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Stephane Dion and Micheal Ignatieff

2008-02-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

Liberal leader Stephane Dion (L) receives a standing ovation from deputy leader Michael Ignatieff and other members of his caucus while standing to speak in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa January 28, 2008.

Black enought for African-American voters ?

2008-02-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, Friday called questions early in the campaign about whether her biracial husband was "black enough" to appeal to African-American voters "silly." Michelle Obama says she is not hurt by those who question whether her husband is "black enough." "It's silliness and it's about part of the silliness of our culture," she said. A Harvard-educated attorney and vice president at the University of Chicago, Michelle Obama, 44, said the question -- raised most famously in a New York Times article -- wasn't hurtful to her. "That has nothing to do with me or Barack -- that has to do with the challenges we are facing in this country and we shouldn't be surprised by them because we still haven't worked through this stuff," she said. "I don't think there is a person of color in this country that doesn't struggle with what it means to be a part of your race versus what the majority thinks is right." The question about Obama, who was born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, was raised early in the presidential race, when rival Sen. Hillary Clinton was polling well among black voters and landing endorsements from high-profile black political leaders. Watch Michelle Obama talk about her reluctance to see her husband run » Since then, Obama's support has vastly increased with black voters. He took 78 percent of the black vote in a South Carolina primary he won handily and 73 percent of the African-American vote in Florida, although delegates from that contest, which Clinton won, won't count because of a scheduling squabble between state and national Democratic officials. Don't Miss CNN's Soledad O'Brien interviews Michelle Obama Clinton, Obama engage in less finger pointing Candidates gear up for Super Tuesday ElectionCenter 2008: Barack Obama Obama, a senator from Illinois, and Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, are the two remaining challengers for the Democratic nomination and remain locked in a tight race. Obama won the season-opening Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary, while Clinton won New Hampshire, Nevada and no-delegate contests in Florida and Michigan, which also got in trouble for pushing ahead in the primary schedule. While she said she initially tried to talk her husband out of running for president, Michelle Obama said she doesn't share the concerns voiced by Alma Powell, wife of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is black, that her husband's safety might be threatened over a quest for the White House. Powell had been mentioned as a possible candidate, but did not run. "There are inherent risks for all people, but particularly for people of color, so, you know, I can't live my life worrying about what might go wrong," she said. "What we are going through, Barack and our family, is nothing compared to our leaders who pushed through on the civil rights movement. "When I think of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King and true fears that they had and true sacrifices that they made, I think I don't have any right to hesitate for doing something that I think is important out of fear." E-mail to a friend

Carter lavished praise on Barack Obama

2008-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2008 Carter praises Obama Carter lavished praise on Barack Obama. One former president has long assumed a very outspoken role in the presidential race. Now another is speaking up. Jimmy Carter says he's not formally endorsing any candidate, but in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the former president lavished praise on Barack Obama, calling his campaign "extraordinary" "Obama's campaign has been extraordinary and titillating for me and my family," Carter told the newspaper in an interview published in its Wednesday edition. According to the paper, Carter was particularly praiseworthy of the Illinois senator's rhetorical skills, comparing them to those of Martin Luther King, Jr. Carter also said Obama "will be almost automatically a healing factor in the animosity now that exists, that relates to our country and its government." Carter, a onetime governor of Georgia and one of only two Democrats to win the White House in the last forty years, also said he thinks Obama's candidacy could put several southern states in play in a general election match up. Carter also commented on the recent criticism surrounding Bill Clinton, following that former president's comments on the campaign trail that some have viewed as racially divisive. Carter said Clinton personally called him to explain the remarks. "He doesn't call me often, but the fact that he called me this morning and spent a long time explaining his position indicates that it's troublesome to them, the adverse reaction," he said. "I told him I hoped it would die down. — the charged atmosphere concerning the race issue," Carter continued. "And I think it will."

Obama seeking Hisnanic vote

2008-02-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Obama looking to Hispanics WASHINGTON - As Super Tuesday approaches, Barack Obama is ratcheting up his appeals to Hispanic voters, who will make up a significant portion of the electorate in key states like California, New York and Arizona. The Illinois senator trails his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, by 30 percentage points among Hispanics in national polls. Clinton's appeal in the community has helped her maintain a lead in delegate-rich California, where Hispanics could make up a fifth of primary voters. But Obama is not giving up. He is wooing voters in East Los Angeles above chants of "Si, se puede," or "Yes, we can." He dispatched Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat beloved by Hispanics, to court voters in New Mexico and is running Spanish-language ads in California and Arizona. "It's truly a matter of making sure Latino voters understand his record," said his spokesman, Tommy Vietor. "The more they know what his values are and what he's accomplished, the more likely he is to earn their support." So far, Hispanic voters are not as enthusiastic about Obama as his campaign would like. Some pundits say racial tension between Blacks and Hispanics may partly explain why Obama is trailing Clinton. Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the nation. In many inner-city neighborhoods, they live side by side with Blacks, competing for jobs and turf. Sergio Bendixen, a Hispanic pollster for Clinton, set off a firestorm of criticism when he told a writer for the New Yorker magazine that race could be playing a role. "The Hispanic voter - and I want to say this very carefully - has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support Black candidates," he said. Manuel Montoya, who was born in Mexico and raised in California, says race could be a factor for some Hispanics. But he thinks Clinton enjoys more support among Hispanics simply because she has been stronger on health care and other issues that affect them. "She's the right candidate for us," said Montoya, who lives in Palm Springs. "The Latino demographic will put her over the top." At a rally Thursday in Los Angeles, Obama dismissed as "cynical" talk of racial tension among Blacks and Hispanics. "We've heard talk about the so-called Black-Brown divide," he said. "And whenever I hear this, I take it seriously because I'm reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters that I worked alongside on the streets of Chicago two decades ago." Obama's attempt to erode Clinton's lead among Hispanics could be crucial for his White House bid. For the first time in decades, Hispanic voters are playing a major role in selecting the Democratic presidential nominee. Of the 24 states and one territory holding Democratic contests Tuesday, seven - Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York - have Hispanic populations ranging from 15 percent to 44 percent of state residents. In all, the states are home to more than half of the nation's 44.3 million Hispanics. "There's a history there," said Joe Garcia, a Democratic strategist who says Clinton simply has better name recognition than Obama among Hispanics.

Black History Month

2008-02-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

The History of Black History by Elissa Haney Dr. Carter G. Woodson Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied-or even documented-when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books. Blacks Absent from History Books We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty. He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. The scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population-and when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time. Established Journal of Negro History Woodson, always one to act on his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history. Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. However, February has much more than Douglass and Lincoln to show for its significance in black American history. For example: February 23, 1868: W. E. B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP, was born. February 3, 1870: The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote. February 25, 1870: The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office. February 12, 1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City. February 1, 1960: In what would become a civil-rights movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. February 21, 1965: Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims. More from the Black History Timeline More from Black History Month

Gaga over Obama

2008-02-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Germans are gaga over Barack Obama. He's got Japan pretty jazzed, too, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia's leaders, not so much: They prefer a Republican — as long as it's not Kremlin critic John McCain. And Mexico's president? He doesn't have much use for any of them. America's extraordinary presidential campaign has captivated politicians and ordinary people around the globe. With so much at stake in the race for the White House, the world is watching with an intensity that hasn't been seen since the Clinton era began in 1992. After eight years of President Bush, the latest mantra in U.S. politics — "transformational change" — is resonating across the rest of a planet desperate for a fresh start. "They feel there's a real chance to work with the U.S.," said Julianne Smith, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "America's image in the world is really on the line." Non-Americans, she said, are looking for someone who can "restore faith in the United States." Obama, perhaps not surprisingly, is generating most of the buzz abroad. "Der schwarze Kennedy," some German admirers are calling him: "The black JFK." "He is young, charming and sexy!" the mass-circulation newspaper Bild gushed. "Obama is now the ideal projection screen for hopes and expectations in Europe" and the U.S. alike, said Christian Hacke, a professor at the University of Bonn. "I like him. I like his ideas, his attitude, his appearance. I prefer him to Hillary Clinton, who is more artificial," said Eva Berto, a Rome doctor who thinks Obama would bring a new approach to the crisis in Iraq and the nuclear standoff with Iran. Japanese media are closely tracking both Obama and the woman they refer to simply as "Hillary," and focusing on the possibility that either could make history. "The idea since the country's founding — 'You can't become president if you're not a white man' — has already been destroyed," the Mainichi newspaper said in an editorial. But in Europe, where some see Obama as untested, support for Clinton is widespread, and nostalgia for her husband's charisma runs deep. When scandals rocked the Clinton White House, most Europeans responded with a Gallic shrug. "Nobody in Europe ever took Bill Clinton's problems in office seriously," said Patrick Dunleavy, a political scientist at the London School of Economics. "Nobody could ever understand why Americans were so upset. Bill Clinton was always a fantastic presence in Europe." The Republican presidential hopefuls, by contrast, are not highly regarded in Europe: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are seen as too religious, and the 71-year-old McCain as too old. To Britons, history's most popular postwar presidents were Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton because of their perceived levelheadedness and intelligence, said Dunleavy. The most despised? President Bush and Ronald Reagan "because they were seen as erratic and unpredictable," he said. Yet Democrats don't rule the entire world of public opinion. Saad al-Hadithi, a political analyst in Baghdad, contends the Republican candidates are more committed to Iraq and have a better approach. "They show more support to the political progress and to combating terrorist groups in Iraq," he said. "The Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton, are calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, but they are not offering an alternative. Such a withdrawal while the Iraqi security forces are still weak will lead to disastrous results." Russia's leaders also consider Republicans more pragmatic, said Nkolai Petrov, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center. But the Kremlin, Petrov said, would likely have "serious concerns" if McCain wins the Republican nomination because of the Arizona senator's harsh and persistent criticism of Vladimir Putin's autocratic government. Others in Russia are drawn to the lively U.S. campaign if only because it's such a sharp contrast to Moscow's tightly choreographed March 2 presidential election — a contest that Putin's favored successor, Dmitry Medvedev, is seen as certain to win. Africans naturally gravitate toward Obama, whose father was from Kenya. Israelis, though, seem to prefer Hillary Clinton — even though Obama has voiced support for key Israeli demands in peace talks with the Palestinians — because of her experience and the backing Bill Clinton gave to the Jewish state during his two terms as president. Amid the raging debate over immigration, Mexicans arguably have more at stake in the U.S. election than any other nation. But President Felipe Calderon doesn't think very highly of any of the candidates. "The only theme," he declared in December, "is to compete to see who can be the most swaggering, macho and anti-Mexican." In the post-Bush era, the bottom line is blunt and simple, Dunleavy said. "People all around the world are pretty worried," he said. "They want a president who will restore a kind of U.S. legitimacy in the world." ___

Tiger Woods Impressed by Obama ...

2008-01-31T14:52:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Tiger Woods says he has been impressed with Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama and believes he is an inspiration to many in the United States. Asked for his views on the senator from Illinois, ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic, Woods replied: "I've seen him speak. He's extremely articulate, very thoughtful. "I'm just impressed at how well, basically all politicians really do, how well they think on their feet. Especially those debates. It's pretty phenomenal to see them get their point across. "But I just think that he's really inspired a bunch of people in our country and we'll see what happens down the road."

Caroline Kennedy stands beside Obama

2008-01-31T06:04:00.001-08:00

Caroline Kennedy stands beside Democratic presidential, hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., during a rally in Denver, Colo., Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008.

Barack Obama stands strong ...

2008-01-31T05:51:00.000-08:00

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, center, talks with supporters at a 'Stand for Change' rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008, in Phoenix, Ariz. Obama is flanked by Arizona's Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, left, and Caroline Kennedy, both recently endorsed the candidate.

Mahatma Gandhi , Remembering the Hero, and the victory of Wisdom...

2008-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

REMEMBERING THE HERO: The nation paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 59th death anniversary (TOI Photo) NEW DELHI: The nation paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 59th death anniversary on Tuesday, with President A P J Abdul Kalam leading the country in remembering the Father of the Nation by offering floral tributes at his 'samadhi' Rajghat here. Kalam and other top leaders, including Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues and Leader of Opposition L K Advani offered flowers at Gandhi's samadhi. The three Chiefs of the Armed Forces were also present on the occasion to pay homage to Gandhi on what is observed as `Martyr's Day'. The gathering, that included noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, observed a two minutes' silence in memory of Gandhi. `Bhajans', including Gandhi's favourite devotional song `Vaishnav Jan To', were played on the occasion.

