Jul 25, 2014

Global security expert: Insurgencies making world more dangerous than even at height of Cold War | CTV News

The world is a more dangerous place “than even at the height of the Cold War,” when the threat of mutually assured destruction kept the world’s superpowers in check, says one historian and global security expert.
With fighting between Israel and Hamas flaring once again and adding to what seems like a growing list of conflicts around the world, the threat to global peace is more significant than ever before, says Bonny Ibhawoh of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union were ultimately prevented from engaging in all-out war by the threat of mutually assured destruction, Ibhawoh told CTV’s Canada AM on Thursday.

“But today we live in a world where the weapons of mass destruction are in the hands of militias, insurgencies and so there’s really no control over how these weapons are used around the world,” he said.
During the Cold War, the West had a clearly defined enemy in the Soviet Union and containing Communism was a singular goal.

Now, there are almost too many enemies, Ibhawoh says.
“Fragmented warfare, insurgencies, asymmetrical warfare: That is exactly the problem,” he said, noting that one scholar has coined the term “the democratization of the weapons of mass destruction.”
And unlike the 1960s, when a strong and vocal peace movement tried to drown out the sound of war drums with popular protest songs, activists and artists today are not writing this generation’s “Imagine” or “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

“Today we see that the voices for peace have been drowned out by the voices of extremism and the voices of intolerance and I think that makes us an even more dangerous world today,” Ibhawoh said.
What is also missing today, he says, is grassroots political activism that has the power to push world leaders to the negotiating table to solve conflicts, he said. For example, “a very vigorous grassroots activist movement” in South Africa and around the world helped end apartheid.

“That is missing today,” Ibhawoh said. “And I think that unless you begin to create a space for these kinds of grassroots activism, the prospects for peace in our world are very slim.”

World enduring 'more dangerous times' than at height of Cold War:

7/25/2014 06:29:00 PM , , ,

May 7, 2014

The global outrage must persist until the young girls kidnapped by militant Islamists in Nigeria are found and brought back home. In our 24 hour media news circle, I worry that the issue, like many others will soon drop off our global outrage radar. These missing girls represent the most vulnerable in any society and in our world. Their safe return should rightly be a collective responsibility.


#BringBackOurGirls: Let the Outrage Persist

5/07/2014 11:46:00 PM ,

Apr 16, 2014

A tribute to my friend, Oktay Aksan...

In one of the many Christmas parties hosted by Virginia and Oktay in their Westdale home, Oktay and I got talking about barbecue lamb. I had suggested to Oktay that I missed the elaborate whole lamb barbecue that I enjoyed so much growing up in Africa.

I asked if he knew of any restaurants where I could treat myself to spicy grilled barbecue lamb. He thought for a moment. He knew of no place where I could find the kind of spicy open-fire barbecue lamb that I craved. Then with that famous twinkle in his eyes he added “…but there is no reason why we can’t do this ourselves.” Really?

Preparing whole lamb barbecue would be a complicated undertaking, I reasoned. Where would we find whole lamb or even a barbecue grill large enough to grill it? “Don’t worry about that” Oktay assured. We could buy whole lamb from a nearby farm and he assured me that a large enough grill could be found. I volunteered to supply the condiments and we planned the event for summer.

But summer came with life’s other events and we didn't get to have our barbecue lamb. At every Christmas party thereafter, we would renew our commitment to the elusive barbecue lamb. At our last Christmas party meeting, Oktay, though frail, was in high spirits. His enthusiasm for our barbecue lamb event hadn't waned and once again we agreed to finally get it done this summer. We never got to it.

Although our meetings were infrequent, each encounter was happy and memorable, filled with laughter and banter. I found much in Oktay to which I could relate. Stories about his Turkish childhood held a particular fascination. Once, during our conversation, he suddenly burst out singing the Scottish folksong, “My Bonnie is over the ocean……” It is a song of my own childhood and it instantly brought me pleasant memories. Oktay was a gentle and personable soul. He will be missed.

Barbecue Lamb with Oktay

4/16/2014 08:22:00 PM

Apr 8, 2014





My colleague, Dr. Eugene Nshimiyimana, tells the heart-wrenching story of how he survived the Rwandan genocide. A lesson in the destructiveness of hate and the redeeming power of peace.

Rwanda's Genocide: The Solider and the Survivor

4/08/2014 03:14:00 PM , ,

 

It's been 20 years since the genocide in Rwanda. The lesson for the world is a simple one. Never again. Here, my reflections on the genocide. 

CHCH TV News

Monday marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most violent chapters in human history. The Rwandan genocide saw more than one million people massacred. Carried out by Rwanda’s ethnic Hutu’s — they targeted the country’s minority Tutsi and moderate Hutu’s — using machetes, gasoline, guns and grenades.

Dignitaries from around the world attended a ceremony in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. Actors performed a play based on the genocide. It had some in the audience were overcome with emotion — and needed to be carried away. Many watching lost their entire families in the genocide. For the United Nations, it was an opportunity to reflect on how the world responded two decades ago. Ban-Ki Moon is the U.N. Secretary General: “Many United Nations personnel and others showed remarkable bravery but we could have done much more, we should have done much more.”

The dark chapter in human history is horrific — but is one many say should not be hidden because it can be a lesson for the rest of the world. We caution you that some of the details and images in this next story are disturbing — and not suitable for all viewers. We spoke with two people at McMaster University Monday. One of them was directly impacted by the genocide.

Beatrice Kansayisa left Rwanda to go study in Cyprus, and just in time. Twenty years ago her parents, brothers, sisters and a neice were slaughtered by Hutu’s: “I lost everybody. I could’ve been killed. I’m lucky. I heard different stories but the majority died with machetes.”

