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| A Larger View |
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A Bi-Monthly Newsletter of the Inner Outer Partnership |
| Volume III Edition 6 |
November/December |
2003 |
The Human Spirit:
Endurance and Nobility
It's the time of the year when we're supposed to think about goodwill towards men. As we do we can't help but be confronted by the human condition and end up wondering if the baser side of the human spirit has not won. There is human trafficking on a large scale. The sex trade is alive and well; women are bartered, sold and abused; children are used and exploited; men are imprisoned and tortured; political leaders persist in making decisions that serve their political agendas rather than the public good, and nuclear war is no longer a distant fear. There are children in the Sudan dying from an undiagnosed illness. HIV/AID continues to create orphans, decimate potential labor forces and lead to untold anguish. In Iraq soldiers are dying every day. In the rural sections of North Korea, people can easily starve to death. In Europe the cost of living is increasing faster than the economies of the continent. In the United States, rights are being threatened, public education is in jeopardy, university tuition is a challenge for an increasing number of families and a growing number are unable to afford housing. The median price of a home in most communities automatically excludes an ever larger percentage of potential homeowners while rents are rising consuming up to 50% of many budgets, leaving scores of others to fend as best they can without affordable low and moderate income housing. Misery is so prevalent, it's difficult not to be overwhelmed, not only by the suffering it all means, but also by the implications of human capacity for villainy.
And yet one hears of recent elections in Rwanda not so long after the devastation of a genocide, or of Liberia choosing a new leader after 14 years of civil war. One learns about tourism being nascent again in Sarajevo, a city in ruins by the war only a few years ago, about women who escaped their traffickers, of Aug San Su Kyi still resisting the military junta, of experimental programs in education, of George Soros devoting the second half of his life to his foundation and giving away millions of dollars towards the furthering of open societies, of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's latest donation to inner city schools, of a migrant worker managing to turn in the boss who held him captive, of new cures, innovations, advances in science, medicine or technology. One sees the sacrifices of parents for their children, the givingness of friends and the love between men and women.
Whether blades of grass through the cracks, or roots breaking through the cement, the power of the human spirit to endure and triumph is all around us. And those who see only the suffering deprive themselves of what it means to be human, to conquer the base and the vile and stand regardless of pains and sorrows.
Freedom Does Ring:
Voices of Dissent
First it was 9/11, then the Patriot Act and later the Iraqi invasion. The result has been a climate where dissent, though a cornerstone of American values and democracy, is labeled criticism of the administration and called unpatriotic. Accordingly dissenting voices have been muted, and many political leaders, congressional and otherwise, have exhibited a peculiar kind of silence. But that was appearance, for underneath was and is a smoldering dissatisfaction with the status quo, one that is slowly becoming more visible.
While Michael Moore has long been a critic, he is now joined by Al Franken with his best-selling Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Several columnists have also been increasingly vocal. Jonathan Turley, a professor of constitutional law has, for example, written a number of pieces pointing to the constitutional problems of the Patriot Act.
What strikes an observer is not only how dissenting voices are coming from many more quarters, but also how together they seem to form a congruous whole as if the entire effort had somehow been orchestrated. Ret. Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of the U.S. Central Command, for instance, is going public with his concerns about the handling of post war Iraq going so far as to say there is no excuse for not planning for foreseeable problems. He is joined by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albricht and by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are both expressing deep concerns for the policies of the present administration, and particularly their implications. What is equally significant is a series of academic books each challenging the closing of American society. They include: Why Societies Need Dissent by Cass R. Sunstein; Freedom and the Court, Civil Rights and Liberties in the United States by Henry J. Abraham and Barbara A. Perry; The Soft Cage, Surveillance in America From Slavery to the War on Terror by Christian Perenti; Lost Liberties, Ashcroft and the Assault on Personal Freedom edited by Cynthia Brown; Enemy Aliens, Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism by David Cole; The War on Our Freedom, Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism edited by Richard C. Leone and Greg Anrig. Jr. and The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance by Nat Hentoff.
