"Dr. Kamran Mofid is a visionary activist committed to the evolutionary transformation of social, ecological and spiritual values. His is a vision of a healing world, in which justice and peace are increased – rather than diminished – by the process of globalisation." -- Common Ground
http://www.cg.org/news_list.aspx
Alma and Clifford Pearson Distinguished Speakers Series
Location: Samuelson Chapel - California Lutheran University
"Kamran Mofid is founder of the Globalization for the Common Good Initiative and co-founder/editor of the Journal of Globalization for the Common Good. Born in Tehran, Iran, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Windsor, Ontario, and his doctorate in economics from the University of Birmingham, U.K. In 2001 he received a Certificate in Education in Pastoral Studies at Plater College, Oxford..." http://www.callutheran.edu/calendar/event/1787
To listen to the lecture please click here: http://www.callutheran.edu/CLV/
"Outside ideas of right doing And wrong doing, There is a field I’ll meet you there." -- Rumi
"The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach."
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
"We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/
THE CENTER FOR VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
Visionary leaders are the builders of a new dawn, working with imagination, insight, and boldness. They present a challenge that calls forth the best in people and brings them together around a shared sense of purpose. They work with the power of intentionality and alignment with a higher purpose. Their eyes are on the horizon, not just on the near at hand. They are social innovators and change agents, seeing the big picture and thinking strategically.
There is a profound interconnectedness between the leader and the whole, and true visionary leaders serve the good of the whole. They recognize that there is some truth on both sides of most polarized issues in our society today. They search for solutions that transcend the usual adversarial approaches and address the causal level of problems. They find a higher synthesis of the best of both sides of an issue and address the systemic root causes of problems to create real breakthroughs.
Setting a New Spiritual Tone
"Through their presence, the words they speak and what they do, every leader sets a tone for all within an organization or a nation. The reason people have supported Obama with such fervor is that they sense a new vibration, a new tone that he is resonating. America and the world knows this is needed. He sounds the note of unity within diversity, respect for all, honesty, plain speaking and fulfilling the highest we know we are capable of. After his election, a palpable shift took place throughout the U.S., as everyone recognizes that a new vibration, a new tone is being sounded for our nation and our people."
Source: http://www.visionarylead.org/articles/Obama.htm
Earth, Wind and Fire: "Keep Your Head to the Sky" Did they perform this song at the White House?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoUPdIdJBcI
Afghanistan joins war on terror review
"I am very, very thankful that President Obama has accepted my proposal of Afghanistan joining the strategic review of the war against terrorism in the United States," Mr Karzai said.
Kabul would send a delegation to Washington headed by Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta to take part in the reassessment, he said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25059965-12335,00.html
"In his seven years in office, Mr. Karzai has successfully presided over the transition of the Afghan state from the devastated, pre-modern institution it was under the Taliban to the deeply troubled but largely democratic one it is today. Perhaps most important for his future, Mr. Karzai has assembled a team of senior administrators whose competence and experience would be difficult for any challenger to match." New York Times, 2/7/09
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/world/asia/08karzai.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's Interview of 2/15/09 with Fareed Zakaria
Part I:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/02/15/gps.karzai.intv.pt.1.cnn?iref=videosearch
Part II:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/02/15/gps.karzai.intv.pt.2.cnn?iref=videosearch
Interveiw: Hamid Karzai, Aljazeera.net 2/14/09
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/2009213193946154689.html
"Hamid Karzai is fluent in English having gone to university in Simla, India where he received an M.A. in the International Relations and Political Science Program"
"Hamid Karzai is said to be fluent in five other languages (Pushtu, Dari, Urdu, French and Hindi) and is comfortable with the electronic media. While at university, the Soviets invaded his homeland."
