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Focus Enough is enough. The destruction of Afghanistan’s Buddha statues, the longtime cultural despoiling of Indians in the Americas and the systematic plundering of Mali’s archaeological treasures are running up against an increasingly resolved opposition. State control of the market, the return of pieces acquired by museums through questionable means and a flurry of personal initiatives point to a steadily rising awareness that world heritage is indeed universal. Dossier coordinated by Michel Bessières, Lucía Iglesias Kuntz and Jasmina Sopova, UNESCO Courier journalists. Healing on the playing field To youngsters in Liberia, football isn’t just a game. It’s the chance to forget a murderous civil war and dream of a better life, symbolized by the revered homeboy, “Mister George”. Lucía Iglesias Kuntz is a UNESCO Courier journalist. Tim Hetherington is a British photographer. Violence in schools: a worldwide affair In all countries, schools are magnets for strife in society. Dealing with these tensions calls for extreme caution, for fear of making matters worse. Éric Debarbieux, head of the European Observatory of Violence in Schools. Blame the system Violence in schools of Francophone Africa doesn’t come from the pupils, but from the system itself, says a Burkinabé expert. Amadé Badini, senior lecturer in educational sciences at Ouagadougou University, Burkina Faso. Karate-trained teachers lose a round Unprecedented violence among young people is sweeping Japan. Some see it as a reaction to an earlier crackdown, but Yodji Morita, a sociologist from Osaka City University, criticizes the reliance on force. Interview by Philippe Demenet, UNESCO Courier journalist. South Africa: beyond exclusion During the apartheid era, township schools were sites of violent political struggle. Today, they are all too often at the mercy of criminal activity. The answers lie with society as a whole, not just the school Graeme Simpson, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg (www.csvr.org.za). A skewed battle Ang Choulean, director of the Cambodian Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the region of Siem Reap. Putting embryos on the assembly line By creating embryos through cloning, we may also find a treasure trove for treating disease. But in the rush to profit, we may sell short the very stuff that makes us human, a sense of dignity. Amy Otchet, UNESCO Courier journalist. Lost in the smoke of time The Viñales Valley, near the western tip of Cuba, is a magical landscape of hills and caves where life centres on growing tobacco. A Cuban writer recalls discovering this World Heritage site through books well before setting foot there. Reina María Rodríguez, Cuban poet and novelist, author of La Foto del Invernadero (Casa de las Americas prize, 1998) and Te daré de comer como a los pájaros (La Habana, Letras Cubanas 2000). Saving the planet: imperialism in a green garb? Developing countries feel that protecting the world’s resources is just another way for rich nations to retain the upper hand in the international trade game. Shiraz Sidhva, UNESCO Courier journalist. “Getting into the other’s shoes” Ecuador’s former environment minister Yolanda Kakabadse once said that “my heart is in conservation, but my head tells me I must be fair to my country.” Today, as head of the World Conservation Union, she calls for a better understanding between North and South. Interview by Shiraz Sidhva, UNESCO Courier journalist. Africa: the radio scene tells all Radio, the most widely used medium in Africa, can only flourish on democratic soil, which helps to explain why private stations are thriving in the west and not in the centre of the continent. Eyoum Nganguè, Cameroonian journalist Alain Senderens, cooking in a crossfire Alain Senderens, one of France’s top chefs, creates dishes for a cosmopolitan elite, but worries that the dwindling of true homemade cooking is slowly killing off our tastebuds. Interview by René Lefort, director of the UNESCO Courier.