WSF 2008, World Social Forum

2008-01-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action. Since the first world encounter in 2001, it has taken the form of a permanent world process seeking and building alternatives to neo-liberal policies. This definition is in its Charter of Principles, the WSF’s guiding document. The World Social Forum is also characterized by plurality and diversity, is non-confessional, non-governmental and non-party. It proposes to facilitate decentralized coordination and networking among organizations engaged in concrete action towards building another world, at any level from the local to the international, but it does not intend to be a body representing world civil society. The World Social Forum is not a group nor an organization. Who ? The Global Call for Action is asking social movements and civil society worldwide to mobilize together in the week culminating on January 26, 2008. Read more and why.

Obama wins South Carolina

2008-01-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially-charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates. Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina battled for a distant second place. Either way it was a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago. About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and Edwards split the rest. The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history. The South Carolina primary marked the end of the first phase of the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, a series of single-state contests that winnowed the field, conferred co-front-runner status on Clinton and Obama but had relatively few delegates at stake. That all changes in 10 days' time, when New York, Illinois and California are among the 15 states holding primaries in a virtual nationwide primary. Another seven states and American Samoa will hold Democratic caucuses on the same day. Obama's "South Carolina voters rejected the politics of the past," said Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama. The first fragmentary returns showed Obama with 57 percent of the vote, Clinton gaining 29 percent and Edwards at 13 percent. All three contenders campaigned in South Carolina on primary day, but only Obama and Edwards arranged to speak to supporters after the polls closed. Clinton decided to fly to Tennessee, one of the Feb. 5 states, leaving as the polls were closing. After playing a muted role in the earlier contests, the issue of race dominated an incendiary week that included a shift in strategy for Obama, a remarkably bitter debate and fresh scrutiny of the former president's role in his wife's campaign. Each side accused the other of playing the race card, sparking a controversy that frequently involved Bill Clinton. "They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender. That's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," former President Clinton said at one stop as he campaigned for his wife, strongly suggesting that blacks would not support a white alternative to Obama. Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South. Nearly six in 10 voters said the former president's efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady. Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women. The exit polls showed the economy was the most important issue in the race. About one quarter picked health care. And only one in five said it was the war in Iraq, underscoring the extent to which the once-dominant issue has faded in the face of financial concerns. The exit poll was conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the networks. Clinton and Obama swapped accusatory radio commercials earlier in the week. The former first lady aired an ad saying Obama had once approved of Republican ideas. His camp responded quickly that Clinton "will say anything." First she, then he, pulled the commercials after a short run on the air. Given the bickering, Edwards looked for an opening to reinvigorate a candidacy all but eclipsed by the historic campaign between Obama and Clinton. He went on the "Late Show with David Letterman" at midweek to say he wanted to represent the "grown-up wing of the Democratic party." That was one night after a finger-wagging debate in which Obama told Clinton he was helping unemployed workers on the streets of Chicago when "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart." Moments later, the former first lady said she was fighting against misguided Republican policies "when you were practicing law and representing your contributor ... in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."

Michelle Bachelet, Chile first woman president ...

2008-01-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

Large crowds have gathered to celebrate Michelle Bachelet's win Centre-left candidate Michelle Bachelet has become Chile's first woman president, taking 53.5% of the poll with almost all the votes counted. Her rival, conservative businessman Sebastian Pinera, has admitted defeat. Giving a victory speech to cheering supporters, Ms Bachelet said: "Who would have said, 10, 15 years ago, that a woman would be elected president?" The election is the fourth since Chile returned to democracy in 1990 after 17 years of military rule. Outgoing President Ricardo Lagos hailed the election of Chile's first woman leader as a "historic triumph". Pay homage Mr Pinera, who had 46.5% of the vote with 97.5% counted, was also quick to congratulate Ms Bachelet. Winner looks ahead Press hails Bachelet win He said he wanted to "pay homage to all those millions and millions of women who with much strength and tenacity have finally achieved the place and the situation they deserve in our society". Ms Bachelet thanked the thousands of enthusiastic supporters who gathered outside her campaign headquarters in the capital, Santiago. She called on the whole country to work together to solve its problems and repeated her promise to bring more jobs and social justice to Chile. The BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Santiago says thousands of people have been waving flags, blowing whistles and chanting slogans in the streets, with many more honking their horns as they drive round the city. It took less than three hours after the polls closed for it to became clear the 54-year-old would be the next president and for the celebrations to begin. Ms Bachelet has promised continuity, as head of the coalition which has led Chile for the past 16 years, but has also pledged change. She has said she is keen to bridge the gap between rich and poor and to give a greater voice to women and indigenous people. And, our correspondent says, more women are expected to be appointed to public office. Unusual choice The second round of voting was called after no candidate secured the 50% required for outright victory in the first round in December. SOUTH AMERICAN WOMEN PRESIDENTS Michelle Bachelet - elected Chile's first woman leader, 2006 Janet Jagan - elected Guyana's leader in 1997 after the death of her husband, the previous president Lidia Gueiler Tejada - served as interim president of Bolivia following a coup, 1979-80 Isabel Martinez de Peron - sworn in as interim president of Argentina in 1974 when husband Juan Peron fell ill and died; kept power until 1976 Rosalia Arteaga - briefly acted as president of Ecuador in 1997 Ms Bachelet, who won 46% of the vote then, went into the run-off ballot leading the opinion polls. The former defence minister will become the fourth consecutive president from the centre-left coalition known as the Concertacion, which has governed Chile since the end of military rule in 1990. A doctor and a single mother, Ms Bachelet was seen as an unusual choice for the presidency in a country considered one of the most socially conservative in South America. Mr Pinera - who polled 25% in December - was given the backing of third-placed candidate, Joaquin Lavin, who received 23% in that vote. However, the billionaire businessman and former senator appears not to have picked up all the right-wing vote previously given to Mr Lavin. E-mail this to a friend Printable version BBC NEWS: VIDEO AND AUDIO Michelle Bachelet was tortured during Augusto Pinochet's rule LATIN AMERICAN ELECTIONS KEY STORIES Ecuador leftist Correa leads vote Ortega wins Nicaraguan election Uribe sworn in amid high security New Haiti president takes office Bolivia's new leader vows change Chile gets first woman president BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS Year of elections How Latin America's political landscape could be redrawn Ecuador votes for break with past Ortega: Nicaragua comeback kid? Lula bounces back from the ropes Tightrope for Mexico's Calderon Second chance for Peru's Garcia Uribe win brings hope for peace

Wangari Maathai's Green Belt mouvement

2008-01-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

The planting of trees is the planting of ideas. By starting with the simple act of planting a tree, we give hope to ourselves and to future generations.–Wangari Maathai What is the Green Belt Movement? The Green Belt Movement is one of the most prominent women’s civil society organizations, based in Kenya, advocating for human rights and supporting good governance and peaceful democratic change through the protection of the environment. Its mission is to empower communities worldwide to protect the environment and to promote good governance and cultures of peace. How It All Started The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was started in 1977 by Dr. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004). What began as a grassroots tree planting program to address the challenges of deforestation, soil erosion and lack of water is now a vehicle for empowering women. The act of planting a tree is helping women throughout Africa become stewards of the natural environment. But that’s just the first step. By protecting the environment, these women are also becoming powerful champions for sustainable management of scarce resources such as water, equitable economic development, good political governance, and ultimately….. peace. Our Achievements Today, more than 40 million trees have been planted across Africa. The result: soil erosion has been reduced in critical watersheds, thousands of acres of biodiversity-rich indigenous forest have been restored and protected, and hundreds of thousands of women and their families are standing up for their rights and those of their communities and so are living healthier, more productive lives. Yet, so much remains to be done. Forests are still being lost, democracy is fragile, and poverty is still widespread. Wangari Maathai was born April 1, 1940 Place: Nyeri Nationality: Kenyan Family: Three children (Waweru, Wanjira and Muta) Education PhD, Anatomy, University of Nairobi (1971) MS, Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, USA (1966) BS, Biology, Mount St. Scholastica College, USA (1964) Personal Achievements Goodwill Ambassador, Congo Basin Forest Initiative (2005-present) Presiding Officer, Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) (2005-2007) Founding Chair, the Green Belt Movement International (2005) Assistant Minister, Environment, Republic of Kenya (2003-Present) Member of Parliament, Tetu Constituency, Republic of Kenya (2002-present) Founding member, GROOTS International (1985) Founder and Coordinator, the Green Belt Movement (1977-2002) Director, Kenya Red Cross (1973-1980) Academic Appointments Chair, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Nairobi (1976) Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Nairobi (1977) Endowed Chair in Gender & Women’s Studies named “Fuller-Maathai,” Connecticut College (2000) Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College, USA (2001) Dorothy McCluskey Visiting Fellow for Conservation, Yale University, USA (2002) Professional Affiliations Board Member, Global Crop Diversity, Norway Jury Member, Goldman Environmental Prize, USA Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International, USA Advisory Board, Clinton Global Initiative, USA Member, UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, USA Member, UN Commission on Global Governance, USA Member, Advisory Board, Democracy Coalition Project, USA Member, Earth Charter Commission, USA Selection Committee, Sasakawa Environmental Prize, United Nations Environment Programme, Kenya Board Member, Women's and Environment Development Organization (WEDO), USA Board Member, World Learning USA Board Member, Green Cross International Board Member, Environment Liaison Center International, Kenya Board Member, the WorldWIDE Network of Women in Environmental Work, USA Board Member, National Council of Women of Kenya, Kenya Honorary Degrees Doctor of Science, Egerton University, Kenya (2007) Doctor of Public Service Honoris Causa, University of Pittsburgh, USA (2006) Doctor of Humane Letters, Connecticut College, USA (2006) Doctor of Science, Morehouse College, USA (2006) Doctor of Science, Ochanomizu University, Japan (2005) Doctor of Science, Willamette University, USA (2005) Doctor of Science, University of Nairobi, Kenya (2005) Doctor of Science, Soka University, Japan (2004) Doctor of Science, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan (2004) Doctor of Law, Yale University, USA (2004) Doctor of Agriculture, University of Norway (1997) Doctor of Science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA (1994) Doctor of Law, Williams College, USA (1990) Awards 2007: The Nelson Mandela Award for Health & Human Rights, South Africa 2007: The Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, India 2007: Cross of the Order of St Benedict, Benedictine College, Kansas, USA 2006:The Indira Gandhi International Award for Peace, Disarmament & Development, India 2006: Premio Defensa Medio Ambiente, Club Internacional De Prensa, Spain 2006: 6th in 100 greatest eco-heroes of all time, The Environment Agency, UK 2006: Medal for Distinguished Achievement, University of Pennsylvania, USA 2006:Woman of Achievement Award from the American Biographical Institute Inc., USA 2006:The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Milele(Lifetime)Achievement Award 2006: Legion D'Honneur, Government of France 2006: The IAIA Global Environment Award, International Association for Impact Assessment, Norway 2006: Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund Award, USA 2005: New York Women's Century Award, New York Women's Foundation, USA 2005: One the 100 most influential people in the world: Time magazine, USA 2005: One of the 100 most powerful women in the world: Forbes magazine, USA 2004: Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Norway 2004: Sophie Prize, the Sophie Foundation, Norway 2004: Elder of the Golden Heart, Republic of Kenya 2004: Petra Kelly Environment Prize, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany 2004: J. Sterling Morton Award, Arbor Day Foundation, USA 2004: Conservation Scientist Award, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University, USA 2003: Elder of the Burning Spear, Republic of Kenya 2003: WANGO Environment Award, World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, USA 2002: Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award, Bridges to Community, USA 2001: Excellence Award, Kenyan Community Abroad, USA 2001: The Juliet Hollister Award, Temple of Understanding, USA 1997: One of 100 in the world who’ve made a difference in environment: Earth Times, USA 1995: International Women’s Hall of Fame, International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation, USA 1994: The Order of the Golden Ark Award, the Netherlands 1993: The Jane Addams Leadership Award, Jane Addams Conference, USA 1993: The Edinburgh Medal, Medical Research Council, Scotland 1991: The Hunger Project’s Africa Prize for Leadership, United Nations, USA 1991: Global 500 Hall of Fame: United Nations Environment Programme, USA 1991: The Goldman Environmental Prize, the Goldman Foundation, USA 1990: The Offeramus Medal, Benedictine College, USA 1989: Women of the World Award, WomenAid, UK 1988: The Windstar Award for the Environment, Windstar Foundation, USA 1986: Better World Society Award, USA 1984: Right Livelihood Award, Sweden 1983: Woman of the Year Award

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and internationally known writer

