impacts of climate change – including stresses on food, fresh water, and energy supplies, as well as an increase in extreme weather events. And we share the concern that the impacts threaten the viability of some communities and raise questions about relocation. Pacific Islands Forum Leaders have recognized the desire to continue to live in their own countries, which is vital to retaining the Pacific’s social and cultural identity. It is time to think hard, and quickly, about how solutions to climate change can reflect the desire of people to continue to live in their own countries. It was for these reasons New Zealand stood alongside our Pacific neighbours in co-sponsoring the UN General Assembly Resolution on Climate Change and its possible security implications in 2009 and New Zealand now in 2013 calls on the Security Council to take up this issue again this year.
Co-Chairs, Both climate change and the responses to it will have far-reaching impacts over the decades ahead. We ask the Council to listen to the voices of those countries that face the most difficult transitions, and do all within its purview to ensure that the path to a climate-resilient future is stable and secure. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 11th, 2013 After the briefing at the US Mission to the UN I crossed the street to the UN proper and found out that the UN had two extraordinary activities that day: (1) The Launching of an International Year of Water Cooperation in the morning followed by a Press Conference at the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium. (2) The Launching of the United Nations Children’s Tour in the Visitor’s Lobby – to which all accredited Journalists and media affiliates were invited. The second event was easy to reject – this because of the fact that the invitation sounded exclusive and then because we always thought that the UN was established in order to do serious business and we never liked the idea that it is being turned by its leaders into a tourist trap. Oh well! This left the first activity which looked suspicious as well. What is it WATER COOPERATION? As I was looking for a particular journalist I found my way to the Water Cooperation Press Conference and watched three presentation by three people – The UN Ambasssador from Hungary, Mr. Csaba Korosi, a science specialist for UNESCO Ms. Ana Persic, and Mr. Paul D. Egerton the World Meteorological Organization (Headquartered in Geneva) Representative in New York. I understood that the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2013 as International Year for Water Cooperation in 2010 following a request by Tadjikistan that is short of water and has disputes with its neighbor Uzbekistan. Instead of looking at the political dispute and at the shortage of water in that dry part of central Asia, the UN gave the lead to the issue to UNESCO which is running UN Water – a project that looks at the importance of water in general. So what we got was a scientific presentation of climate change, droughts and tsunamis. Instead of having an Ambassador from n Asian dryland we got the Ambassador from Hungary and presentations on the importance of water for poverty reduction. We heard of Climate Security and catastrophic weather, of migration and water vulnerability – BUT WHAT ABOUT COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UZBEKS and the TADJIKS? What about international water-sharing laws and agreements? Yes, from our experience we know that WMD does terrific scientific work as they did when we needed them to prepare information on climate change for the IPCC – but they are not a political organization – not even UNESCO can push for COOPERATION between governments, so what was this event about. I decided to bring up what I learned just last week from the Brahmah Chellaney presentation at the Asia Society, and which I posted as: Asia is poorer in water then Africa, and China’s Tibetan Plateau dominates Asia water supply and could impact all other States. Professor Brahma Chellaney of New Delhi publicizes these problems in his books. Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 9th, 2013 My question was about the Water-Hegemony of China because of the fact that most of the rivers originate on the Tibetan Plateau and China does not care to make water agreements with its neighbors. India is a victim of such disputes with China and the development of the whole region will stop because of lack of water and of agreements to share the water. The answer came crystal clear – the studies will be prepared by scientists and not political people – that will be up to the governments. Let us say that if the UN is not ready to accept the task of getting countries together there is no sense in talking of cooperation – just another example that the UN cannot step up to the plate. ============================ And The Revealing Inner City Press Report: UN’s Water Year Is All Wet, Distinguishing Science & Politics, Tajik Sponsors By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, February 11 – The year of 2013 is the year of many things, but according to the UN General Assembly it is the International Year of Water Cooperation, credited to a request by Tajikistan in 2010. Inner City Press covered that 2010 hoopla, here. At the UN on Monday Inner City Press asked at the inevitable UN press conference about the Tajik – Uzbekistan water and dam dispute, and if the press conference panel’s singling out of Tajikistan for praise