"Hamid Karzai has an honor doctorate in literature, an honorary doctorate of Laws from Boston University and Georgetown."
http://www.zimbio.com/President+Hamid+Karzai/articles/388/19+Must+Know+Facts+Afghanistan+President+Hamid
Reading Recommendations -- Dr. Kamran Mofid, Economist:
Economists are the forgotten guilty men
National Prayer Breakfast
"We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don’t expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding." -- President Obama, 2/5/09 (White House photo 2/5/09 by Pete Souza)
Source: THE WHITE HOUSE BLOG
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog_post/this_is_my_prayer/
The Golden Rule:
"Religious groups, as well as non-theistic ethical systems, differ greatly in their beliefs and practices. There is, however, a common thread that runs through them all. Each of these systems of belief has some example of the Ethic of Reciprocity in their teachings." The most common version of this is known as:The Golden Rule"Do onto others as you would have them do onto you."Copyright Humanity Healing 15 August 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ci613QcC5E
Organizing For America
Sign up to host an Economic Recovery House Meeting the weekend of Friday, February 6th.
As many Americans plan to host or attend an Economic Recovery House Meeting and while we continue to struggle with the economic crisis please consider additional opportunities to expand the dialogue, examples are provided below.
California Lutheran University
Admission is free. Visit the CLU web site for more information:
http://www.callutheran.edu/calendar/event/1787
Dr. Mofid will be visiting Common Ground on Tuesday, March 3, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Dr. Mofid will give the third in the 2008-2009 Common Ground Chair Lecture Series.
Dr. Mofid will also be giving a public lecture at Lake Forest College on Monday, March 2. (Details will be available on the CG site.) The LFC presentation is sponsored by the Department of Religions and the Islamic World Studies Program.
Common Ground is a center for inquiry, study, and dialogue. The primary concern of which is the human quest for understanding and the human pursuit of significance.
"Dr. Kamran Mofid is a visionary activist committed to the evolutionary transformation of social, ecological and spiritual values. His is a vision of a healing world, in which justice and peace are increased – rather than diminished – by the process of globalisation."
-- Common Ground
Common Ground, 815 Rosemary Terrace, Deerfield, IL 60015.
http://www.cg.org/News_View.aspx?Articleid=48
Globalisation For the Common Good Initiative
"Globalization:
The Challenge to America"
May 31 – June 4, 2009
Loyola University • Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.gcgchicago2009.info/
.........................................Kamran Mofid PhD (ECON)Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiativewww.globalisationforthecommongood.infoCo-editor, Journal of Globalisation for the Common Goodwww.commongoodjournal.comGlobalisation for the Common Good, Chicago 2009http://www.gcgchicago2009.info/
President Obama's interview with Mr. Hisham Melhem of Al-Arabiya was a refreshing change from the past 8 years. There is HOPE!
“My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy,” Obama told Al Arabiya’s Hisham Melhem in an interview broadcast Tuesday morning.
"... start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating -- in the past on some of these issues --and we don't always know all the factors that are involved. So let's listen."
Transcript:
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/01/27/65087.html#004
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."
President Barack Obama
CHANGE AT LAST!
Native American Prayer Oh, Great SpiritWhose voice I hear in the winds,And whose breath gives life to all the world,hear me, I am small and weak,I need your strength and wisdom.Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever beholdthe red and purple sunset.Make my hands respect the things you havemade and my ears sharp to hear your voice.Make me wise so that I may understand the thingsyou have taught my people.Let me learn the lessons you havehidden in every leaf and rock.I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.Make me always ready to come to youwith clean hands and straight eyes.So when life fades, as the fading sunset,my Spirit may come to you without shame.
"We must work unceasingly to uplift this nation that we love to a higher destiny, to a higher plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humanness" -Dr Martin Luther King
Happy Birthday To You, by Stevie Wonder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrqu5U05QVs
President-Elect Obama & Mrs. Obama
"We are the hope of the future; the answer to the cynics who tell us our house must stand divided; that we cannot come together; that we cannot remake this world as it should be. Because we know what we have seen and what we believe - that what began as a whisper has now swelled to a chorus that cannot be ignored; that will not be deterred; that will ring out across this land as a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest - Yes. We. Can." -- Barack Obama, 2/5/08
AL JAZEERA.NET, January 15, 2009/excerpt:
Children 'paying price of Gaza war'
Children are bearing the brunt of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has said.More than 300 children have been killed and hundreds more wounded in Israel's aerial and ground assault, Ann Veneman, Unicef's executive director, said in a statement released on Wedneday.
She said: "Each day more children are being hurt, their small bodies wounded, their young lives shattered. This is tragic. This is unacceptable.