2008-01-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

Gabriel Gárcia Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez was born on March 6, 1928 in Aracataca, a town in Northern Colombia, where he was raised by his maternal grandparents in a house filled with countless aunts and the rumors of ghosts. But in order to get a better grasp on García Márquez's life, it helps to understand something first about both the history of Colombia and the unusual background of his family. Colombia Colombia won its independence from Spain in 1810, technically making it one of Latin America's oldest democracies, but the sad fact is that this "democracy" has rarely known peace and justice. In the beginning, there was of course Spain and the Indians, happily hating each other as the Spaniards tore the land up in quest for gold, El Dorado, religious converts, and political power. The English, too, played their part, with Drake attacking Riohachi in 1568 and the countless colonial squabbles of the next few centuries. Declaring itself independent from Spain when Napoleon ousted the Spanish King in 1810, the new country experienced a brief period of freedom and then was quickly reconquered in 1815 by the unpleasant and bloody campaigns of General Murillo. So much did their internal bickering allow their fledgling country to fall to the sword of Murillo, the period is immortalized in Colombia's history with the colorful name of la Patria Boba, or "The Booby Fatherland." Round two, however, fell to the Colombians, when Simón Bolívar reliberated the country in 1820 and became its very first president. In 1849, the country was sufficiently advanced to concretize their squabbling in the form of two political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, which exist to this day. These two parties form the political framework for much of García Márquez's fiction, and understanding their true natures is both a key to his writing and, unfortunately, an important insight to Latin American politics in general. Although initially forming around the nucleus of two distinct and different ideologies, long years of bloody conflict have served to erode significantly the distinctions between the parties. The Conservatives and the Liberals are more like warring factions or clans than any parties with firmly established or radically opposing ideologies. Both tend to be repressive, both are corrupt, and both terribly abuse power when it falls into their hands; and throughout the sad history of Colombia, both parties have been more or less at war. It has often been said of Colombia's parties that you do not join them, you are born into them; and indeed they act more as territorial and familial units than as peacefully functioning parties with distinct political platforms. In addition, the country is split into two main regional groups -- the costeños of the coastal Caribbean, and the cachacos of the central highland. Both groups use those terms as pejorative of the other, and both occasionally view the other with disdain. The costeños tend to be more racially mixed, verbally outgoing, and superstitious. They are primarily the "descendants of pirates and smugglers, with a mixture of black slaves," and as a whole are "dancers, adventurers, people full of gaiety." The cachacos, on the other hand, are more formal, aristocratic, and racially pure, who pride themselves on their advanced cities such as Bogotá and on their ability to speak excellent Spanish. Traditionally, the tropical Caribbean coast has been a Liberal bastion, and the cool mountains and valleys of the interior tend to the Conservative side. García Márquez has often remarked that he views himself as a mestizo and a costeño, both characteristics enabling his formation and development as a writer. Throughout the nineteenth century, Colombia was wracked by rebellions, civil wars of both the local and national variety, and several coups d'etat.This century of bloodshed had its culmination in 1899, when the War of a Thousand Days began -- Colombia's most devastating civil war, a conflict that ended in late 1902 with the defeat of the Liberals. The war claimed the lives of over 100,000 people, primarily peasants and their sons. García Márquez's grandfather fought in that war, and many of its veterans would eventually find their way into immortalization as fictional characters in his work. Another element that would influence his work was the Banana Strike Massacre of 1928. Although coffee is generally considered Colombia's main export, for the first few decades of the twentieth century, bananas were also of crucial importance to the economy. The banana trade had its principal manifestation in the United Fruit Company, an American outfit that had a virtual monopoly on the banana industry, which at the time was the only source of income for many of the costeño areas, including Aracataca. One of the more lamentable examples of Western Imperialism veiled as prosperity, the UFC had unlimited economic power and tremendous political clout, but it was a corrupt and amoral company that exploited its Colombian workers terribly. In October of 1928, over 32,000 native workers went on strike, demanding, among other such unreasonable things, hygienic working conditions, medical treatment, functioning toilets, and payment in cash rather than inflated company scrip. Indeed, the workers were denied their very existence as employees; although they labored seven days a week for little pay, they were defined as "subcontractors," and were therefore exempted from Colombian labor laws and safety regulations. The response of the Yankees was essentially to ignore their demands; shortly after the strike began, the Colombian government occupied the banana zone and employed the military as strikebreakers. One night in December, a huge crowd gathered in Ciénaga (30 miles north of Aracataca) to hold a demonstration. In order to quell the incident, the Conservative government sent in the troops, who fired on the unarmed workers, killing hundreds. Over the next few months, more people simply vanished, and finally the whole incident was officially denied and struck from the history books. García Márquez would later incorporate the incident in One Hundred Years of Solitude. The next significant event that would eventually affect his writing was a period of time that he himself would live through, a horrible episode of Colombian history called la violencia, or "the Violence." The Violence had its roots in the banana massacre. At that time, one of the only politicians courageous enough to take a stand against government corruption was a man named Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a young Liberal member of congress who convened meetings to investigate the incident. Gaitán began to rise in prominence, a champion of the peasants and the poor, but an annoyance to the powerful members of both parties, who viewed him with something akin to fear and loathing. Using radio as his medium, he heralded a time of change, a time when the people would take part in a true democracy and corporations would be forced to act responsibly. By 1946, Gaitán was powerful enough to cause a split in his own party, which had been in power since 1930. The split caused a Conservative return to power and, fearing a reprisal, they began organizing paramilitary groups whose ultimate purpose was to terrorize Liberal voters; which they did admirably, killing thousands of them by the end of the year. In 1947 the Liberals gained control of the Congress, putting Gaitán in charge as party leader. (Despite the Conservative's efforts, the voter turnout was at a record high.) Tensions rose, and on April 9, 1948, Gaitán was assassinated in Bogotá. The city was convulsed by lethal riots for three days, a period called el Bogotázo and responsible for 2500 deaths. La violencia then shifted into an even more deadly phase. Guerrilla armies were organized by both parties, and terror swept through the land. Towns and villages were burned, thousands -- including women and children -- were brutally murdered, farms were confiscated, and over a million peasants emigrated to Venezuela. In 1949, Conservatives even gunned down a Liberal politician, in the middle of giving a speech in the very halls of Congress! The Conservatives finally dissolved Congress, declared the country to be in a state of siege, and Liberals (now conveniently branded "communists") were hunted, persecuted, and murdered. The country was ripped apart; la violencia would claim the lives of some 150,000 Colombians by 1953. The Violence would later become the backdrop to several of García Márquez's novellas and stories, most notably In Evil Hour. His Family The most important relatives of García Márquez were undoubtedly his maternal grandfather and grandmother. His grandfather was Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía, a Liberal veteran of the War of a Thousand Days. He lived in Aracataca, a banana town by the Caribbean, a village which he helped found. The Colonel was something of a hero to the costeños, for among other things, he refused to stay silent about the banana massacres, delivering a searing denunciation of the murders to Congress in 1929. A very complex and interesting man, the Colonel was also an excellent storyteller who had lead quite an intriguing life -- when he was younger he shot and killed a man in a duel, and it is said that he had fathered over sixteen children. He would speak of his wartime exploits as if they were "almost pleasant experiences -- sort of youthful adventures with guns." The old Colonel taught the young Gabriel lessons from the dictionary, took him to the circus each year, and was the first one who introduced his grandson to ice -- a miracle to be found at the UFC company store. He also told his young grandson that there was no greater burden than to have killed a man, a lesson that García Márquez would later put into the mouths of his characters. His grandmother was Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes, and would be no less an influence on the young García Márquez than her husband. She was impressively filled with superstitions and folk beliefs, as were her numerous sisters, and they filled the house with stories of ghosts and premonitions, omens and portents -- all of which were studiously ignored by her husband, who once said to young Gabriel, "Don't listen to that. Those are women's beliefs." And yet listen he did, for his grandmother had a unique way of telling stories. No matter how fantastic or improbable her statements, she always delivered them as if they were the irrefutable truth. It was a deadpan style that, some thirty years later, her grandson would adopt for his greatest novel. García Márquez's parents were more or less strangers to him for the first few years of his life, and the reason behind this is quite interesting. His mother, Luisa Santiaga Márquez Iguarán, was one of the two children born to the Colonel and his wife. A spirited girl, she unfortunately fell in love with a man named Gabriel Eligio García. "Unfortunately," for García was something of an anathema to her parents. For one thing, he was a Conservative as well as la hojarasca, a derogatory term applied to the recent residents of the town drawn by the banana trade. (La hojarasca means "dead leaf," as in something that descends in useless flurries and is best swept away.) García also had a reputation as a philanderer, the father of four illegitimate children. He was not exactly the man the Colonel had envisioned winning the heart of his daughter -- and yet he did, wooing her with violin serenades, love poems, countless letters -- and even telegraph messages. They tried all they could to get rid of the man, but he kept coming back, and it was obvious that their daughter was committed to him. Finally they surrendered to his Romantic tenacity, and the Colonel gave her hand in marriage to the former medical student. In order to ease relations, the newlyweds settled in the Colonel's old home town of Riohacha. (The tragicomic story of their courtship would later be adapted and recast as Love in the Time of Cholera.) Early Life Gabriel José García Márquez was born on March 6, 1928 in Aracataca, although his father contends that it was really 1927. Because his parents were still poor and struggling, his grandparents accepted the task of raising him, a common practice at the time. Unfortunately, 1928 was the last year of the banana boom in Aracataca. The strike and its brutal reprisal hit the town hard; over one hundred strikers were shot one night in Aracataca and dumped into a common grave. It was a sad start to his life, one that would later resurface in his writing. Nicknamed Gabito, "little Gabriel" grew up as a quiet and shy lad, entranced by his grandfather's stories and his grandmother's superstitions. Aside from the Colonel and himself, it was a house of women, and García Márquez would later remark that their beliefs had him afraid to leave his chair, half terrified of ghosts. And yet all the seeds of his future work were planted in that house -- stories of the civil war and the banana massacre, the courtship of his parents, the sturdy practicality of the superstitious matriarch, the comings and goings of aunts, great aunts, and his grandfather's illegitimate daughters.... Later García Márquez would write: "I feel that all my writing has been about the experiences of the time I spent with my grandparents." His grandfather died when he was eight years old, and due to his grandmother's increasing blindness, he went to live with his parents in Sucre, where his father was working as a pharmacist. Soon after he arrived in Sucre, it was decided that he should begin his formal schooling. He was sent to a boarding school in Barranquilla, a port city at the mouth of the Magdalena River. There, he acquired a reputation as being a shy boy who wrote humorous poems and drew cartoons. So serious and non-athletic was he that he was nicknamed "the Old Man" by his classmates. In 1940, when he was twelve, he was awarded a scholarship to a secondary school for gifted students, run by Jesuits. The school -- the Liceo Nacional -- was in Zipaquirá, a city 30 miles to the north of Bogotá. The journey would take a week, and in that time he came to the conclusion that he did not like Bogotá. Exposed to the capital city for the first time, he found it dismal and oppressive, and his experience helped confirm his identity as a costeño. In school, he found himself growing quite stimulated by his studies, and in the evening, he often read books aloud to his companions in the dormitory. And much to his amusement, even though he had yet to write anything significant, his great love of literature and his cartoons and stories helped him acquire a reputation as a writer. Perhaps this reputation provided him with a star by which to steer the ship of his imagination; and he would need it, for after graduation in 1946, the eighteen year old "writer" followed his parents' wishes and enrolled in the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá as a law student rather than as a journalist. It was during this time that García Márquez met his future wife. While visiting his parents, he was introduced to a 13 year old girl named Mercedes Barcha Pardo. Dark and silent, of Egyptian decent, she was "the most interesting person" he had ever met. After he graduated from the Liceo Nacional, he took a small vacation with his parents before leaving for the University. During that time, he proposed to her. Agreeing, but first wishing to finish school, she put off the engagement. Although they wouldn't be married for another fourteen years, Mercedes promised to stay true to him. The Hungry Years Like many great writers attending college for a subject they despised, García Márquez found that he had absolutely no interest in his studies, and he became something of a consummate slacker. He began to skip classes and neglect both his studies and himself, electing to wander around Bogotá and ride the streetcars, reading poetry instead of law. He ate in cheap cafés, smoked cigarettes, and associated with all the usual suspects: literate socialists, starving artists, and budding journalists. One day, however, his life changed -- all from reading just a simple book. As if all the lines of fate suddenly converged in his hands, he was given a copy of Kafka's The Metamorphosis. The book had a profound affect on García Márquez; making him aware that literature did not have to follow a straight narrative and unfold along a traditional plot. The effect was liberating: "I thought to myself that I didn't know anyone was allowed to write things like that. If I had known, I would have started writing a long time ago." He also remarked that Kafka's "voice" had the same echoes as his grandmother's -- "that's how my grandmother used to tell stories, the wildest things with a completely natural tone of voice." One of the first things he set out to do was "catch up" on all the literature he had been missing. He began reading voraciously, devouring everything he could get his hands on. He also began writing fiction, and to his surprise, his first story, "The Third Resignation," was published in 1946 by the Liberal Bogotá newspaper El Espectador. (The enthusiastic editor even hailed him as "the new genius of Colombian letters!") García Márquez entered a period of creativity, penning ten more stories for the newspaper over the next few years. As a humanist from a Liberal family, the 1948 assassination of Gaitán had profound effect on García Márquez, and he even participated in the rioting of el Bogotázo, having his own quarters partially burned down. The Universidad Nacional was closed, precipitating his move to the more peaceful North, where he transferred to the Universidad de Cartagena. There he half-heartedly pursued law while writing a daily column for El Universal, a Cartagenan newspaper. Deciding finally to abandon his attempts at law in 1950, he devoted himself to writing, moving to Barranquilla. Over the next few years, he began associating with a literary circle called el grupo de Barranquilla, and under their influence he began to read the work of Hemingway, Joyce, Woolf, and most importantly, Faulkner. He also embarked on a study of the classics, finding tremendous inspiration in the Oedipus Rex cycle by Sophocles. Faulkner and Sophocles would become his two biggest influences throughout the late forties and early fifties. Faulkner amazed him with his ability to reformulate his childhood into a mythical past, inventing a town and a county in which to house his prose. In Faulkner's mythical Yoknapatawpha, García Márquez found the seeds for Macondo; and from Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Antigone he found the ideas of a plot revolving around society and the abuses of power. García Márquez began to grow dissatisfied with his earlier stories, believing them to be too abstracted