Fear of education/learning=freedom

 In Iran, members of the Baha'i Faith who are educators are being imprisoned. Why? Is there a link between true liberty, training the human intellect, and the growing needs for higher education training in every nation? Why would any nation that seeks true prosperity for all of its citizens, use religious prejudice to persecute professional educators? In "educators Under Fire", actor Rainn Wilson speaks for educational freedom. There is a link between knowledge and freedom- a universal human right.

http://vimeo.com/29493907

Sunday Easy Rider

Not a great bike day, but I note the quieted city as we move into autumn. As the world moves in and out of disaster and progress, turmoil and reconciliation, remember what moves the world -love- as 13th century poet, Rumi might say: "I went to the doctor. 'I feel lost, blind with love. What should I do?' Give up owning things and being somebody. Quit existing. " (Rumi, #1886, 'We Are Three', 1987)

Thoughts from the late Ralph Bunche on the Palestine-Israeli struggle

As history watches as Palestinians seek UN recognition this month, remember former UN Under secretary, Ralph Bunche. In fact, in 1936, long before the launch of a distinguished career, Bunche wrote: "And so, class will some day supplant race in world affairs. Race war will then be merely a side-show to the gigantic class war which will be waged in the big tent we call the world." Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize (1950) for his mediation of the Israeli-Arab/Palestinian struggle, Bunche was a political scientist and diplomat who was a central player in the writing of the UN Charter and worked with Eleanor Roosevelt on the UN Declaration of Human Rights. He was one of the most highly ranked American diplomats and, as a person of color, also mediated conflicts in Yemen, Cyprus, and the Congo. In fact the membership of numerous African and Asian states in a  post-war mid-2oth century UN was made possible by Bunche who helped to dismantle the old African and Asian colonial systems as they took their eventual place in the UN as independent states.
Despite a prestigious career, Bunche confronted racism in the U.S. throughout his life.

Remember his words in these perilous times:
"May there be, in our time, at long last, a world at peace in which we, the people, may for once begin to make full use of the great good that is in us."
-Raplh Bunche

"Fly Girls" /Season of Peace campaign, Boston

 Are we remembering that ending violence and creating peace is a 365-day job?
Boston's "Fly Girls" work towards ending the cycles of abuse among young girls and women.

http://www.bostontenpoint.org/programs.php

Clever commentary on Global violence at post 9/11 commemorative time

What has the persistent focus on the 'war on terror' produced? The 'Jihad vs McWorld' position expressed by Barber points to our massive global inequalities in the basic needs of life. We find ourselves in the midst of either affluence or poverty creating entrenched divisions in human societies.

When we speak of poverty reduction, we need to speak simultaneously about 'wealth reduction'. The UN Conference of the 1990's on (over) population and over consumption was expressed in comments by Bisi Ogunkele , then Chief of Women's organizations in Nigeria. She stated: 'If the rich nations of the world are not willing to share their wealth with the poor, the poor will share their poverty with the rich.' So here we are, after several millennia, still preoccupied with a global war industry as our primary means of achieving peace by physical force and violence. Not so clever for such a clever species that claims to be enlightened. Listen to this clever blogger on the subject of the inutility of the 'war on terror' and speak your piece:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-cohen/the-war-on-error_b_956333.html