"They are bearing the brunt of a conflict which is not theirs.
"As fighting reaches the heart of heavily populated urban areas, the impact of lethal weapons will carry an even heavier toll on children."
Anyone with an internet connection can Google "Gaza humanitarian catastrophe" and find the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories and read the thousands of pages of evidence documenting the reality of the current fighting, and the long term siege on Gaza that preceded it.
Viewer Alert: Video is Graphic & Heartbreaking
Video: Children suffer Video: Born into war Naming the deceased
Read the full story from the source
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091157268591938.html
By Mark LeVine, January 13, 2009/excerpt:
"One by one the justifications given by Israel for its latest war in Gaza are unravelling."
"The claim that Hamas will never accept the existence of Israel has proved equally misinformed, as Hamas leaders explicitly announce their intention to do just that in the pages of the Los Angeles Times or to any international leader or journalist who will meet with them."
"Anyone with an internet connection can Google "Gaza humanitarian catastrophe" and find the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories and read the thousands of pages of evidence documenting the reality of the current fighting, and the long term siege on Gaza that preceded it."
Read the full story from the source:
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/2009110112723260741.html
Thank You! This is a thank you note to all those who made contributions to help make this performance possible for students of the Lincoln College Prep Academy's Wind Ensemble! Your support of music education in public schools is very important and deeply appreciated!
Here's information from the Carnegie Hall Schedule:
Program Details
Beyond the Hall of Mirrors
Reflections on War, Terror and Human Interaction
by Dennis Rivers, MA
July 2005 Issue of the Journal of Cooperative Communication Skills
Below are a few comments from the article:
One of the great paradoxes of political life and human behavior, is that we imagine that we can bend other people to our will by force of arms. At the same time, we hold that no one will ever bend us to their will by force of arms. This implies some sort of belief that we are strong-willed while "they" are weak-willed. And of course, "they" think the same of us, thinking that they will be able to coerce us, but will never allow themselves to be coerced. This is a lethal fantasy, on all sides, in which grownup folks engage in childlike wishful thinking. It doesn't occur to people that the folks on the other side may be just like themselves. We are all strong-willed, we all resist coercion in whatever way we can. Unless someone becomes more conscious, every proud swagger from one side will elicit an even prouder swagger from the other side. Unless someone becomes more conscious, every taunt and humiliation from one side, will elicit an even bloodier taunt and humiliation from the other. "Bring 'em on, we're plenty tough," sneered President Bush to the insurgents. The Iraqi insurgents taunted back with videos of executions. We responded by torturing captured insurgents, setting off global shock waves. And so it goes, up to the most recent bombings. While this contest of coercion goes on, people are dying with no end in sight. Truly, if ever there were a situation that called for "thinking outside the box," we are in it now.
One possible answer, perhaps the greatest possible answer, to this downward spiral, would be a new turning toward the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The fact that the Golden Rule has been around for several thousand years, and appears in all the great religions, does not mean that we have fully understood it or mastered the art of living by it. One fruitful way, in my view, of starting over with the Golden Rule would be to explore it more deeply as an effort to steer spirals of human interaction toward life-sustaining outcomes and away from mutual destruction. If we don't want people to try to coerce us, we can begin by lowering our reliance on coercion in all our relationships, both personal and international. If we want people to listen to our concerns, we can begin by listening to their concerns. If we don't want people to point guns or missiles at us, we can stop pointing our guns and missiles at them. Imagining that we can point our guns and missiles at countries around the world, and that they will not be motivated to point guns and missiles back at us, is, whatever else you may think of it, extremely unrealistic. If all behavior is instruction, we can take the initiative and model more of the positive behavior we want to evoke. This won't be easy, but our current slide toward perpetual war and national bankruptcy through military spending is not going to be easy, either. As a Borscht-circuit comedian in the 1950's might have put it: "A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there, pretty soon you're talking big money!"
Gandhi must have been thinking about the Golden Rule when he said "be the change you want to see."
http://www.newconversations.net/library/mirrors.htm
Published on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 by The San Francisco Chronicle
by Jess Ghannam
Excerpt:
"President-elect Barack Obama has an opportunity to introduce desperately needed change in America's Middle East policy. Nothing would accomplish more than for Obama to speak out clearly against Israel's terrorism in Gaza. He should clarify that while all governments have the right to self defense, this cannot include the wanton bombardment of heavily populated civilian areas."