didn’t constitute taking sides in this dispute. Video here, from Minute 22:13. The World Meteorological Organization’s Paul Egerton replied that WMO and UNESCO, whose Ana Persic was also on the panel, are both scientific organizations. “The starting point is to focus on scientific and environmental issues,” he said. “There may be discussions at the high political level, in the UN Security Council or other venues, of the political issues.” But water cooperation is, of course, a “political” issue. Witness the Nile Basin and an agreement signed by seven countries but not by Egypt or Sudan. Can UNESCO solve this? The Security Council seems unlikely to get involved on the Nile, much less the Uzbek – Tajik conflict. Inner City Press began by thanking the panelists on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access. Also on the panel was Hungary’s Permanent Representative Csaba Korosi, who told Inner City Press that “we as member states cannot decide on behalf of other member states to sort out their bilateral problems.” But that is precisely what the Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter purports to do. Sudan, North Korea, Eritrea and others would like what Csaba Korosi said to be true. But it is not. Csaba Korosi went on to say that the International Year of Water Cooperation is also “to raise awareness of solutions” and is about the “SDGs and the post 2015 development agenda.” But isn’t everything? Still, his answer at least acknowledged that these are political problems, and not only scientific. Now who will solve them? Watch this site. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 31st, 2013 For Israel, droughts go down the drain.Water Authority credits desalination advances, more than this year’s remarkably wet winter weather, for country’s new water wealthBy Ron Friedman January 31, 2013, Times of Israel
 Visitors top up their glasses with treated sea water at a desalination plant near Hadera (photo credit: Shay Levy/Flash90)
After years of constantly being urged to conserve water, the National Water Authority announced Tuesday that Israelis no longer need to fear droughts and that the country’s water worries are essentially over. The solution for the longstanding problem comes not from the clouds, which have provided generous amounts of rainfall this winter, but primarily from the sea — and the desalination technology that enables transforming its waters into something you can drink. “Already we are desalinating 25 percent of our consumable water with the aid of three active plants. And with two more in the works, we will increase that amount to 50%. The drought that has plagued us in recent years is definitely over,” said Avner Hermoni, CEO of Derech Hayam desalination.  A man swims in the Sea of Galilee, Feb 2012. (photo credit: Yaakov Nahumi/Flash90) “Sea of Galillee water levels are no longer an issue,” added Danny Sofer, a regional director for the national Mekorot water company. He said that water from the northern lake now makes up only 10% of Israel’s sources. The Sea of Galilee — Lake Kinneret — has already collected enough water to reach its average yearly total, with over 330 days left to round out the total. Thanks to the heaviest winter rains Israel has seen in decades earlier this month, the lake hit the 1.57 meter mark late last week — the average yearly intake — raising it to 210.84 meters below sea level, the highest it’s been since 2006, and only two meters below the level at which water would have to be let out. The technological advances, together with the wet weather, have led the Water Authority to nix its water conservation campaign after running it for years. “You can now shower alone,” Sofer joked, though he added that wise use of water is always sound policy. Unfortunately for the public, being wealthy in water hasn’t yet translated to cheaper prices. Desalination is expensive, and on January 1 the price of water increased by 3 percent for the first 3.5 cubic meters per person in the household, bringing it to NIS 9.09 ($2.43). Beyond the allocated 3.5 cubic meters, water costs NIS 14.60 per cubic meter. The price increases adds up to a total 36% increase since 2010. Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 21st, 2012 Now the questions are – will UNEP speak for Science and the Global Environment rather then bow, as until now, to the few leading Member States interested in keeping it low and far? Back in 1972 it was sent off to far away Nairobi so it would not impact the ongoing in New York or Geneva. The result was indeed that the Environment continued to be left out from discussions of the Development and Social Agendas. The UN celebrates now: “United Nations Environment Programme Upgraded to Universal Membership Following Rio+20″ and that is not funny. They also say now: Will ECOSOC – the Economic and Social Council – be allowed now to embrace this newly empowered UNEP and be upgraded to a body that is UNIVERSAL as well, and deals with Sustainability including all three legs of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – the Environment, Social Development and Economic Development? This at a time that sees the closing of the useless Commission – the UN CSD? Will the new UNEP be charged to promote SUSTAINABLE ENERGY in the UN effort to provide Energy-4-All, the post RIO+20 other effort that will have its hub in Vienna? Sustainable Energy and the Global Environment are the twin pillars that will hold our arch to Future Generations.