from his true experiences. They were "simply intellectual elaborations, nothing to do with my reality." Faulkner taught him that a writer should write about what is close to him; and for years García Márquez had been struggling with his muse -- what did he really want to say? These thoughts would find form when he returned with his mother to his grandfather's house in Aracataca. Preparing it for sale, they found the house in ill repair, and yet the "haunted house" evoked such a swirl of memories in his head that he was overwhelmed. Indeed, the whole town seemed dead, frozen in time. He had already been sketching out a story based on his experiences there, a tentative novel to be called La casa, and although he felt that he was not yet ready to perfect it, he had found part of what he was after -- the sense of place. Inspired by his visit, upon returning to Barranquilla he wrote his first novella, Leaf Storm. With a plot device adapted from Antigone and relocated to a mythical town, the book was completed in an energetic rush of inspiration. He bestowed the name of "Macondo" on his Latin American Yoknapatawpha, the name of a banana plantation near Aracataca that he used to explore as a child. (Macondo means "banana" in the Bantu language.) Unfortunately in 1952 it was rejected by the first publisher he sent it to, and seized by self-doubt and self-criticism, he tossed it in a drawer. (In 1955, while García Márquez was in Eastern Europe, it was rescued from its hiding place in Bogotá by his friends and sent to a publisher. This time, it was published.) Despite his rejection and his near poverty, however, he was essentially happy. Living in a brothel, he was surrounded by friends, and he had a steady job writing columns for El Heraldo. In the evening he worked on his fiction and talked with his companions over cigarettes and coffee. Then in 1953, he was seized by a sudden restlessness. Packing up and quitting his job, he set out to sell encyclopedias in La Guajira with a friend. He travelled around a bit, worked on some story ideas, and finally became formally engaged to Mercedes Barcha. In 1954, he moved back to Bogotá and accepted a job on the staff of El Espectador as a writer of stories and film reviews. There, he flirted with socialism, avoided the notice of the current dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, and pondered about his duty as a writer in the time of la violencia. In 1955, an event occurred which would place him back on the path of literature and eventually lead to his temporary exile from Colombia. That year, the Caldas, a small Colombian destroyer, was swamped in high seas on its return to Cartagena. Several sailors were swept overboard, and all died except one remarkable man, Luis Alejandro Velasco, who managed to survive for ten days at sea by clinging to a life raft. When he was eventually washed ashore, he quickly became a national hero. Used as propaganda by the government, Velasco did everything from make speeches to advertise watches and shoes. Finally he decided to tell the truth -- the Caldas was carrying illegal cargo, and they were swept overboard because of their negligence and incompetence! Visiting the offices of El Espectador, Velasco offered them his story, and after some hesitation, they accepted. Velasco told his tale to García Márquez, who acted as a ghostwriter and recast it into prose. The story was serialized over two full weeks as "The Truth About My Adventure by Luis Alejandro Velasco," and it created quite a sensation. Extremely unhappy, the Government tossed Velasco out of the Navy. Worried that Pinilla might persecute García Márquez directly, his editors sent him on assignment to Italy to cover the imminent death of Pope Pius XII. When the pontiff's untimely survival made this assignment pointless, García Márquez arranged to wander around Europe as a correspondent. After studying film awhile in Rome, he embarked on a tour of the communist bloc; and later that year his friends managed to get Leaf Storm finally published in Bogotá. García Márquez travelled through Geneva, Rome, Poland and Hungary, finally settling in Paris where he found that he was out of a job -- the Pinilla government had shut down the presses of El Espectador. Settling in the Latin Quarter, he lived off credit, the kindness of his landlady, and money scraped up returning bottles for their deposits. There, influenced by the writings of Hemingway, he typed out eleven drafts of No One Writes to the Colonel and part of Este pueblo de mierda ("This Town of Shit"), the book that would later become In Evil Hour. After finishing Colonel, he travelled to London and finally returned to his home continent -- not to Colombia, but to Venezuela, the favored destination of Colombian refugees. There he finished Este pueblo de mierda, his work which most directly addresses la violencia. Even though it was obvious that he was developing his own unique style, he was still unsatisfied. His early stories were unemotional and abstract. Leaf Storm was too indebted to Faulkner, and No One Writes to the Colonel and In Evil Hour were too far away from his imagined goal, the image he had been developing for years. He knew his ultimate work would take place in the mythical town of Macondo, but he had yet to find the right tone in which to tell his tale; he had yet to discover his true voice. In Venezuela he teamed up with an old friend, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, who was by then an editor with Elite, a Caracas newsweekly. Throughout the year of 1957, the pair toured the communist countries of Europe, searching for an answer to Colombia's ills, contributing articles to various Latin American publications. And while they saw something useful in socialism, García Márquez realized with a sense of depression that communism could be just as terrible as la violencia. After a brief stay in London again, García Márquez returned to Venezuela, where Mendoza was working for Momento, and offered his old friend another job. Then, in 1958, he risked a visit back to Colombia. Keeping a low profile, he slipped into his native country and married Mercedes Bacha, who had been awaiting him in Barranquilla for four long years. He and his new bride then slipped back to Caracas, which was having its own share of problems. After publishing pieces aimed at American perfidy and the abuses of tyrants, Momento succumbed to political pressure and took an apologist pro-USA stance after Nixon's disastrous visit in May. Angered by their paper's capitulation, García Márquez and Mendoza resigned. Soon after leaving his position at Momento, García Márquez and his wife ended up in Havana, covering the Castro revolution. Inspired by the revolution, he helped form a Bogotá branch of Castro's news agency, Prensa Latina, and began a friendship with Castro that has lasted until this day. In 1959 García Márquez's first son, Rodrigo, was born, and the family moved to New York City, where he supervised the North American branch of Prensa Latina. Laboring under death threats from angry Americans, García Márquez resigned his position after a year, becoming disillusioned by the ideological rifts occurring in Cuba's communist party. He moved his family to Mexico City, travelling through the South on a Faulknerian pilgrimage; he would be denied entrance into the USA again until 1971. In Mexico City he wrote subtitles for films and worked on screenplays, and during this time he beagn to publish some of his fictional novellas. Rescued from moth-eaten oblivion by his friends, No One Writes to the Colonel was published in 1961, and then Big Mama's Funeral in 1962, the same year which saw the birth of his second son, Gonzalo. Finally his friends convinced him to enter the Colombian Esso literary contest in Bogotá; he revised Este pueblo de mierda, changing the title from "This Town of Shit" to La mala hora, or In Evil Hour. He submitted it, and it won. The sponsors of the prize sent the book to Madrid to be published, and it greeted the world in 1962 -- to his immense disappointment. The publication was a travesty; the Spanish publisher purged it of all Latin American slang and objectionable material, bowdlerizing it beyond recognition and making the characters speak precise, dictionary Spanish. Heartbroken, García Márquez was forced to repudiate it -- it would take nearly half a decade until the book would be published, restored to his satisfaction. The next few years were a time of profound disappointment, producing nothing of much worth except a film script cowritten with Carlos Fuentes. His friends tried to cheer him up in whatever ways they could, but nevertheless, he began to feel like a failure. None of his works had sold over 700 copies. He had never received any royalties. And still, and still, the story of Macondo eluded his grasp. Success And then it happened: his epiphany. On January 1965 he and his family were driving to Acapulco for a vacation, when inspiration suddenly struck him: he had found his tone. For the first time in twenty years, a stroke of lightning clearly revealed the voice of Macondo. He would later write: "All of a sudden -- I don't know why -- I had this illumination on how to write the book.... I had it so completely formed, that right there I could have dictated the first chapter word by word to a typist." And later, regarding that illumination: "The tone that I eventually used in One Hundred Years of Solitude was based on the way my grandmother used to tell stories. She told things that sounded supernatural and fantastic, but she told them with complete naturalness.... What was most important was the expression she had on her face. She did not change her expression at all when telling her stories and everyone was surprised. In previous attempts to write, I tried to tell the story without believing in it. I discovered that what I had to do was believe in them myself and write them with the same expression with which my grandmother told them: with a brick face." He turned the car immediately around and headed home. There, he put Mercedes in charge of the family, and he retired to his room to write. And write he did. He wrote every day for eighteen months, consuming up to six packs of cigarettes a day. To provide for the family, the car was sold, and almost every household appliance was pawned so Mercedes could feed the family and keep him supplied with a constant river of paper and cigarettes. His friends started to call his smoke-filled room "the Cave of the Mafia," and after a while the whole community began helping out, as if they collectively understood that he was creating something remarkable. Credit was extended, appliances loaned, debts forgiven. After nearly a year of work, García Márquez sent the first three chapters to Carlos Fuentes, who publicly declared: "I have just read eighty pages from a master." Towards the end of the novel, as yet unnamed, anticipation grew, and the buzz of success was in the air. As finishing touches, he placed himself, his wife, and his friends in the novel, and then discovered a name on the last page: Cien años de soledad. Finally he emerged from the Cave, grasping thirteen hundred pages in his hands, exhausted and almost poisoned from nicotine, over ten thousand dollars in debt, and perhaps only a few pages shy of a mental and physical breakdown. And yet, he was happy -- indeed, euphoric. In need of postage, he pawned a few more household implements and sent it off to the publisher in Buenos Aires. One Hundred Years of Solitude was published in June 1967, and within a week all 8000 copies were gone. From that point on, success was assured, and the novel sold out a new printing each week, going on to sell half a million copies within three years. It was translated into over two dozen languages, and it won four international prizes. Success had come at last. Gabriel García Márquez was 39 years old when the world first learned his name. Suddenly he was beset by fame. Fan mail, awards, interviews, appearances -- it was obvious that his life had changed. In 1969, the novel won the Chianchiano Prize in Italy and was named the Best Foreign Book in France. In 1970, it was published in English and was chosen as one of the best twelve books of the year in the United States. Two years later he was awarded the Rómulo Gallegos Prize and the Neustadt Prize, and in 1971, a Peruvian writer named Mario Vargas Llosa even published a book about his life and work. To counter all this exposure, García Márquez simply returned to writing. Deciding that he would write about a dictator, he moved his family to Barcelona, Spain, which was spending its last years under the boot of Francisco Franco. There he labored on his next novel, creating a composite monster, a Caribbean dictator with Stalin's smooth hands and the solipsistic will of an archetypical Latin American tyrant. In the meantime, Innocent Eréndira and Other Stories was published in 1972, and in 1973 he put out a collection of his journalistic work from the late fifties, Cuando era feliz e indocumentado, or "When I Was Happy and Uninformed." Autumn of the Patriarch was published in 1975, and it was a drastic departure from both the subject and tone of One Hundred Years of Solitude. A labyrinthine book with long, winding sentences, it was initially considered a disappointment by the critics, who were most likely expecting another Macondo. Opinion has changed over the years, however, and many now consider this novel of shifting realities to be a minor masterpiece all on its own right. Later Life Living in a dictatorship and getting inside the mind of a tyrant took their emotional toll. By the end of the novel, García Márquez had decided that he would write no more fiction until the American-supported Pinochet stepped down from his control of Chile, a decision he would later rescind. Now a famous writer, he was becoming more aware of his own political power, and his increased clout and financial security enabled him to pursue his interests in political activism. Returning to Mexico City, he purchased a new house and stepped up his personal campaign to influence the world around him. Building on his actions of the last few years, he continued to funnel some of his money into political and social causes. Through his writings and donations, he supported leftist causes in Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Argentina, and Angola. He helped found and support HABEAS, an organization dedicated to correcting the abuses of Latin American power and freeing political prisoners, and he struck up friendships with such leaders as Omar Torrijos of Panama, and continued his relationship with Fidel Castro of Cuba. Needless to say, these activities did not endear him to the hearts of politicians in either the United States or Colombia; all his visits to the US were on a limited visa and had to be approved by the State Department. (This travel restriction was finally lifted by President Bill Clinton.) In 1977 he published Operación Carlota, a series of essays on Cuba's role in Africa. Ironically, although he claims to be quite good friends with Castro -- who even helped him edit Chronicle of a Death Foretold -- he spent the late seventies writing a "very harsh, very frank" book about the shortcomings of the Cuban Revolution and of life under Castro's regime. This book has not yet been published, and García Márquez claims that he is holding it until relations between Cuba and the United States are normalized. In 1981, the year in which he was awarded the French Legion of Honor medal, he returned to Colombia from a visit with Castro, only to find himself once again in trouble. The Conservative Government was accusing him of financing the M-19, a Liberal group of guerrillas. Fleeing Colombia, he asked for and received political asylum in Mexico, where he maintains a household to this day. Colombia would soon regret their anger at their famous son, however: in 1982 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Embarrassed, and having just elected a new President, Colombia invited him back, and President Betancur personally saw him off to Stockholm. In 1982 he assisted a friend in publishing El odor de la guayaba, or "The Fragrance of Guava," a book of conversations with his long time colleague Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, and in the same year he wrote Viva Sandino, a screenplay about the Sandanistas and the Nicaraguan Revolution. Politics, however, would be far from his mind for his next work of fiction, which would be a love story. Turning again to his rich past for inspiration and material, he reworked his parent's strange courtship into the form of a decades-spanning narrative. The story would be about two frustrated lovers and the long time between their second courtship, and in 1986 Love in the Time of Cholera was unveiled to the anxiously waiting world. It was amazingly well received, even pulling Thomas Pynchon out of seclusion to write a review for the New York Times. There was no question that Gabriel García Márquez had become a writer with universal and lasting appeal. By now one of the most famous writers in the world, he eased into a lifestyle of writing, teaching, and political activism. With residences in Mexico City, Cartagena, Cuernavaca, Paris, Barcelona, and Barranquilla, he finished the decade by publishing The General in his Labyrinth in 1990, and two years later Strange Pilgrims was born. In 1994 he published his most recent work of fiction, Love and Other Demons. This was followed in 1996 by News of a Kidnapping, a journalistic work detailing the atrocities of the Colombian drug trade. This return to journalism was emphasized in 1999, when he purchased a struggling Colombian news magazine, Cambio. With both a literary bent and a reputation for progressive politics, the newspaper was the perfect vehicle for García Márquez to return to his roots, and today the magazine is a thriving presence in Colombian letters. El otoño del patriarca Unfortunately, in 1999 García Márquez was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, and to this day he suffers under a regimen of treatments, often taking him from Cartagena or Mexico City to clinics in Los Angeles, where his son, filmmaker Rodrigo García, lives. Setting aside fiction for the time being, Gabo is concentrating on writing his memoirs, the first volume of which was published in 2001 as Vivir para contarla, or To Live to Tell It. Instantly selling out its first print run in Latin America, the volume quickly became the best selling book ever in the Spanish-speaking world. (It was recently published in the United States by Knopf, who will bring out an English translation sometime in late 2003.) The first of a promised set of three volumes, Vivir para contarla details Gabo's life up until 1955. He is currently at work on Volume II, which will focus on the writing and publication of his major works, including One Hundred Years of Solitude.

