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 January 2000 Special Focus on the Peace is in our Hands click here to subscribe |
- The year 2000 has been proclaimed International Year for the Culture of Peace. Peace-building is not a state monopoly. Everyone can and should contribute to it. This focus section looks at initiatives by individuals and groups united by common humanist values and a can-do approach.
Contents:
The Fabric of Peace, Rene Zapata
In a world pervaded with violence, the struggle for peace must begin
in everyday life.
A new arena for individual initiatives, interview with Zaki Laïdi
Zaki Laïdi believes that politics today revolves around three
unequal poles: the state (slimmed down but still alive and kicking), the market and civil
society.
Colombia: Videos to dispel despair, Carlos Mauricio Vega
Amid the poverty and violence of a Bogatá slum, Victor Manuel makes
videos to divert young people away from guns and drugs.
China: Stars through the Rain, Katherine Arms
In China, there were no facilities to educate autistic children
until Tian Huiping started a school in Beijing to help her son and other sufferers.
Brazil: The houses that Francisco built, Maiá Menendes
A Brazilian professor teaches slum-dwellers low-cost brick-making
techniques.
Mali, A flickering Flame, Sophie Boukhari
Malian President Alpha Oumar Konaré is committed to a culture of
peace. But crime has been rising in Mali for several years now and the political
climate is getting worse.
India: Gandhi's disputed heritage, Darryl D'Monte
The leadership of an Indian farmers' movement against transgenic
crops says it embodies Gandhian principles but critics wonder whether it is being
manipulated.
Jubilee 2000: churches spread the word on debt, Madeline Bunting
Inspired by the biblical concept of jubilee, a global campaing to
cancel Third World debt has managed to influence the agenda of the world's richest
countries.
Sant'Egidio's diplomacy of friendship, Mario Giro
A lay Catholic movement dedicated to helping the needy and mediating
in international conflicts.
Revolt against violence, interview with Manuel Castells
Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells thinks violence aggravated by
globalization will trigger a new wave of planet-wide opposition.
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