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 11th, 2012 Drylands, Deserts and Desertification  The International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification (DDD) has emerged as an important global gathering of scientists, field workers, industry, government, CSOs, international development aid agencies and other stakeholders from over 60 countries concerned about land degradation in the drylands, and their sustainable use and development.
The program combines plenary lectures and panels, parallel sessions, workshops, field trips and social events. The four day conference provides an opportunity for a diverse group of experts, policy makers and land managers to consider a range of theoretical and practical issues associated with combating desertification and living sustainably in the drylands.
The 4th DDD conference will focus on the outcome of Rio+20 (UN Conference on Sustainable Development – UNCSD) and consider the science required for implementing the UNCSD recommendations relevant to drylands and desertification. Local case studies will be highlighted alongside success stories from around the world with an emphasis on indicators of progress. Additional sessions will be held considering a broad range of topics associated with sustainable living in the drylands and means to address desertification, as well as achieving the target of zero net rate of land degradation.
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 22nd, 2012
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 18th, 2012 {The original title was – - -} Russia protects Israel from UNESCO condemnations.Vote on resolutions denouncing activities in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the West Bank delayed after Moscow intervenes.By Stuart Winer, Times of Israel, October 18, 2012
A general view of a wooden footbridge leading up from the Western Wall to the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, December, 2011. (photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Russia’s envoy to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) intervened on Wednesday to defer voting on a series of condemnations of Israel. UNESCO was due to vote on five resolutions condemning Israel proposed by Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Syria, Haaretz reported on Thursday. The campaign, led by Jordan, claimed Israel is trying to change the character of Jerusalem and is engaging in archaeological digs without first coordinating with Jordan. The Jordanians also protested permitting Jewish worshipers to pray on the Temple Mount. UNESCO considers the entire Old City of Jerusalem and its surrounding walls as a world heritage site. The Palestinian Authority was reportedly pushing for resolutions criticizing Israel for the state of education in Gaza and for Israeli activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Syrians were seeking a similar condemnation for Israel’s treatment of Druse residents of the Golan Heights. The votes were set to take place at the organization’s meeting in Paris, but Russia’s envoy presented an alternative plan stipulating that the resolutions be delayed for six months during which negotiations would be held with Israel to send a UN fact-finding team to Jerusalem. According to the proposal, Israel would not be required to agree to host the team. In the lead up to the meeting, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO Nimrod Barkan met with representatives of European countries to try to block the resolutions. However, the Russian initiative, that caught the Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian representatives by surprise, passed with 28 votes in favor and 23 against. France was the single European country to oppose the Russian compromise. Tensions between Israel and Jordan have been strained for two years over renovations to the Mughrabi bridge that leads from the Western Wall plaza to the Temple Mount. Israel constructed the bridge in 2007 to better facilitate access for worshipers to the Temple Mount. However, Jordanian opposition to the structure brought international criticism of Israel and sparked off violent rioting in Jerusalem. Recent negotiations between Israel and Jordan over repairs to the wooden bridge failed to reach an agreement. —————————————————- ALSO – beyond the above and from the same source that has at times true news that are not included in the conventional media: Telling Israel Like It Is – in Arabic – Philippe Assouline (Times of Israel)
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 3rd, 2012