"For too long, American support of Israel has come without condition. Billions of our tax dollars have supported a state that betrays American values and engages in policies that harm America's image and interests abroad. Millions of Arabs and Muslims are glued to television sets right now. They are watching scenes of Palestinian men, women and children bathed in blood, aware that American-supplied F-16 fighter jets delivered the bombs. Imagine the difference if, instead, they saw an American leader declare that Palestinians - like Israelis - have the right to live in freedom and security. Imagine if those American planes were delivering much-needed food and medicine to people in Gaza."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/30
Wizipan Garriott named Obama’s First Americans Public Liaison
by Rob Capriccioso
Story Published: Dec 15, 2008
WASHINGTON – Wizipan Garriott, 28, has been appointed First Americans Public Liaison, a newly created position in President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The position is aimed at honoring a nation-to-nation relationship with tribes.
Read the story, Indian Country Today:
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/politics/36045919.html
A Film by Landrum Bolling
"This 30 minute film, sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, is a vivid, compassionate portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Through the voices of Israeli and Palestinian citizens of diverse backgrounds, it reveals their hopes and fears and explores the issues that divide them. It also describes in a compelling way a broad common ground of yearning for peace, pointing the way toward a resolution of this tragic conflict that would meet the deepest needs of both societies."
Source & Link to the Film:
http://www.fmep.org/searching_for_peace_in_the_middle_east.html
"There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. For the person who hates, you can stand up and see a person and that person can be beautiful, and you will call them ugly. For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater."
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/sermons/571117.002_Loving_Your_Enemies.html
"The Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) is a coalition of 57 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote people-to-people coexistence and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. As an alliance, the NGOs work together to raise awareness about the extent and importance of their work, as well as cultivate new and expanded resources to support Middle East coexistence."
http://www.allmep.org/allmep_v1/aboutALLMEP.php
The Reuterscoverage of the Worldvision report is below:
“A baseline survey conducted in World Vision’s North Gaza Area Development Programme (ADP) has revealed disturbing findings linked to the physical and psychosocial well being of children – underscoring the need for long-term, sustainable development among some 66,000 people.
Located north of the Gaza Strip, the Beit Lahya community relies on farming, fishing and the service sector for its livelihood – all of which have been severely impacted by Israeli military operations, movement restrictions in the sea and border closures leading to a devastated local economy.World Vision, together with community leaders conducted the baseline survey involving 41 focus groups and more than 50 indicators to measure the well-being of children and their families and the ability of families and the community to meet children’s needs. Survey outcomes also form a benchmark upon which to measure the impact of World Vision’s work.
More than 33.1% of families in Beit Lahya have 10 or more family members and live in extreme poverty. They rely on coupons for food and can’t afford to adequately clothe and educate their children. While nearly every household in Beit Lahya has access to water, the quality is so poor that 95% of households have to buy their drinking water. Many children are affected by parasites and diarrhoea, which is adequately treated in only 24% of cases. Mild stunting (low height for age) affects almost 13% of children, moderate stunting 8.46%, and severe stunting 4.83%. ‘My children have forgotten the shape and smell of cooked meat and chicken”, said a mother in one focus group.
Perhaps even more alarming is the poor psychosocial well-being of children, with bedwetting and nightmares featuring heavily in focus group findings – both linked with fear and anxiety as a result of the ongoing conflict. “Most children with nightmares experience lack of concentration and attention deficit”, shared a teacher in a focus group session. Children show low levels of love of learning due to violence practiced against them, difficult curricular and deteriorated educational environment. ‘In the past, my father used to tell me, if you scored high marks in schools, I will bring you a bicycle. Now he stays at home with no job, he says nothing to encourage me”, said one student.