HUGO CHAVEZ, Latin America's philantropist by excellence

2008-01-22T16:59:00.001-08:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government has pledged more than $8.8 billion in aid, financing and energy funding in Latin America and the Caribbean so far in 2007. Bandes is a Venezuelan state development bank. Below is a list of pledges sorted by type. ENERGY: _ $3.55 billion. Nicaragua: To build 150,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $1.6 billion. Estimated financing per year under preferential oil deals to at least 17 countries. (Source: Chavez, March 15) _ $340 million. Nicaragua: Grants and loans to supply oil, nine electricity generators. (Source: Venezuela government statement, March 7) FIND MORE STORIES IN: Venezuela | Aug | Caribbean | Haiti | Foreign Ministry | Latin America | Venezuelan | Bolivia | Nicaragua | Bolivian | Venezuelan government | Source | Guyana | Bolivian government _ $240 million. Bolivia: Exploration of gas and oil fields. (Source: Bolivian Hydrocarbons Ministry, Aug. 8) _ $170 million. Bolivia: To build two liquid natural gas extraction plants. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $100 million. Nicaragua: To supply 32 electricity generators. (Source: Chavez, Jan. 10) _ $89 million. Nicaragua: To build 120 megawatt electricity plant. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $80 million. Haiti: To build 10,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $63.7 million. Jamaica: For state oil company to buy 49-percent stake in Jamaican refinery. (Source: Jamaican Energy Ministry, May 18) _ $56 million. Haiti: To build 60-megawatt electricity plant. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $30 million. Bolivia: To build diesel electricity generation plant. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $28 million. Bolivia: To build thermoelectric plant. (Source: Bolivian Hydrocarbons Ministry, Aug. 8) _ $8 million. Cuba: To build liquefied natural gas re-gasification plant. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $5 million. Bolivia: Electricity-saving project. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $4.7 million. Bolivia: To set up 15 service stations to distribute fuel. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $4 million. Haiti: To build LNG re-gasification plant. (Source: Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, April 30) _ $200,000. Ecuador: Donation of two drills for oil exploration. (Source: Chavez, Aug. 9) ENERGY FUNDING TOTAL: $6.369 billion

Ted Turner, a charitable man

2008-01-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

Donations and Charitable Activities Turner has made many donations to charitable organizations over the years. In 1994 alone he contributed $200 million to charitable organizations. His most notable, however, was his donation in September, 1997 of $1 billion dollars to a new foundation established to help support the United Nations. To put this in perspective, "all charitable giving by Americans in 1996 was approximately $120 billion." Turner has come under a lot of scrutiny because the large amount of money he gave. Also adding to the controversy was that Turner criticized other millionaires for not repaying their debt to society. In a 1996 New York Times interview he said, "All the money is in the hands of these few rich people and none of them give any money away. It’s dangerous for them and the country. We may have another French Revolution and ther’ll be another madame Defarge knitting and watching them come in little oxcarts down to the town square and BOOM! Off with their heads!" Ted believes that Forbes magazine’s richest Americans list is spoiling our country because the rich try to get richer just to get higher on Forbes’ list. When ABC's John Stossell suggested to Turner that he should stick to being an entrepreneur and that his donations probably wouldn’t go very far, Turner looked at Stossel like he was crazy. Turner, himself, said that his father would help "less affluent students, he would pay their way to college. They wouldn’t even know he did it. He did it quiet." So Ted seems to follow in his father’s footsteps. His foundation gives financial help to over 400 organizations. The Goodwill Games were Ted’s brainchild as well. He thought that by starting the games, it would warm relations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.

THE DANGER OF GLOBAL WARMING

2008-01-22T16:43:00.001-08:00

Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins sans Frontières

2008-01-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

What is Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières? Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries. Each year, MSF doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other medical and non-medical professionals depart on more than 4,700 aid assignments. They work alongside more than 25,800 locally hired staff to provide medical care. In emergencies and their aftermath, MSF provides essential health care, rehabilitates and runs hospitals and clinics, performs surgery, battles epidemics, carries out vaccination campaigns, operates feeding centers for malnourished children, and offers mental health care. When needed, MSF also constructs wells and dispenses clean drinking water, and provides shelter materials like blankets and plastic sheeting. Through longer-term programs, MSF treats patients with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, and HIV/AIDS, and provides medical and psychological care to marginalized groups such as street children. MSF was founded in 1971 as the first nongovernmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and bear witness publicly to the plight of the people it assists. A private nonprofit association, MSF is an international network with sections in 19 countries. MSF is often one of the first humanitarian organizations to arrive at the scene of an emergency. Its large-scale logistical capacity ensures that MSF emergency teams hit the ground with the specialized medical kits and equipment they need to start saving lives immediately. MSF has proven expertise in the field of epidemiology and is often called on to monitor, diagnose, and control outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera, meningitis, and measles. Independent Humanitarian Action MSF's decision to intervene in any country or crisis is based solely on an independent assessment of people's needs — not on political, economic, or religious interests. MSF does not take sides or intervene according to the demands of governments or warring parties. MSF volunteers frequently work in the most remote or dangerous parts of the world. When crises unfold, they make themselves and their skills available on short notice, usually dedicating six to twelve months to each assignment. Their expenses are covered and they receive a modest stipend. MSF teams are composed of international volunteers and skilled local staff. Together, they work closely with national medical professionals and cooperate with other aid organizations. Speaking Out to End Suffering MSF unites direct medical care with a commitment to speaking out against the causes of suffering and the obstacles to providing effective assistance. MSF volunteers raise the concerns of their patients with governments, the United Nations, other international bodies, the general public, and the media. In a wide range of circumstances, MSF volunteers have spoken out against violations of international humanitarian law they have witnessed — from Chechnya to Sudan. Based on its field experience, MSF is addressing obstacles preventing people in the developing world from obtaining affordable, effective treatments for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Through its Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, MSF is advocating to lower drug prices, stimulate research and development of new treatments, and overcome trade and other barriers to accessing treatments. In the United States and worldwide, MSF raises public awareness of the plight of people at risk. The organization sends field volunteers and staff to speak at international and national conferences, and arranges informational events and traveling exhibitions. Special public education projects have addressed the stark realities of living without access to medicines, the devastation caused by malnutrition, and the hardships of life in a refugee camp. Financial Independence and Accountability To maintain its operational independence and flexibility, MSF relies on the general public for nearly 89 percent of its operating funds. The remaining 11 percent of funds come from international agencies and governments. The organization counted more than 3.3 million individuals, foundations, corporations, and nonprofit organizations among its donors worldwide in 2006. In 2006, MSF's worldwide income was $714 million. In the United States, nearly 489,000 private donors contributed more than $118 million to MSF-USA. Bravo !!!! Thank You To Doctors Without Borders! Merci Médecins sans Frontières !

Bill Cosby, a Father Figure

2008-01-22T04:13:00.000-08:00

Bill Cosby , The World's Most Beloved Father: Bill Cosby is one of the world's most beloved actors, writers, and most of all fathers. Cosby makes honest and true observations on life in all of his work. His humor will not only have you holding your sides laughing, but will often cause you to stop and think. Birth Name: William H. Cosby Jr. Birthdate: July 12, 1937, born from a domestic mother. Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA Occupations: Actor, Writer, Comedian, TV/radio host, Producer, Composer Married in 1964, he had 8 children. Books: "Step in the Right Direction: Getting a Better View on Life" "You Are Somebody Special" "Love and Marriage" "It's All Relative: A Field Guide to the Modern Family" "Congratulations! Now What?: A Book for Graduates" "Fatherhood" "Time Flies" "I Am What I Ate ... and I'm Frightened!!!" Education: Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; B.A.; Radio/TV/Film University of Massachusetts--Amherst; M.A.; Education, 1972; Ph.D; Education, 1977 Quotes: "Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home." "Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap on-a-rope." "A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." "When you become senile, you won't know it." Awards: 1964: Grammy: Best Comedy Performance, I Started Out as a Child 1965: Grammy: Best Comedy Performance, Why Is There Air? 1966: Grammy: Best Comedy Performance, Wonderfulness 1966: Emmy: Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Dramatic Series), I Spy 1967: Grammy: Best Comedy Recording, Revenge 1967: Emmy: Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Dramatic Series), I Spy 1968: Grammy: Best Comedy Recording, To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With 1968: Emmy: Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Dramatic Series), I Spy 1969: Grammy: Best Comedy Recording, Bill Cosby 1969: Emmy: Outstanding Variety or Musical Program, the Bill Cosby Special 1971: Grammy: Best Recording for Children, Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs 1972: Grammy: Best Recording for Children, The Electric Company; 1984: Golden Globe: Best Television Series, The Cosby Show 1984: Golden Globe: Best Actor in a Television Series, The Cosby Show 1985: People's Choice: Male Performer in a New TV Program 1985: Golden Globe: Best Actor in a Television Series, The Cosby Show 1986: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1987: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1987: People's Choice: All-Around Male Enteratiner 1988: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1988: People's Choice: All-Around Male Entertainer 1988: People's Choice: All-Time Television Star 1989: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1989: People's Choice: All-Around Male Star 1990: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1990 People's Choice: All-Around Male Entertainer 1991: NAACP Image Award: Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for The Cosby Show 1991: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1991 People's Choice: All-Around Male Entertainer 1992: People's Choice: Male TV Performer 1997: People's Choice: Favorite Male in a New Series; award shared with Michael J. Fox 1998: Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award 1999: People's Choice: All-Time Favorite Performer He is a rolemodel for parens of all backgrounds , and a Global Citizen by exellence.