Dr. Hayat Sindi is the first Saudi and Muslim woman in the Middle East Gulf region to obtain a PhD in Biotechnology. Hayat Sindi was born in Mecca on November 6, 1967. As a teenager, she told her father she had been accepted at a prestigious university in London, although she had not then been accepted to any university, and persuaded him to let her go to England. After a year spent learning English and studying for her A-levels, she was accepted to King’s College in London, where she graduated with a degree in pharmacology in 1995. While at King’s College she was a recipient of Princess Anne’s Award for her undergraduate work on allergy. She went on to get a Ph.D. in biotechnology from Cambridge University in 2001; she was the first Saudi woman accepted at Cambridge University in the field of biotechnology. Sindi has invented a machine combining the effects of light and ultra-sound for use in biotechnology. Her major project is being carried out in partnership with the universities of Exeter and Cambridge. Sindi’s major invention is called MARS (Magnetic Acoustic Resonance Sensor), patented during her PhD work at the Institute of Biotechnology at Cambridge University in 2001. Along with her scientific activities, Sindi participated in numerous events aimed at raising the awareness of science amongst females, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World in general. She is also interested in the problem of brain drain and was an invited speaker at the Jeddah Economic Forum 2005. In 2010, Sindi was the winner of the Mekkah Al Mukaram prize for scientific innovation, given by HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal. She was also named a 2011 Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic Society. In 2012, she was named one of Newsweek‘s “150 Women Who Shake the World”. Paris-based UNESCO said in a press statement yesterday that Sindi made major contributions to diagnosis at care and medical testing point in or near the site of patient care, which is specially designed for a large number of people who do not have access to hospitals and medical facilities through her invention of a biochemical-chemical sensor with flexible thermal sensors, in addition to her development of acoustic magnetic resonance sensor.” JUST THINK WHAT THE MUSLIM WORLD LOSES BY NOT ALLOWING EQUAL RIGHTS TO THEIR WOMEN. WILL Dr. SINDI BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE HER CAR WHEN SHE VISITS HER HOME IN MECCA? Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 25th, 2012
Intervention by Wole Soyinka, Member of UNESCO’s International High Panel, at the 2012 Conference on the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, United Nations Hdqrs, New York, Sept. 21 2012
RELIGION AGAINST HUMANITY.
To such a degree has Religion fueled conflict, complicated politics, retarded social development and impaired human relations across the world, that one is often tempted to propose that Religion is innately an enemy of Humanity, if not indeed of itself a crime against Humanity. Certainly it cannot be denied that Religion has proved again and again a spur, a motivator, and a justification for the commission of some of the most horrifying crimes against humanity, despite its fervent affirmations of peace. Let us however steer away from hyperbolic propositions and simply settle for this moderating moral imperative: that it is time that the world adopt a position that refuses to countenance Religion as an acceptable justification for, excuse or extenuation of – crimes against humanity. While it should be mandatory that states justify their place as members of a world community by educating their citizens on the entitlement of religion to a place within society, and the obligations of mutual acceptance and respect, it should be deemed unacceptable that the world is held to ransom for the uneducated conduct of a few, and placed in a condition of fear, apprehension, leading to a culture of appeasement. There are critical issues of human well-being and survival that deserve the undivided attention of leaders all over the world. Let us recall that it is not anti-islamists who have lately desecrated and destroyed – and with such fiendish self-righteousness – the tombs of Moslem saints in Timbuktoo, most notoriously the mausoleum of the Imam Moussa al-Khadin, declared a world heritage under the protection of UNESCO and accorded pride of place in African patrimony . The orientation – backed by declarations – of these violators leaves us with a foreboding that the invaluable library treasures of Timbuktoo may be next. The truth, alas, is that the science fiction archetype of the mad scientist who craves to dominate the world has been replaced by the mad cleric who can only conceive of the world in his own image, proudly flaunting Bond’s Double-0-7 credentials – Licensed to Kill. The sooner national leaders and genuine religious leaders understand this, and admit that no nation has any lack of its own dangerous loonies, be they known as Ansar-Dine of Mali, or Terry Jones of Florida, the earlier they will turn their attention to real issues truly deserving human priority. These cited clerics and their ilk are descendants of the ancient line of iconoclasts of Islamic, christian and other religious moulds who have destroyed the antecedent spirituality and divine emblems of the African peoples over centuries. Adherents of those African religions, who remain passionately attached to their beliefs, all the way across the Atlantic – in Brazil and across other parts of Latin America – have not taken to wreaking vengeance on their presumed violators in far off lands. These emulators are still at work on the continent, most devastatingly in Somalia, with my own nation Nigeria catching up with mind-boggling rapidity and intensity. Places of worship are primary targets, followed by institutes of education. Innocent humanity, eking