While the growing dissent and what it means is heartening, the possibility for the kind of discourse that creates solutions and alternatives to the existing bent curbing inclusiveness is even more so.
Yes She Won But What of the Others
Amina Lawal will not be stoned. Under Sharia, the Moslem law ruling the Northern Nigerian state where she resides, the 32 year-old woman had been condemned over a year ago for having had sex outside marriage while the man involved was not charged.
At first the sentence was postponed ostensibly for humane reasons to give her a chance to finish nursing her baby. Then late in September the Nigerian Supreme Court overturned the sentence. They said it was due to procedural errors since Amina Lawal had not been given enough chance to defend herself-although the dissenting opinion said that she had admitted to having had sex outside marriage and was therefore guilty.
The verdict is a victory for the power of public opinion. Organizations such as Amnesty International and NOW as well as several others throughout the globe, had coordinated a campaign to have Lawal's life spared. Doubtless the worldwide furor played a role and the judges were probably too glad to find a rationale for sparing her.
Still the victory is only the tip of the iceberg. What of others similarly accused and condemned? While earlier this year another Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning was spared on appeal, what of those who do not become a cause celebre?
Perhaps we have no right to meddle in the practices of a religion, still with all due respect, death by stoning is archaic and brutal. Sharia or not, it is difficult to understand how the practice carries out true justice, bears witness to compassion or speaks of mercy.
While stoning may be the most egregious of the Sharia punishments, flogging and amputation make victims of many who may have trespassed. They are, Amnesty International said, "cruel inhuman and degrading treatments" and the organization is asking the Nigerian President to ban them.
If our voice could be added to that of others and make enough of a difference to help Amina Lawal, then we can now continue to be heard until such practices no longer exist.
Animals: More Humans Than We Thought
In the nineteenth century it was common to believe that the earth was created for man and therefore animal and plant life were there for man's use. The idea that animals could be conscious was then as far-fetched as travel to the moon. Several studies are now discovering or validating, depending on one's point of view, that animals are much more like humans than we previously thought. They feel stress, suffer, experience affection, excitement and love.
What makes these studies even more noteworthy is that a lot of the research is coming from corporations such as McDonalds, Burger King or KFC. True, the companies felt under pressure from animal rights groups, but nevertheless they have sponsored research into subjects like the emotional, mental and behavioral states of animals. Slowly the data is filtering its way through the cultures of many nations and making a difference. In Germany, a controversial recent governmental directive asked farmers to provide toys for their pigs and to play with them 20 seconds each day. Pigs as well as other animals studied, we are told, crave affection and are easily depressed. Some researchers go as far as saying that the lack of mental and physical stimulation can bring on health problems for the animals.
We may not know yet the extent to which animals can use language or are able to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others, but regardless they are living creatures reminding us that the planet also belongs to them.
Web Site of Interest: www.howstuffworks.com
Easy to find Explanations
We often want to know how things work and may not know where to go. This site provides handy answers, which are not overly scientific. One can choose from a menu of computer, auto, electronics, science, home, entertainment, money, travel and people. These categories manage to cover a wide array of things, from nuclear power to the UN. Some entries, marketing for one, are thorough enough to hold enough information to be the equivalent of a course in the subject. The site may not be state of the art in web site design but it makes up for it by the number of its straightforward explanations.
To Ponder On
Les Goldberg is an 85 year-old retired engineer in Southern California who decided to use his life savings to open a safe house, actually two, for homeless men. His philosophy is easily summarized:
"If you've got the capacity to help and you don't, that's a sin."
A Larger View is published by the Inner\Outer Partnership, a tax-exempt educational organization addressing issues of higher values. We are funded through donations. Please send yours-as well as any comments-to P.O.Box 1293, Pac. Pal. CA 90272-1293. Also contact us by email at innerouter@earthlink.net or call 310-8367710 or visit our web site at www.innerouterpartnership.org
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