Lady Di, Princess of Hearts

2008-01-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

Charity work Starting in the mid- to late 1980s, the Princess of Wales became well known for her support of several charity projects. This stemmed naturally from her role as Princess of Wales - she was expected to engage in hospital visitations where she comforted the sick and in so doing, assumed the patronage of various charitable organisations - and from an interest in certain illnesses and health-related matters. Owing to Public Relations efforts in which she agreed to appear as a figurehead, Diana used her influential status to positively assist the campaign against landmines, a cause which won the Nobel Prize[14] in 1997 in tribute, and with helping to decrease discrimination against victims of AIDS.

Mother Teresa

2008-01-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

Mother Teresa Humanitarian August 26, 1910 - September 5, 1997Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. Mother Teresa, whose original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was born on August 26, 1910 in what is now Skopje, Macedonia. She always wrote her birthday as the 27th of August because that was the day of her baptism, which was always more important to her than her birth. For her work with the poor around the world she received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. In 1928 she joined a religious order and took the name Teresa. The order immediately sent her to India. A few years later, she began teaching in Calcutta, and in 1948 the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her convent and work among the city's poor people. She became an Indian citizen that same year. In 1950, she founded a religious order in Calcutta called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food for the needy and operates hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centers, and shelters for lepers and the dying poor. It now has branches in 50 Indian cities and 30 other countries. In addition to the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa has received other awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the 1971 Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and India's Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972. Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. She is sorely missed.

Dalai Lama

2008-01-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

Dalai Lama 1989 Nobel Peace Prize Efforts to encourage universal reverence and respect for all people and the environment, and for his stand against violence, seeking liberation for his people through peaceful means. His Holiness the 14th the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He was born Lhamo Dhondrub on 6 July 1935, in a small village called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family, His Holiness was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion. The Dalai Lamas are the manifestations of the Bodhisattva (Buddha) of Compassion, who chose to reincarnate to serve the people. Lhamo Dhondrub was, as Dalai Lama, renamed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso - Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom. Tibetans normally refer to His Holiness as Yeshe Norbu, the Wishfulfilling Gem or simply Kundun - The Presence. The enthronement ceremony took place on February 22, 1940 in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. He began his education at the age of six and completed the Geshe Lharampa Degree (Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy) when he was 25 in 1959. At 24, he took the preliminary examinations at each of the three monastic universities: Drepung, Sera and Ganden. The final examination was conducted in the Jokhang, Lhasa during the annual Monlam Festival of Prayer, held in the first month of every year Tibetan calendar. On November 17, 1950, His Holiness was called upon to assume full political power (head of the State and Government) after some 80,000 Peoples Liberation Army soldiers invaded Tibet. In 1954, he went to Beijing to talk peace with Mao Tse-tung and other Chinese leaders, including Chou En-lai and Deng Xiaoping. In 1956, while visiting India to attend the 2500th Buddha Jayanti Anniversary, he had a series of meetings with Prime Minister Nehru and Premier Chou about deteriorating conditions in Tibet. His efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to Sino-Tibetan conflict were thwarted by Bejing's ruthless policy in Eastern Tibet, which ignited a popular uprising and resistance. This resistance movement spread to other parts of the country. On 10 March 1959 the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, exploded with the largest demonstration in Tibetan history, calling on China to leave Tibet and reaffirming Tibet's independence. The Tibetan National Uprising was brutally crushed by the Chinese army. His Holiness escaped to India where he was given political asylum. Some 80,000 Tibetan refugees followed His Holiness into exile. Today, there are more than 120,000 Tibetan in exile. Since 1960, he has resided in Dharamsala, India, known as "Little Lhasa," the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile. In the early years of exile, His Holiness appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet, resulting in three resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in 1959, 1961, and 1965, calling on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and their desire for self-determination. With the newly constituted Tibetan Government-in-exile, His Holiness saw that his immediate and urgent task was to save the both the Tibetan exiles and their culture alike. Tibetan refugees were rehabilitated in agricultural settlements. Economic development was promoted and the creation of a Tibetan educational system was established to raise refugee children with full knowledge of their language, history, religion and culture. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts was established in 1959, while the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies became a university for Tibetans in India. Over 200 monasteries have been re-established to preserve the vast corpus of Tibetan Buddhist teachings, the essence of the Tibetan way of life. In 1963, His Holiness promulgated a democratic constitution, based on Buddhist principles and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a model for a future free Tibet. Today, members of the Tibetan parliament are elected directly by the people. The members of the Tibetan Cabinet are elected by the parliament, making the Cabinet answerable to the Parliament. His Holiness has continuously emphasized the need to further democratise the Tibetan administration and has publicly declared that once Tibet regains her independence he will not hold political office. In Washington, D.C., at the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1987, he proposed a Five-Point Peace Plan as a first step toward resolving the future status of Tibet. This plan calls for the designation of Tibet as a zone of peace, an end to the massive transfer of ethnic Chinese into Tibet, restoration of fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms, and the abandonment of China's use of Tibet for nuclear weapons production and the dumping of nuclear waste, as well as urging "earnest negotiations" on the future of Tibet. In Strasbourg, France, on 15 June 1988, he elaborated the Five-Point Peace Plan and proposed the creation of a self-governing democratic Tibet, "in association with the People's Republic of China." On 2 September 1991, the Tibetan Government-in-exile declared the Strasbourg Proposal invalid because of the closed and negative attitude of the present Chinese leadership towards the ideas expressed in the proposal. On 9 October 1991, during an address at Yale University in the United States, His Holiness said that he wanted to visit Tibet to personally assess the political situation. He said, "I am extremely anxious that, in this explosive situation, violence may break out. I want to do what I can to prevent this.... My visit would be a new opportunity to promote understanding and create a basis for a negotiated solution." Achivements In autumn of 1991, he visited the Baltic States at the invitation of Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania and became the first foreign leader to address the Lithuanian Parliament. Since his first visit to the west in the early 1973, a number of western universities and institutions have conferred Peace Awards and honorary Doctorate Degrees in recognition of His Holiness' distinguished writings in Buddhist philosophy and for his leadership in the solution of international conflicts, human rights issues and global environmental problems.

Desmund Tutu, A Peace Hero

2008-01-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Desmond Tutu - South Africa 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Desmond Tutu was born on 7th October 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. His father was a teacher, his mother relatively uneducated.The young Tutu is raised in an atmosphere of tolerance and sympathy where, he later says, "I never learnt to hate". At the age of 12 he first met and was later greatly influenced by Father Trevor Huddleston, an Anglican cleric in the Johannesburg township of Sophiatown and outspoken early critic of apartheid. After matriculating from the Johannesburg Bantu High School, he chose to follow his father's career. He took a teacher's diploma at the Pretoria Bantu Normal College and studied for his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of South Africa. He was a teacher at the Johannesburg Bantu High School for a year and then moved to Munsieville High School, Krugersdorp for three years. It was here that he married his wife, Leah. They have three daughters, a son and several grandchildren. In 1958, following the introduction of Bantu education, the Archbishop decided to enter the ministry in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and become an ordinand at St Peter's Theological College, Rosettenville. He received his Licentiate in Theology in 1960 and was ordained to the priesthood in Johannesburg in 1961. Shortly afterwards he went to study in London, where he obtained the Bachelor of Divinity Honours and Master of Theology degrees while acting as a part-time curate. In 1967 he returned to South Africa and joined the staff of the Federal Theological Seminary in Alice and became chaplain at the University of Fort Hare. He moved to the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in 1970 where he held the post of lecturer in the Department of Theology. This step was followed by a further spell in England as Associate Director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches, based in Kent, UK. He remained an educator until 1972 when he became the first black to hold the position of Dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg. He held such a distinction once again three years later as the first black to be General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. In 1984, Tutu receives the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of "the courage and heroism shown by black South Africans in their use of peaceful methods in the struggle against apartheid". The Nobel Committee asks that the awarding of the prize to Tutu be regarded "not only as a gesture of support to him and to the South African Council of Churches of which he is leader, but also to all individuals and groups in South Africa who, with their concern for human dignity, fraternity and democracy, incite the admiration of the world". In 1985 Bishop Tutu was elected Bishop of Johannesburg and then in 1986 he was elected Archbishop of Cape Town. (April). In 1987 he was elected as President of the All Africa Conference of Churches. In 1995, Tutu was selected to serve as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He retired from office as Archbishop of Cape Town in June 1996, but was named Archbishop Emeritus as from July 1996. Achivements Numerous awards and honorary doctorates (incl. Harvard, Kent, Columbia, Aberdeen, Howard University) He has received many prizes and awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, notably the Order for Meritorious Service Award (Gold) presented by President Mandela, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Award for outstanding Service to the Anglican Communion, the Prix d'Athene (Onassis Foundation), the Family of Man Gold Medal Award and the Martin Luther King Jr Non Violent Peace Prize. "When does compassion, when does morality, when does caring come in?" Tutu asks, "I just hope that one day people will realise that peace is a far better path to follow."

Indian Women's Empowerment through Micro credit

2008-01-21T17:19:00.001-08:00

Micro credit seems to work best with women! Women take financial help more seriously. They utilize money much more carefully and credit groups find them more conscious of repayment obligations. But in many ways, women end up as losers despite being in the thick of the micro finance movement. Points out Smita Premchander, Chief Executive, Sampark, a NGO which works with micro finance and women in Hyderabad: "Women value the habit of savings. But how is the money is being managed is the question. Micro finance can become meaningful only if social empowerment happens and realities like the caste divide collapses. Women ultimately need to have control over their money and not let other relatives or men folk decide on what should be done with it." By joining hands, women are finding greater freedoms. Picutre Credit: CARE India As the micro finance movement grows, can it protect women from being exploited after they have been empowered? Points out Neera Burra, Assistant Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi: "It is pointless to call women empowered just because they have money. But has the money stopped domestic violence? Do they get equal remuneration?" As women take loans to conduct economic activity, their work burdens have enormously increased. So, girls are pulled out of school to do some of the housework. Unless men share the burden, women will have a hard time. Many of them take loans, as the men want the money. Then, they walk out on her leaving the woman to pay back the loan." It was not easy getting small groups of women to overcome typical resistance and struggle against stereotypes in rural India. But, gradually, the movement has created a sense of belonging among the women members, a sense of purpose and a new determination. They see the benefits of good communication, cohesion and cooperation. There is a sense of pride through decision-making and problem solving. Actually, problem solving has become fun, as there is room for creativity.

David T.Suzuki, and award-winning Global Citizen

2008-01-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

David T. Suzuki PhD, co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. David has received consistently high acclaim for his 30 years of award-winning work in broadcasting, explaining the complexities of science in a compelling, easily understood way. He is well known to millions as the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science television series, The Nature of Things. His eight part series, A Planet for the Taking won an award from the United Nations. His eight-part PBS series The Secret of Life was praised internationally, as was his five-part series The Brain for the Discovery Channel. For CBC Radio he founded the long running radio series, Quirks and Quarks and has presented two influential documentary series on the environment, From Naked Ape to Superspecies and It's a Matter of Survival. An internationally respected geneticist, David was a full Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He is professor emeritus with UBC's Sustainable Development Research Institute. From 1969 to 1972 he was the recipient of the prestigious E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship Award for the "Outstanding Canadian Research Scientist Under the Age of 35". He has received numerous awards including the Roger Tory Peterson Award from Harvard University. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Order of British Columbia. He has received 20 honorary doctorates - 13 from Canada, four from the United States and three from Australia. First Nations people have honoured him with six names, formal adoption by two tribes, and made him an honorary member of the Dehcho First Nations. David was born in Vancouver, BC in 1936. During World War II, at the age of six, he was interned with his family in a camp in BC. After the war, he went to high school in London, Ontario. He graduated with Honours from Amherst College in 1958 and went on to earn his PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961. The author of 43 books, David Suzuki is recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. He lives with his wife, Dr. Tara Cullis, and two daughters in Vancouver. For a more complete list of David's professional accomplishments and awards, please refer to his full CV here (31.5Kb PDF). To read some of Dr. Suzuki's latest writings, please visit the Science Matters archives. Each week in Science Matters, Dr. Suzuki examines how changes in science and technology affect our lives and the world around us. You can also take a look at his book list with Greystone books.

