Seasons Greetings and Best wishes for just and peaceful 2012
12/22/2011 04:53:00 PM
reflections
Dec 21, 2011
For most things in life, the more you have of it the less you desire it or the less it becomes productive for you. Our quest for power and wealth tend not to obey this rule. Human desire to accumulate power and wealth appears simply insatiable. But every once in a while, comes a remarkable person who forces us to rethink our assumptions about human nature.
This week, after much digging, The New York Times unmasked 80-year-old Charles F. Feeney as the anonymous donor who gave Connell University a $350 million donation to construct a new technology-based satellite campus in New York City.
A self-made billionaire who co-founded Duty Free Shoppers Group in the 1960s, Charles Feeney has been donating quietly and anonymously to universities, hospitals and charitable foundations for much of his lifetime. In 2009, he gave $125 million to build a new medical center for the University of California-San Francisco that would treat women, children, and cancer patients. Over the course of the last decade, he's given more than €46m to the University of Limerick in Ireland. Hs total donations for Cornell over the years -- not counting the latest $350 million -- exceed $600 million.
Even more remarkable is Mr. Feeney’s steely resolve to give anonymously and without the publicity and self-adulation that is often associated with philanthropy. He is reluctant to do press interviews or even pose for a publicity photograph. According to The Atlantic Wire, “Nearly every profile makes note of how unimpressed Feeney is with what his wealth can buy him, noting that he flies coach, wears a $15 watch, and doesn't own a house or a car.”
When asked why he decided to give everything away, Feeney replied, "I simply decided I had enough money."
Now, that is something you don’t hear every day: “I simply decided I had enough money.”
The world desperately needs more Charles Feeneys.
Meet Charles Feeney, Cornell's $350 Million Donor (The Atlantic Wire)
Cornell Alumnus Is Behind $350 Million Gift to Build Science School in City (New York Times)
"I simply decided I had enough money"
12/21/2011 11:18:00 AM
Development, media, Tributes
Dec 18, 2011
This lighthearted story about the debate over replacing the beaver with the polar bear as Canada’s national emblem was one of the most read stories on the BBC website this week.
Apparently the rest of the world is as concerned as some of us about the efforts currently been pushed on several levels to reshape Canadian national identity. Canada’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol marks a radical departure from the values of moderation and tolerance that the country has long been known for. These values are part of the reasons why some of us, chose to make this country home. It is a source of grave concern that these values seem to be slipping away.
"In a world of eagles, bears, dragons and other fearsome beasts, surely we need more, not less, of the beaver."
Beaver or bear? Fur flies over Canadian sense of identity (BBC)
Beaver or bear? The Battle over Canadian National Identity
12/18/2011 05:54:00 PM
politics
Dec 14, 2011
Time Magazine has declared “the Protester” the person of the year for 2011. It is a fitting choice. 2011 was indeed the year of the protester. From Cairo’s Tahrir square to New York’s Zuccotti Park, ordinary citizens protesting against political repression and economic inequities took to the streets to voice their complaints. They found an ally in technology. Facebook and tweeter were the vectors of their protestations.
Street protests have always been a part of social ferment. What makes these noteworthy is their efficacy. Sit tight dictators were forced to abdicate and nervous corporate oligarchies have been forced to take note. "Massive and effective street protest" has moved from being an oxymoron to become the reality of our internet age.
But what struck me most about the Time Story was the discussion of the life the 26-year-old street Tunisian vendor Mohamed Bouazizi whose self-immolation on December 17 2010 set off an unrelenting wave of street protest across the Arab world. Mohamed Bouazizi has become the unlikely martyr and icon of the year of the Arab Spring and the age of “effective street protest.” It is a compelling story:
“On a Friday morning almost exactly a year ago, he set out for work, selling produce from a cart. Police had hassled Bouazizi routinely for years, his family says, fining him, making him jump through bureaucratic hoops. On Dec. 17, 2010, a cop started giving him grief yet again. She confiscated his scale and allegedly slapped him. He walked straight to the provincial-capital building to complain and got no response. At the gate, he drenched himself in paint thinner and lit a match.”
I have heard some question whether this aggravation was enough to warrant self-immolation. That is a matter for debate. However, we must never underestimate dehumanizing effects of humiliation and indignity. Bouazizi set himself on fire not because he was starving or homeless. He went to that extreme length because he was tired of a life of humiliation, dehumanization and indignity. Perhaps for him, setting himself on fire was a means of escape and the ultimate statement of defiance.
Bouazizi’s mother puts it succinctly, “My son set himself on fire for dignity." Her 16-year-old daughter Basma, put it even better: "dignity is more important than bread."
"Dignity is more important than bread"
12/14/2011 06:06:00 PM
human rights
Dec 10, 2011
On December 9, 1947 Dutch military forces deployed in the village of Rawagede in colonized Indonesia committed an unspeakable crime.
In their fight to maintain Dutch colonial rule and suppress the Indonesian Republicans seeking independence for their country, they killed nearly all the males in this remote Indonesian village. Almost 500 men were rounded up and summarily executed, in many cases right before their families. The widows recall that it was left to the women and children in the villages to bury the corpses of their slain husbands, brothers and children. Rawagede became a village without men.
Although the Dutch army and state acknowledged that the massacres occurred, no one was ever prosecuted or convicted for the massacres. A 1948 United Nations report described the killings "deliberate and merciless."
Since the publication of the report there have been pressures on Netherlands to officially apologize for the massacres and pay compensation to the victims and survivors. None has been forthcoming. The best that the people of Rawagede got was statement that the Netherlands "deeply regrets" the massacre.
Finally on the sixty-fourth anniversary of the massacres, the Dutch government through its ambassador to Indonesia formally apologised for the massacres. It was a terse public statement which included the words that the survivors had waited for over six decades to hear: "On behalf of the Dutch government, I apologise for the tragedy that took place in Rawagede on the 9th of December, 1947."
But the apology came only after some survivors successfully sued the Dutch government for the massacres and a court in the Netherlands ordered the government to pay compensation over the killings. Only 9 relatives are still alive and each will receive a paltry Euro 20,000 ($27,000) compensation.
The apology is welcome since its better late than never. But for the traumatized people of Rawagede, it provides only cold comfort. The apology is too little too late. State apologies for historical crimes and injustices are notoriously difficult to get. In this case, the belated apology from the Netherland seems to have been driven more by insular legal and public relations considerations rather than a genuine sense of national contrition for the massacres. The Dutch apology is a classic example of how not to do state apology.
For more on the debate over state apology for historical crimes see a recent book to which I contributed:
Dutch Apology for the Massacre at Rawagede (Indonesia): How not to do State Apology
12/10/2011 07:04:00 PM
human rights, war and peace
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