The staggering unemployment rate (65%) and low per capita annual income (US$140) is also putting pressure on families to generate an income any way they can. “If my elder daughter was a boy, I would have dropped her out of school in order to work to increase our livelihood’s earning”, was the response in one focus group. While World Vision child sponsorship has been in place for less than a year, the organisation is using donated funds to improve the educational environment for students, by investing in infrastructure, training teachers and developing curriculum. ‘A better environment for the child means a healthier environment in the school in the midst of the larger less controllable external environment’, said Rania Cory, World Vision Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza Sponsorship Manager.
The survey also revealed that limited recreational and social opportunities for children is a major issue in this ADP, which is why the sponsorship programme has enabled some 1,500 sponsored children to attend summer camps and participate in birthday parties, chaperoned trips and sporting competitions.Instilling a greater sense of hope is also a primary aim of World Vision’s development work in the area - and a major challenge given the low levels of ‘emergence of hope’ revealed in the survey, especially among parents. Lessons on peace and conflict resolution have been conducted with children from years five to eight to help children think about the consequences of conflict in a simple way, says ADP Manager Mohammad El Halaby. And, workshops have been conducted with parents on issues like early marriage and nutrition to help them make informed choices on the ways they raise their children.
Helping farmers and fishermen generate better incomes for their families by rehabilitating greenhouses and restoring boats and nets, as well as offering training on more efficient work practices is just one way that World Vision is helping families provide for their children. Improving the psychosocial wellbeing of children is a longer-term, delicate process and a challenge World Vision must undertake closely with community leaders and members alongside addressing the underlying causes of fear and poverty. It is hoped that sponsorship, in tandem with income generating activities and advocacy efforts, will play a part in giving children and their parents hope for a peaceful and fulfilling future.”
Monday 22 December 2008
AFP - Hamas threatened on Monday to resume suicide attacks if Israel launches an offensive on its Gaza stronghold, as the Jewish state kicked off a diplomatic campaign to win support for any military action. "It is our right as an occupied people to defend ourselves from the occupation by all means possible including suicide attacks," Ayman Taha, a Hamas leader, told AFP. The warning came as Israel kicked off a campaign to muster international support for any major military offensive to try to halt rocket fire from the impoverished Palestinian territory. Tensions have mounted since the expiry on Friday of a six-month truce in and around Gaza between Israel and Hamas, which is branded a terrorist group by the Jewish state and the West. In a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Israel's envoy to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev said the government would respond to continuing rocket fire, foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the main governing Kadima party, has ordered Israeli ambassadors around the world to emphasise that Israel "will not hesitate to react militarily if necessary" to protect its citizens. She is also due to meet foreign ambassadors to Israel and speak with her counterparts abroad. "The world must understand that the situation in southern Israel is intolerable for hundreds of thousands of citizens exposed to rocket fire," Palmor said. "We cannot remain with our arms crossed. Either the international community intervenes or we will have to act," he told AFP. The public relations effort came a day after Israel threatened a major offensive against the impoverished territory that has been ruled by Hamas since June last year. The two frontrunners in the race to become prime minister after a snap election in February -- Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the opposition Likud party currently leading in opinion polls -- both vowed to oust the Islamist movement, sworn to the Jewish state's destruction. Violence around the enclave has steadily escalated since Friday, when Hamas said it would not renew a six-month truce with Israel, which came into effect after months of Egyptian mediation. Since then, the army has carried out several air strikes, killing one militant and wounding several Palestinians, and militants have launched several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, wounding a handful of people. Despite the bellicose rhetoric, observers say the Israeli government is wary of launching a major offensive less than two months before the general election for fear it would not be able to score a decisive victory against Hamas. "The politicians aren't in any rush to reach election day with an incomplete military operation and only partial results hanging around their necks," wrote military analyst Alex Fishman in top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot on Sunday. "And worse than that, to be accused of having ordered a military operation just to improve their chances at the ballot box," he said. Israel responded to violence that erupted around Gaza in early November by tightening its blockade of the territory and blocking deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies. The over-crowded and aid-dependent land of some 1.5 million people has been subject to Israeli blockades and repeated raids since 2006, when Hamas won parliamentary elections and later joined in a deadly cross-border raid which saw militants capture an Israeli soldier, who remains hostage to this day.
Source:
http://www.france24.com/en/20081222-hamas-resume-suicide-attacks-should-israel-launch-gaza-offensive-livni