Ali 's Social Conscience

2008-01-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

Originally Cassius (Marcellus) Clay, Jr Print this article Boxer, born in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. As an amateur boxer (1954–60), winning 100 of 108 matches, he became the 1960 Olympic light-heavyweight champion. Financed by a group of Louisville businessmen, he turned professional, and by 1963 had won his first 19 fights. He won the world heavyweight title in 1964, defeating the purportedly invincible Sonny Liston when he retired at the end of the sixth round. At that time he joined the Black Muslims and adopted the name Muhammad Ali. After defending the championship nine times within two years, in 1967 he refused to be drafted into the army on religious grounds, and was stripped of his title and barred from the ring. His action earned him both respect and anger from different quarters, but he did not box for three-and-a-half years; he took his case to the Supreme Court and had his boxing licence restored in 1970. In 1971 he was beaten by Joe Frazier, but beat him in 1974 in Zaire, and went on to meet George Foreman later that year, knocking him out in eight rounds to regain his title. He was beaten by Leon Spinks in a split decision (Feb 1978), but regained the title the same year - the first man to win the world heavyweight title three times. Famous for his flamboyant manner, his boasting predictions of which round he would defeat his opponent, and his doggerel verse (‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’), he was also recognized as one of the all-time great boxers with his quick jab and footwork. His slogan ‘I am the greatest’ became a catch phrase. He compiled a career record of 56 wins, five losses, with 37 knockouts, before retiring in 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s he was arguably the best-known individual in the entire world due not only to his controversial career but also to his travels and deliberate reaching out to the Third World. Ali was President Carter's special envoy to Africa in 1980 (attempting to persuade nations to boycott the Olympics). He has starred in two films, The Greatest (1976) and Freedom Road (1978), and an Oscar-winning documentary film, When We Were Kings, recounting the 1974 Ali v. Foreman fight, appeared in 1996. Ali retired in 1981, and during that decade it was revealed that he was suffering from a form of Parkinson's disease. He was an almost universal choice as the 20th-century's most important sportsman, and at the end of 1999 was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Century. In 2005 he attended the opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY, and also that year was honoured with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Nobel Peace Prize List

2008-01-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

Year Laureate(s) Nationality Work for which cited (Citations) 1901* Jean Henri Dunant Switzerland Founder, Red Cross; Geneva Convention, Human rights. 1901* Frédéric Passy France Founder and President, Société d'arbitrage entre les Nations. 1902 Élie Ducommun Charles Albert Gobat Switzerland Honorary secretaries, Permanent International Peace Bureau in Berne. 1903 William Randal Cremer United Kingdom Secretary, International Arbitration League. 1904 Institut de Droit International Belgium 1905 Bertha Sophie Felicitas Baronin von Suttner Austria-Hungary/ Czech Honorary President, Permanent International Peace Bureau. 1906 Theodore Roosevelt United States President of the United States; peace treaty collaborations (brokering the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russo-Japanese War) 1907* Ernesto Teodoro Moneta Italy President, Lombard League of Peace 1907* Louis Renault France Professor of International Law 1908* Klas Pontus Arnoldson Sweden Founder, Swedish Peace and Arbitration Association 1908* Fredrik Bajer Denmark Honorary President, Permanent International Peace Bureau 1909* Auguste Marie François Beernaert Belgium Member of the Cour Internationale d'Arbitrage. 1909* Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant France founder and president of the French parliamentary group for international arbitration. Founder of the Comité de défense des intérets nationaux et de conciliation internationale 1910 International Peace Bureau Switzerland Berne 1911* Tobias Michael Carel Asser Netherlands initiator of the International Conferences of Private Law in The Hague. 1911* Alfred Hermann Fried Austria-Hungary founder of Die Waffen Nieder. 1912 Elihu Root United States for initiating various arbitration agreements. 1913 Henri La Fontaine Belgium President of the Permanent International Peace Bureau. 1914 [no award] 1915 [no award] 1916 [no award] 1917 International Committee of the Red Cross Switzerland 1918 [no award] 1919 Woodrow Wilson United States President of the United States, as foremost promoter of the League of Nations. 1920 Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois France president of the Council of the League of Nations. 1921* Hjalmar Branting Sweden prime minister, Swedish delegate to the Council of the League of Nations. 1921* Christian Lous Lange Norway secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union 1922 Fridtjof Nansen Norway Norwegian delegate to the League of Nations, originator of the Nansen passports for refugees. 1923 [no award] 1924 [no award] 1925* Austen Chamberlain United Kingdom for the Locarno Treaties. 1925* Charles Gates Dawes United States chairman of the Allied Reparations Commission and originator of the Dawes Plan. 1926* Aristide Briand France for the Locarno Treaties. 1926* Gustav Stresemann Germany for the Locarno Treaties. 1927* Ferdinand Buisson France founder and president of the League for Human Rights. 1927* Ludwig Quidde Germany delegate to numerous peace conferences. 1928 [no award] 1929 Frank B. Kellogg United States for the Kellogg-Briand Pact. 1930 Nathan Söderblom Sweden leader of the ecumenical movement. 1931* Jane Addams United States international president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom 1931* Nicholas Murray Butler United States for promoting the Kellogg-Briand Pact. 1932 [no award] 1933 Sir Norman Angell United Kingdom writer, member of the Executive Committee of the League of Nations and the National Peace Council. 1934 Arthur Henderson United Kingdom chairman of the League of Nations Disarmament Conference 1935 Carl von Ossietzky Germany pacifist journalist. 1936 Carlos Saavedra Lamas Argentina president of the League of Nations and mediator in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia. 1937 Robert Cecil United Kingdom founder and president of the International Peace Campaign 1938 Nansen International Office For Refugees Switzerland 1939 [no award] 1940 [no award] 1941 [no award] 1942 [no award] 1943 [no award] 1944 International Committee of the Red Cross Switzerland awarded retroactively in 1945 1945 Cordell Hull United States for co-initiating the United Nations. 1946* Emily Greene Balch United States honorary international president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom 1946* John R. Mott United States chairman of the International Missionary Council and president of the World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations 1947 Friends Service Council American Friends Service Committee United Kingdom United States on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. 1948 [no award] May have been awarded to Mohandas Gandhi had he not been assassinated.[12] 1949 Lord Boyd Orr United Kingdom director general Food and Agricultural Organization, president National Peace Council, president World Union of Peace Organizations. 1950 Ralph Bunche United States for mediating in Palestine (1948) 1951 Léon Jouhaux France president of the International Committee of the European Council, vice president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, vice president of the World Federation of Trade Unions, member of the ILO Council, delegate to the UN. 1952 Albert Schweitzer France for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon 1953 George Catlett Marshall United States for the Marshall Plan 1954 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations 1955 [no award] 1956 [no award] 1957 Lester Bowles Pearson Canada President of the 7th session of the United Nations General Assembly for introducing peacekeeping forces to resolve the Suez Crisis. 1958 Georges Pire Belgium leader of L'Europe du Coeur au Service du Monde, a relief organization for refugees. 1959 Philip Noel-Baker United Kingdom "for his lifelong ardent work for international peace and co-operation." 1960 Albert Lutuli South Africa President, African National Congress 1961 Dag Hammarskjöld Sweden Secretary-General, United Nations (posthumous) 1962 Linus Carl Pauling United States "for his campaign against nuclear weapons testing." 1963 International Committee of the Red Cross League of Red Cross societies Switzerland 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. United States Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, campaigner for civil rights. 1965 United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) United Nations 1966 [no award] 1967 [no award] 1968 René Cassin France President, European Court of Human Rights. 1969 International Labour Organization Switzerland 1970 Norman Borlaug United States "for research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center." 1971 Willy Brandt West Germany "for West Germany's Ostpolitik, embodying a new attitude towards Eastern Europe and East Germany." 1972 [no award] 1973 Henry A. Kissinger Lê Ðức Thọ (declined the honors) United States Vietnam The Vietnam peace accord 1974 Seán MacBride Eisaku Sato Ireland Japan president of the International Peace Bureau the Commission of Namibia of the United Nations. 1975 Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov Soviet Union Campaigns for human rights 1976 Betty Williams Mairead Corrigan United Kingdom Founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People). 1977 Amnesty International United Kingdom Campaign against torture 1978 Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat Menachem Begin Egypt Israel for negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel 1979 Mother Teresa Albania India Poverty awareness campaigner 1980 Adolfo Pérez Esquivel Argentina Human rights advocate 1981 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations 1982 Alva Myrdal Alfonso García Robles Sweden Mexico Delegates to the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament 1983 Lech Wałęsa Poland Founder of Solidarność; campaigner for human rights 1984 Desmond Mpilo Tutu South Africa Anti-apartheid 1985 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War United States "for spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare." 1986 Elie Wiesel United States Romania author, Holocaust survivor 1987 Óscar Arias Sánchez Costa Rica "for initiating peace negotiations in Central America." 1988 United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces United Nations For participation in numerous conflicts since 1956. At the time of the award, 736 people from a variety of nations had lost their lives in peacekeeping efforts. 1989 Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama Tibet India "for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people's struggle to regain their freedom." 1990 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв) Soviet Union "for his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community" 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi () Myanmar "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights." 1992 Rigoberta Menchú Guatemala "in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples." 1993 Nelson Mandela Frederik Willem de Klerk South Africa "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa." 1994 Yasser Arafat (ياسر عرفات) Shimon Peres (שמעון פרס) Yitzhak Rabin (יצחק רבין) Palestinian National Authority Israel Israel "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East." 1995 Joseph Rotblat Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs Poland United Kingdom Canada "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms." 1996 Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo José Ramos-Horta East Timor "for their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor." 1997 International Campaign to Ban Landmines Jody Williams United States "for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines." 1998 John Hume David Trimble United Kingdom "Awarded for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland." 1999 Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium "in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents." 2000 Kim Dae Jung (김대중) South Korea "for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular." 2001 United Nations Kofi Annan United Nations Ghana "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world." 2002 James Earl (Jimmy) Carter, Jr. United States former President of the United States, "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." 2003 Shirin Ebadi (شيرين عبادي) Iran "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children." 2004 Wangari Maathai Kenya "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." 2005 International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei (محمد البرادعي) United Nations Egypt "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way." 2006 Muhammad Yunus (মুহাম্মদ ইউনুস) Grameen Bank Bangladesh "for advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, especially women, through their pioneering microcredit work." 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Albert Arnold (Al) Gore, Jr. United Nations United States "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