out their miserable livelihood, are being blown to pieces, presumably to relieve them of their misery. Schools and school pupils are assailed in religion fueled orgies, measured, deliberate and deadly. The hands of the clock of progress and social development have been arrested, then reversed in widening swathes of the Nigerian landscape. As if the resources of the nation were not already stretched to breaking point, they must now also be diverted to anticipating the consequences – as in numerous nations around the world – that would predictably follow the cinematic obscenities of a new entrant into the ranks of religious denigrators, who turns out – irony of ironies – to have originated from the African continent. In sensible families, while every possible effort is made to smooth the passage of children through life, children are taught to understand that life is not a seamless robe of many splendours, but prone to the possibility of being besmirched by the unexpected, and unpredictable. A solid core of confidence in one’s moral and spiritual choices is thus sufficient to withstand external assaults from sudden and hostile forces. That principle of personality development is every bit as essential as the education that inculcates respect for the belief systems and practices of others. The most intense ethical education, including severe social sanctions, has not eradicated material corruption, exploitation, child defilement and murders in society, not even deterrents such as capital punishment. How then can anyone presume that there shall be no violations of the ideal state of religious tolerance to which we all aspire, or demand that the world stand still, cover its head in sackcloth and ashes, grovel in self-abasement or else prepare itself for earthly pestilence for failure to anticipate the occasional penetration of their self ascribed carapace of inviolability. It is time to demand a sense of proportion, and realism. Communication advance has made it possible for both good and evil to transcend boundaries virtually at the speed of light, and for the spores of hatred to travel just as fast, and as widely as the seeds of harmony. The world should not continue to acquiesce in the brutal culture of extremism that demands the impossible – control of the conduct of millions in their individual spheres, under different laws, usages, cultures and indeed – degrees of sanity. What gives hope is the very special capacity of man for dialogue, and that arbiter is foreclosed, or endures interminable postponements as long as one side arrogates to itself the right to respond to a pebble thrown by an infantile hand in Papua New Guinea with attempts to demolish the Rock of Gibraltar. I use the word ‘infantile’ deliberately, because these alleged insults to religion are no different from the infantile scribble we encounter in public toilets, the product of infantilism and retarded development. We have learnt to ignore, and walk away from them. They should not be answered by equally infantile responses that are however incendiary and homicidal in dimension, and largely directed against the innocent, since the originating hand is usually, in any case, beyond reach. With the remorseless march of technology, we shall all be caught in a spiral of reprisals, tailored to wound, to draw virtual blood. The other side responds with real blood and gore, also clotting up the path to rational discourse. What we are witnesses to in recent times is that such proceeding is being accorded legitimacy on the grounds of religious sensibility. It is pathetic to demand what cannot be guaranteed. It is futile to attempt to rein in technology: the solution is to use that very technology to correct noxious conceptions in the minds of the perpetrators of abuse, and educate the ignorant. I speak as one from a nation whose normal diet of economic disparity, corruption, marginalization, ethnic and political cleavages has been further compounded by the ascendancy of religious jingoism. It is a lamentable retrogression from the nearly forgotten state of harmonious coexistence that I lived and enjoyed as a child. One takes consolation in the fact that some of us did not wait to sound warnings until the plague of religious extremism entered our borders. Our concerns began and were articulated as a concern for others, still at remote distances. Now that the largest black habitation on the globe has joined the club of religious terror under the portentous name, Boko Haram – which means ‘The Book is Taboo’ - we can morally demand help from others, but we only find them drowning in the rhetoric and rites of anger and/or contrition. Today it is the heritage and humanity of Timbuktoo. And tomorrow? The African continent must take back Mali – not later but – right now. The cost of further delay will be incalculable, and devastating. The spiral of reprisals now appears to have been launched, what with the recent news that a French editor has also entered the lists with a fresh album of offensive cartoons. To break that spiral, there must be dialogue of frank, mature minds. Instant, comprehensive solutions do not exist, only the arduous, painstaking path of dialogue, whose multi-textured demands are not beyond the innovative, as opposed to the emotive capacity, of cultured societies. So let that moving feast of regional dialogues – which was inaugurated by former President Khatami of Iran in these very chambers – be reinforced, emboldened, and even-handed. The destination should be a moratorium, but for this to be strong and enduring, it must be voluntary, based on a will to understanding and mental re-orientation, not on menace, self-righteous indictments and destructive emotionalism. Perhaps we may yet rescue Religion from its ultimate indictment: conscription into the ranks of provable enemies of Humanity. Wole Soyinka Sept. 21, 2012, United Nations Hdqrs, New York. ======================================