She watched on television. The one hundred day long civil war that eventually killed about one million people in Rwanda. The world did nothing — countries who had the ability to intervene had nothing to gain. But McMaster University professor Bonny Ibhawoh says twenty years after the genocide, Rwanda has had to balance justice and reconciliation. “There wasn’t really an appetite for intervening in this obscure part of Africa. No strategic interest. Rwanda has no oil. The Rwandan government has had to tread that fine line between ensuring justice is done to the victims of the genocide but creating a free world that will move the nation forward that allows for reconciliation and healing.

20 years since Rwanda genocide: Never Again

4/08/2014 02:39:00 PM , ,

Mar 14, 2014

It is always a delight to listen to Brother Cornell West speak. In the true prophetic tradition of his Christian calling, he consistently and powerfully speaks truth to power. While I may not agree with all his views and methods, he remains a moral anchor for many in the social justice movement. Here, he talks about the imperatives of social and economic justice in a world of material excess and obscene inequalities within and between nations. 

"Every day is a gift and every breath is a breakthrough"

The Fire of Righteous Indignation: Cornel West on Economic Justice

3/14/2014 09:40:00 PM ,

Feb 14, 2014


One of my favorite quotations is by the writer Chinua Achebe, author of the classic novel Things Fall Apart. It states: "Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter." It is a message that goes out with every e-mail I send.

The idea is not originally Achebe's. As he acknowledged himself, this is a common age-old African proverb. Many African communities have a version of it. But the life and work of Achebe represented the essence of this universal aphorism. The story of the defeated is rarely told. Or as Winston Churchill put it, "History is written by the victors".

But this need not be so. In a just world, even the defeated deserve to have their stories told. There aren't just two sides to any story. There are multiple sides. In the analogy of the hunter and the lion, we have at least three possible stories. The hunter's, the lion's and the historian's or storyteller's. Scholars fail in their responsibility to their audiences when they tell stories only from the perspective of the triumphant hunter.

A year after his death, Chinua Achebe remains an inspiration to many who strive to tell the stories of the subjugated and the vanquished in a way that reflects the true complexity and diversity of human experiences.

Achebe tells of how this impulse to tell the stories of the voiceless shaped his own work as a writer:

"There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. That did not come to me until much later. Once I realized that, I had to be a writer. I had to be that historian. It’s not one man’s job. It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail — the bravery, even, of the lions."


Of Hunters and the Bravery of Lions

2/14/2014 09:39:00 AM ,

Feb 2, 2014

Scholars of Peace Studies are familiar with this question. Why do we need peace studies? With the end of the Cold War, hasn't humanity safely avoided the existential threat of Mutually Assured Destruction? Didn't the political scientist Francis Fukuyama proclaim triumphantly at the end of Cold War that humanity had finally reached the End of History? Why should we be investing in the study of peace when there are diseases to be cured, bridges to be built, computers to be invented, and the cosmos to be explored? 

True, these are all important human endeavors but so is the study of global peace and conflict. According to the World Health Organization, the leading worldwide public health problem today is not cancer, malaria or HIV/AIDS. It is violence. In the last century alone, more people died from violence within and between nations than any known disease (Read WHO Report). The Cold War may have ended, but we continue to live in an age of terror, asymmetrical warfare and genocides. The study of peace remains as relevant today as it ever was.

I was invited to talk about my current Peace Studies project as part of the 3 Minutes Thesis Competition (3MT). The 3MT Competition is aimed at encouraging graduate students and post-doctoral scholars develop and learn how to effectively communicate complex research in just three short minutes. As Graduate Dean, I thought that I should show by example. 

Why do we need Peace Studies?

2/02/2014 01:37:00 PM , ,

Feb 1, 2014

In an earlier post in this blog, I explained why I think the legacies of Bill Gates will outlive most of his entrepreneurial or philanthropic contemporaries. (Read here)

Gates’ philanthropy and commitment to tackling key challenges in global health is truly exemplary. He has made the global eradication of polio a personal mission and is on course to achieve this within five years. India is already polio free, thanks to the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Talk about changing the world for better.

In his 2014 Annual Letter Bill Gates debunks 3 myths that block progress for the poor:

1. Poor countries are doomed to stay poor. Gates shows, through historical and contemporary evidence that this is simply not true. Countries do emerge from extreme poverty as did Mexico, China and many other countries.

2. Foreign aid is a waste. Gates argues that while there are inefficiencies in how foreign aid is managed and used, aid does make a difference in the lives of those who are most in need. 

3. Saving lives leads to overpopulation. Gates says that this is simply not true and has the facts to back it up. As societies emerge out of poverty and become prosperous, family sizes historically reduce and population stabilizes or declines.

Gates concludes:

"By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. You might think that such striking progress would be widely celebrated, but in fact, Melinda and I are struck by how many people think the world is getting worse. The belief that the world can’t solve extreme poverty and disease isn't just mistaken. It is harmful. That’s why in this year’s letter we take apart some of the myths that slow down the work. The next time you hear these myths, we hope you will do the same.”

…. I certainly will.

The poor are not doomed to stay poor - Bill Gates

2/01/2014 11:56:00 PM ,

Dec 21, 2013


Happy Holidays to readers and followers of this blog and all people of good will. This holiday season, we are reminded to celebrate life, speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, work to protect the vulnerable amongst us and stand for the cause of human rights, justice and peace!

Wage Peace 
by Judyth Hill

Wage Peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children and fresh mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, memorize the words for thank you in 3 languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief
as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the word seemed so fresh and precious:

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

Wage Peace (A Holiday Message)

12/21/2013 11:30:00 AM ,
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