Al Gore's Nobel Prize Speech 2007

2008-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Read Al Gore's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech The Huffington Post | December 10, 2007 09:49 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPEECH BY AL GORE ON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ACCEPTANCE DECEMBER 10, 2007 OSLO, NORWAY Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen. I have a purpose here today. It is a purpose I have tried to serve for many years. I have prayed that God would show me a way to accomplish it. Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our door with a precious and painful vision of what might be. One hundred and nineteen years ago, a wealthy inventor read his own obituary, mistakenly published years before his death. Wrongly believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh judgment of his life's work, unfairly labeling him "The Merchant of Death" because of his invention - dynamite. Shaken by this condemnation, the inventor made a fateful choice to serve the cause of peace. Seven years later, Alfred Nobel created this prize and the others that bear his name. Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken - if not premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose. Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, "We must act." The distinguished scientists with whom it is the greatest honor of my life to share this award have laid before us a choice between two different futures - a choice that to my ears echoes the words of an ancient prophet: "Life or death, blessings or curses. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency - a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst - though not all - of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly. However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world's leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat: "They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent." So today, we dumped another 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And tomorrow, we will dump a slightly larger amount, with the cumulative concentrations now trapping more and more heat from the sun. As a result, the earth has a fever. And the fever is rising. The experts have told us it is not a passing affliction that will heal by itself. We asked for a second opinion. And a third. And a fourth. And the consistent conclusion, restated with increasing alarm, is that something basic is wrong. We are what is wrong, and we must make it right. Last September 21, as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress that the North Polar ice cap is "falling off a cliff." One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as 7 years. Seven years from now. In the last few months, it has been harder and harder to misinterpret the signs that our world is spinning out of kilter. Major cities in North and South America, Asia and Australia are nearly out of water due to massive droughts and melting glaciers. Desperate farmers are losing their livelihoods. Peoples in the frozen Arctic and on low-lying Pacific islands are planning evacuations of places they have long called home. Unprecedented wildfires have forced a half million people from their homes in one country and caused a national emergency that almost brought down the government in another. Climate refugees have migrated into areas already inhabited by people with different cultures, religions, and traditions, increasing the potential for conflict. Stronger storms in the Pacific and Atlantic have threatened whole cities. Millions have been displaced by massive flooding in South Asia, Mexico, and 18 countries in Africa. As temperature extremes have increased, tens of thousands have lost their lives. We are recklessly burning and clearing our forests and driving more and more species into extinction. The very web of life on which we depend is being ripped and frayed. We never intended to cause all this destruction, just as Alfred Nobel never intended that dynamite be used for waging war. He had hoped his invention would promote human progress. We shared that same worthy goal when we began burning massive quantities of coal, then oil and methane. Even in Nobel's time, there were a few warnings of the likely consequences. One of the very first winners of the Prize in chemistry worried that, "We are evaporating our coal mines into the air." After performing 10,000 equations by hand, Svante Arrhenius calculated that the earth's average temperature would increase by many degrees if we doubled the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Seventy years later, my teacher, Roger Revelle, and his colleague, Dave Keeling, began to precisely document the increasing CO2 levels day by day. But unlike most other forms of pollution, CO2 is invisible, tasteless, and odorless -- which has helped keep the truth about what it is doing to our climate out of sight and out of mind. Moreover, the catastrophe now threatening us is unprecedented - and we often confuse the unprecedented with the improbable. We also find it hard to imagine making the massive changes that are now necessary to solve the crisis. And when large truths are genuinely inconvenient, whole societies can, at least for a time, ignore them. Yet as George Orwell reminds us: "Sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." In the years since this prize was first awarded, the entire relationship between humankind and the earth has been radically transformed. And still, we have remained largely oblivious to the impact of our cumulative actions. Indeed, without realizing it, we have begun to wage war on the earth itself. Now, we and the earth's climate are locked in a relationship familiar to war planners: "Mutually assured destruction." More than two decades ago, scientists calculated that nuclear war could throw so much debris and smoke into the air that it would block life-giving sunlight from our atmosphere, causing a "nuclear winter." Their eloquent warnings here in Oslo helped galvanize the world's resolve to halt the nuclear arms race. Now science is warning us that if we do not quickly reduce the global warming pollution that is trapping so much of the heat our planet normally radiates back out of the atmosphere, we are in danger of creating a permanent "carbon summer." As the American poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice." Either, he notes, "would suffice." But neither need be our fate. It is time to make peace with the planet. We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war. These prior struggles for survival were won when leaders found words at the 11th hour that released a mighty surge of courage, hope and readiness to sacrifice for a protracted and mortal challenge. These were not comforting and misleading assurances that the threat was not real or imminent; that it would affect others but not ourselves; that ordinary life might be lived even in the presence of extraordinary threat; that Providence could be trusted to do for us what we would not do for ourselves. No, these were calls to come to the defense of the common future. They were calls upon the courage, generosity and strength of entire peoples, citizens of every class and condition who were ready to stand against the threat once asked to do so. Our enemies in those times calculated that free people would not rise to the challenge; they were, of course, catastrophically wrong. Now comes the threat of climate crisis - a threat that is real, rising, imminent, and universal. Once again, it is the 11th hour. The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and growing, and at some near point would be unsustainable and unrecoverable. For now we still have the power to choose our fate, and the remaining question is only this: Have we the will to act vigorously and in time, or will we remain imprisoned by a dangerous illusion? Mahatma Gandhi awakened the largest democracy on earth and forged a shared resolve with what he called "Satyagraha" - or "truth force." In every land, the truth - once known - has the power to set us free. Truth also has the power to unite us and bridge the distance between "me" and "we," creating the basis for common effort and shared responsibility. There is an African proverb that says, "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." We need to go far, quickly. We must abandon the conceit that individual, isolated, private actions are the answer. They can and do help. But they will not take us far enough without collective action. At the same time, we must ensure that in mobilizing globally, we do not invite the establishment of ideological conformity and a new lock-step "ism." That means adopting principles, values, laws, and treaties that release creativity and initiative at every level of society in multifold responses originating concurrently and spontaneously. This new consciousness requires expanding the possibilities inherent in all humanity. The innovators who will devise a new way to harness the sun's energy for pennies or invent an engine that's carbon negative may live in Lagos or Mumbai or Montevideo. We must ensure that entrepreneurs and inventors everywhere on the globe have the chance to change the world. When we unite for a moral purpose that is manifestly good and true, the spiritual energy unleashed can transform us. The generation that defeated fascism throughout the world in the 1940s found, in rising to meet their awesome challenge, that they had gained the moral authority and long-term vision to launch the Marshall Plan, the United Nations, and a new level of global cooperation and foresight that unified Europe and facilitated the emergence of democracy and prosperity in Germany, Japan, Italy and much of the world. One of their visionary leaders said, "It is time we steered by the stars and not by the lights of every passing ship." In the last year of that war, you gave the Peace Prize to a man from my hometown of 2000 people, Carthage, Tennessee. Cordell Hull was described by Franklin Roosevelt as the "Father of the United Nations." He was an inspiration and hero to my own father, who followed Hull in the Congress and the U.S. Senate and in his commitment to world peace and global cooperation. My parents spoke often of Hull, always in tones of reverence and admiration. Eight weeks ago, when you announced this prize, the deepest emotion I felt was when I saw the headline in my hometown paper that simply noted I had won the same prize that Cordell Hull had won. In that moment, I knew what my father and mother would have felt were they alive. Just as Hull's generation found moral authority in rising to solve the world crisis caused by fascism, so too can we find our greatest opportunity in rising to solve the climate crisis. In the Kanji characters used in both Chinese and Japanese, "crisis" is written with two symbols, the first meaning "danger," the second "opportunity." By facing and removing the danger of the climate crisis, we have the opportunity to gain the moral authority and vision to vastly increase our own capacity to solve other crises that have been too long ignored. We must understand the connections between the climate crisis and the afflictions of poverty, hunger, HIV-Aids and other pandemics. As these problems are linked, so too must be their solutions. We must begin by making the common rescue of the global environment the central organizing principle of the world community. Fifteen years ago, I made that case at the "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro. Ten years ago, I presented it in Kyoto. This week, I will urge the delegates in Bali to adopt a bold mandate for a treaty that establishes a universal global cap on emissions and uses the market in emissions trading to efficiently allocate resources to the most effective opportunities for speedy reductions. This treaty should be ratified and brought into effect everywhere in the world by the beginning of 2010 - two years sooner than presently contemplated. The pace of our response must be accelerated to match the accelerating pace of the crisis itself. Heads of state should meet early next year to review what was accomplished in Bali and take personal responsibility for addressing this crisis. It is not unreasonable to ask, given the gravity of our circumstances, that these heads of state meet every three months until the treaty is completed. We also need a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store carbon dioxide. And most important of all, we need to put a price on carbon -- with a CO2 tax that is then rebated back to the people, progressively, according to the laws of each nation, in ways that shift the burden of taxation from employment to pollution. This is by far the most effective and simplest way to accelerate solutions to this crisis. The world needs an alliance - especially of those nations that weigh heaviest in the scales where earth is in the balance. I salute Europe and Japan for the steps they've taken in recent years to meet the challenge, and the new government in Australia, which has made solving the climate crisis its first priority. But the outcome will be decisively influenced by two nations that are now failing to do enough: the United States and China. While India is also growing fast in importance, it should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters -- most of all, my own country -- that will need to make the boldest moves, or stand accountable before history for their failure to act. Both countries should stop using the other's behavior as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment. These are the last few years of decision, but they can be the first years of a bright and hopeful future if we do what we must. No one should believe a solution will be found without effort, without cost, without change. Let us acknowledge that if we wish to redeem squandered time and speak again with moral authority, then these are the hard truths: The way ahead is difficult. The outer boundary of what we currently believe is feasible is still far short of what we actually must do. Moreover, between here and there, across the unknown, falls the shadow. That is just another way of saying that we have to expand the boundaries of what is possible. In the words of the Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, "Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk." We are standing at the most fateful fork in that path. So I want to end as I began, with a vision of two futures - each a palpable possibility - and with a prayer that we will see with vivid clarity the necessity of choosing between those two futures, and the urgency of making the right choice now. The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, "One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door." The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: "What were you thinking; why didn't you act?" Or they will ask instead: "How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?" We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource. So let us renew it, and say together: "We have a purpose. We are many. For this purpose we will rise, and we will act."

Bill Gates, a man of vision

2008-01-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

Bill Gates' reputation precedes him. Although he is the richest man on the planet, he recognizes that the road to success can be bumppy in most cases. The most important of all is to stay focused, determined, and goal-oriented. "It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure". He says.
On the other hand, he remains a humble man and with his wife, he is involved in charity. He gave access to computers and the Internet to a number of impoverished villages both in Africa and Latin America.

Bono's philantropic legacy

2008-01-20T07:17:00.000-08:00

Paul David Hewson was nicknamed Bono by his friends. Born in 1960, he got known as the lead singer of U2, the Irish rock band. He became a champion of philantropy with his humanitarian work. He performed in Conspiracy of Hope with Sting, Live Aid projects, Do they know it's Christmas ? Feed the world ... Very articulate and convincing, he does not hesitate to meet with world leaders and influential politicians to campain for a better , mercieful, altruistic world. What a champion and a special global citizen!

To a Freedom Figher, by Maya Angelou

2008-01-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

You drink a bitter draught.
I sip the tears your eyes fight to hold,
A cup of lees, of henbane steeped in chaff.
You breast is hot,
Your anger black and cold,
Through evening's rest, you dream,
I hear the moans, you die a thousand's death.
When cane straps flog the body
dark and lean, you feel the blow.
I hear it in your breath.

Democrat's formidable 2008 election ticket

2008-01-19T15:56:00.001-08:00

Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton, whatever the order,is a formidable ticket to the White House. It is a powerful image of change and hope for a more just and equal opportunity society. Every one agrees that this association is like a winning lottery ticket. Let's wish them all the best so they can fulfill the challanges of such mandate and restore the economy, peace, and reinforce the idea of equitable sharing of wealth among the haves and the have-nots.

Al Gore's gift to the world

2008-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

Al Gore did not become the president of United-States, but his work is a gift to the world. His commitement to raise awarness about Global warming with his documentary " An inconvenient truth", exposes the problem and proposes solutions to the climate crisis. He is truly a global citizen by exellence.

Gandhi

2008-01-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

The nations, big or small, composing it are fully independent. The nature of that independence will correspond to the extent of nonviolence assimilated by the nations concerned. One thing is certain. In a society based on nonviolence, the smallest nation will feel as tall as the tallest. The idea of superiority and inferiority will be wholly obliterated. ...The conclusion is irresistible that for one like me, wedded to nonviolence, constitutional or democratic government is a distant dream so long as nonviolence is not recognized as a living force, an inviolable creed, not a mere policy. While I prate about universal nonviolence, my experiment is confined to India. If it succeeds, the world will accept it without effort. There is however a bit BUT. The pause does not worry me. My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.

Nelson Mandela

2008-01-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without and fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world." Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address, Pretoria 9 May 1994.

2008-01-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King Jr.
"I refuse to accept the view . . . that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality."

Oprah Winfrey's philanthropy

2008-01-15T16:40:00.000-08:00

Her name evokes success, hard work, excellence , know-how, and generosity. She is among the early students to benefit integrated schools in the US. Her talents , experiences and education are certainly the driving force behind her success. Therefore, education is important to her. Through her Angel network and foundations, she helped build several schools in thirteen different countries and also support poor families. She transcends ethnicity,cultures, and religions. She is a beautiful global citizen.

Agelina Jolie and Brad Pitt humaniterian commitments

2008-01-15T12:39:00.000-08:00

Angelina Jolie is a celebrity that has shown great concerns for developing countries. As an ambassador for the UN refugees, she managed to collect millions of dollars for the latter. She and her husband Brad Pitt, have adopted two beautiful children from empoverished countries. Together, they are great examples of global friendship and solidarity.

The 2008 American Presidential Election and Barack Obama

2008-01-12T20:04:00.000-08:00

The 2008 American Presidential Election or quest for the White House has symbolized the success of interracial or intercultural marriages and relationships through Barack Obama, the young Senator of Illinois born from a Kenyan father and a caucasian American mother. His presence on the political landscape is rejuvenating, stimulating and restores hope in mankind, global friendship and solidarity.

Mixed marriages and friendship album

2008-01-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Post your wedding pictures if you and your spouse belong to different ethnic groups. Please send your wedding pictures to: raudate@gmail.com. To see couples' pictures please visit: www.rosecare.org/globalfriendship