WOKE SOYINKA was awarded the The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986.From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1986, Editor Wilhelm Odelberg, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1987:
During the civil war in Nigeria, Soyinka appealed in an article for cease-fire. For this he was arrested in 1967, accused of conspiring with the Biafra rebels, and was held as a political prisoner for 22 months until 1969. Soyinka has published about 20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He writes in English and his literary language is marked by great scope and richness of words. As dramatist, Soyinka has been influenced by, among others, the Irish writer, J.M. Synge, but links up with the traditional popular African theatre with its combination of dance, music, and action. He bases his writing on the mythology of his own tribe-the Yoruba-with Ogun, the god of iron and war, at the centre. He wrote his first plays during his time in London, The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel (a light comedy), which were performed at Ibadan in 1958 and 1959 and were published in 1963. Later, satirical comedies are The Trial of Brother Jero (performed in 1960, publ. 1963) with its sequel, Jero’s Metamorphosis (performed 1974, publ. 1973), A Dance of the ForestsKongi’s Harvest (performed 1965, publ. 1967) and Madmen and Specialists (performed 1970, publ. 1971). Among Soyinka’s serious philosophic plays are (apart from “The Swamp Dwellers“) The Strong Breed (performed 1966, publ. 1963), The Road ( 1965) and Death and the King’s Horseman (performed 1976, publ. 1975). In The Bacchae of Euripides (1973), he has rewritten the Bacchae for the African stage and in Opera Wonyosi (performed 1977, publ. 1981), bases himself on John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera and Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera. Soyinka’s latest dramatic works are A Play of Giants (1984) and Requiem for a Futurologist (1985). Soyinka’s poems, which show a close connection to his plays, are collected in Idanre, and Other Poems (1967), Poems from Prison (1969), A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972) the long poem Ogun Abibiman (1976) and Mandela’s Earth and Other Poems (1988). ========================== Since 1087: Soyinka has strongly criticized many Nigerian military dictators, especially late General Sanni Abacha, as well as other political tyrannies, including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. Much of his writing has been concerned with “the oppressive boot and the irrelevance of the colour of the foot that wears it”. During the regime of General Sani Abacha (1993–1998), Soyinka escaped from Nigeria via the “Nadeco Route” on motorcycle. Living abroad, mainly in the United States, he was a professor first at Cornell University and then at Emory University in Atlanta, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts. Abacha proclaimed a death sentence against him “in absentia”. With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, Soyinka returned to his nation. He has also taught at Oxford, Harvard and Yale. From 1975 to 1999, he was a Professor of Comparative Literature at the Obafemi Awolowo University, then called the University of Ife. With civilian rule restored in 1999, he was made professor emeritus. Soyinka has been a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In the fall of 2007 he was appointed Professor in Residence at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, US.
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Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 at Abeokuta, near Ibadan in western Nigeria. After preparatory university studies in 1954 at Government College in Ibadan, he continued at the University of Leeds, where, later, in 1973, he took his doctorate. During the six years spent in England, he was a dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in London 1958-1959. In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller bursary and returned to Nigeria to study African drama. At the same time, he taught drama and literature at various universities in Ibadan, Lagos, and Ife, where, since 1975, he has been professor of comparative literature. In 1960, he founded the theatre group, “The 1960 Masks” and in 1964, the “Orisun Theatre Company”, in which he has produced his own plays and taken part as actor. He has periodically been visiting professor at the universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Yale.
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 21st, 2012
High Level Debate organized by UNESCO at the International Day of Peace, United Nations Headquarters, September 21st, 2012 The presentation by H.E. Leonel Fernández, former President of the Dominican Republic
Your Excellency Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Your Excellency Vuk Jeremic, President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly; Honorable Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO; Distinguished panelists; Distinguished ambassadors; Ladies and Gentlemen: In celebrating World Peace Day today, we arrived to this High Level Debate organized by UNESCO here, in New York, preceded by a week of violence, threats and dreadful unrest in different parts of the world. What has mostly caught our attention, however, was the amateur video about the Prophet Muhammad put in circulation by an individual, through the use of modern new media, that sparked a wave of riots, protests and killings in different countries of the Arab world. Reflecting on the occurrence of these regrettable events, we need to analyze from a fresh perspective the role of the media and its impact in an environment of continuous and accelerated technological change, within an interconnected and culturally diverse planet. In his classical work, titled, Public Opinion, the great American journalist and political philosopher, Walter Lippman, refers to the fact that in 1914, before the outbreak of World War I a group of French, German, British, Italian and Russian citizens, were living in a friendly and peaceful way, ignoring that what was to become the great war had begun among their respective nations in Europe. Months later, a ship arrived in the island, bringing newspapers and magazines with the news of the events that had taken place in what traditionally has been called “the cradle of civilization”. Right there, violence broke out and a war began between those that previous to the spreading of the bleak news, had friendly and peaceful ties. In the video about the Prophet Muhammad, there are lessons to be drawn of symbolic significance to a culture of peace, tolerance and understanding, in the midst of religious and cultural diversity. First, it is not only that a conflict of anywhere can spread conflict everywhere, as has been analyzed by a range of influential social thinkers, but that now, because of the information and communications technology revolution, for the first time in history, any individual in any part of the world can become a media content provider. That means, that from being a passive receiver of information, the individual can now play the active role of a transmitter, making modern communication more interactive. Furthermore, there is no longer need to wait for the boat to arrive to generate a collective behavioral reaction. Now, it is instantaneous communication, with news cycles going 24/7. Third, in relation to the showing of the video, government officials reacted by stating that even though they rejected and disapproved its content, they could not ban its distribution for respect of freedom of expression. There, of course, seems to be a contradiction in the argument. If something is considered legal, it shouldn’t be the object of moral repudiation. I think we can all agree that freedom of expression and the free flow of ideas do not necessarily mean that there are no limits to their exercise. In different national legislations, due to libel, slander, defamation, calumny and character assassination, limits has been drawn, beyond which infringement, misdeed or violation are considered. If this can be achieved at the national level, why not consider the possibility of drafting an international legal framework, legally binding to member states of the UN, that can prohibit and punish blasphemy as the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence toward something considered sacred? In this second decade of the 21st century, the world has continued, at an accelerated pace, its transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based society, in which information and communication technology play a distinctive role. Given the fact that it is in the interest of UNESCO to harness the media and ICTs, to promote peace, non-violence, tolerance and intercultural dialogue, it would be of significant value to consider including in its new Program of Action for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, a new international legal approach to the use of cyberspace and global digital media. In addition, supporting and promoting creative new projects, with the active participation of youths around the world, in the areas of filmmaking, theatre, performing arts, sports, radio and television programs, oriented towards peace, non-violence and cultural diversity. In that way, the media, instead of being perceived as an instrument at the service of hatred and insult to human dignity and cherished religious beliefs, can become the ideal catalyst for peace, knowledge, understanding, solidarity and pluralism in a new world order characterized for being borderless, wireless and interconnected. It will depend on our ability and commitment to make it either “Brightnet.com” or “Darknet.com”. Thank you! Permalink | | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 21st, 2012 Salon Sells The Well to Longtime MembersBy NICK WINGFIELD of the New York Times blog BITS.One of the earliest online communities, The Well, has a new owner: its members. On Thursday evening, Salon Media Group, the previous owner of The Well, said it had sold the community to the Well Group, a private investment group consisting of longtime members of the community, which was founded in 1985, long before the rise of the Web. Although The Well was never a huge community by the standards of today’s consumer Web sites, it had an influential audience of cyber-thinkers and entrepreneurs, one that became smaller and smaller over the years. In June, Salon said it was putting the community up for sale. The sale of to the Well Group includes the potentially valuable domain name well.com. “The Well welcomes the opportunity to support its existing base and extends an invitation to like-minded individuals looking for a social network that puts the free exchange of ideas at the forefront,” said Earl Crabb, chief executive of The Well Group, in a statement. In a brief phone interview, Cindy Jeffers, chief executive of Salon, declined to say how much the investment group paid Salon for The Well. “As a true pioneer of the digital age, and a forerunner of today’s ubiquitous social networks, the Well has played a central role in the origin of countless creative endeavors and cultural movements,” Ms. Jeffers said in a statement. “We wish the Well countless more under their new management.” Permalink | | ### |
