Saturday, August 27, 2011
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Dear Bernie,
I hope it is all right with you that I am bringing our important exchange on the urgent need of a "Culture of Peace," to the IFLAC Newsletter and audience, as I know it would interest our memdbers and readers.
I admire your wisdom, depth and sincerity, in your analysis below, and your deep faith in research, science and sociology, to promote a better world beyond war. However, with the years and recent violent global developments, especially in the Middle East, I have become more and more convinced, that the intellectual approach is not enough in our attempt to reach the masses and the leaders of the world, that are after all, the ones who decide our fate.
The masses, and it seems, even the politicians, do not read serious sociological books anymore! We need to convince them of the urgent need of a powerful global peace culture, through a vehicle of the masses, which is unquestionably today - Television by Satellite. I have written an article about the urgent need of a WSPC: THE WORLD TV SATELLITE FOR A HARMONIOUS PEACE CULTURE, in my Homepage: www.iflac.com/ada
and you are warmly invited to read it and comment on it. In this article I speak about the great role of women, who are more than half the world, in the creation of this so urgently needed WSPC, but of course the W stands also for all the citizens of the"World", and not only for "women."
I warmly invite you to join IFLAC, and to send your response to the whole of our IFLAC list. Several members have commented on how honest, interesting and constructive your work, experience, and points of view are.
What we need to do now, is to all join hands and strengths together in harmony, and work effectively in unison, toward the changing of our prevalent dangerous "Violent Global Culture" to a " Global Harmonious Peace Culture."
LIERATURE AND POETRY
In addition to scientific and sociological research, at IFLAC: The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace, we try to bring about the so needed "harmonious culture of peace", through what you have hinted at as being the "inner being" - by the writing and promotion of peace literature and peace poetry.
You are invited to visit my Homepage, and 25 published books at www.amazon.com that includes as well, the IFLAC PEACE CULTURE ANTHOLOGY, that attempt to promote peace values and the harmonious culture of peace. Many of these books have been translated into several languages, and they have received international prizes, and are used as Textbooks in schools, colleges, universities and various other institutions. My two recent books on this subject are: YOU AND I CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, and WOMEN CREATING A WORLD BEYOND WAR AND VIOLENCE.
I warmly congratulate you again, in my name and in the name of IFLAC, on your extensive sociological peace research and "Imagination." I keenly hope that more serious sociologists like you, students, teachers and people from all walks of life, including political leaders, would join our mutual peace efforts soon.
CONCLUSION
The creation of a better, more just, and more harmonious planet beyond war, terrorism and violence, should be the "Primary National Goal" of all the States and citizens of the world - before our beautiful blue planet is destroyed by a horrendous nuclear mushroom flame....
Prof. Ada Aharoni
IFLAC Founder - President
Berniephi@aol.com wrote:
Dear Ada,
I've just read your biography, and I much admire your outstanding work toward achieving peace in our world, a world that I believe we both see as deeply threatened in many ways, with those threats accelerating. And I much appreciate your looking at my website, and especially your critical remarks about the limitations of that website and sociology in general in failing to work on solutions and not just working on understanding problems.
By the way, have you ever met Chanoch Jacobsen, a sociology professor at the Technion? I suspect that he is no longer with us, as I haven't heard from him in several years. He contributed a chapter in the 2001 volume, Toward a Sociological Imagination: Bridging Specialized Fields (cited on my website). His emphasis was on the computer simulation of complex problems, somewhat premature, but the flow diagrams that are a prelude for such simulations are not premature.
Your criticism is very well-taken, for I have only just begun to move in a political direction, and there is very little of that emphasis throughout the social sciences, unfortunately. But "The Evolutionary Manifesto" on my website does indeed point in that direction, even if it is not very clear as to what it is suggesting, and even if it doesn't go very far. The 2nd recommendation (the 1st of deep democracy is, I'm sure, a direction that we share), that of the scientific method in everyday life, is in fact a powerful direction once it is spelled out. And I'm presently working on that in my half-completed manuscript, "Armageddon or Evolution? The Scientific Method in Everyday Life."
To explain a bit--and I will follow your lead with my own criticism of efforts to achieve peace--I refer you to the countercultural movement in the 1960s, mainly in the U.S. among college students, but in Europe and elsewhere as well (especially France) to an extent. The emphasis was certainly on democracy and peace (especially ending the war in Vietnam). But the students and others, who tried very very hard to change the world by developing changes in culture, followed a self-limiting path: they failed to understand the necessity of their own intellectual development as a basis for understanding problems in the world and themselves. One can hardly blame them, since social scientists and philosophers and those in the humanities had failed to integrate their knowledge, so that the students had very little to build on. Unfortunately, in my view much the same situation with regard to understanding human behavior and human problems prevails today. Specifically, I see direct efforts to achieve peace as succeeding in dampening some fires, but that is by no means enough to counter escalating fires throughout the world. And once again, I blame social scientists far more than any other group for this situation, since they haven't provided the framework of understanding needed for political leaders and others to use it to help them solve world problems.
What is to be done? My own orienation is very optimistic about the infinite human potential, especially with the aid of language and the scientific method, but realistic about the very limited time available to confront threatening and urgent problems. I can only give hints about my recommendations in a letter, hints that I'm trying to spell out in the book I'm writing (which builds on recent published books). Those books on my website point to our stratified or bureaucratic metaphysical stance or worldview--including yours and mine--which gets in the way of that individual evolution. More specifically--following figure 1-1in Beyond Sociology's Tower of Babel --our worldview has yielded an escalating gap between aspirations and their fulfillment (both materially and non-materially). That gap between what we want and are able to get is powered by escalating desires or cultural values and limited ability to fulfill them, powered by patterns of social stratification and bureaucracy. And as a result, we are able to obtain only very limited reinforcements or positive sanctions from ourselves and others--relative to the numerous situations where we fail in our own eyes to fulfill our goals. Figure i-2 in my Armageddon manuscript carries this argument further: this in turn not only affects our epistemology--we are unable to follow scientific ideals because they conflict with our worldview--but it also adds fuel to the fire of our problems.
Yet following figure i-2, all of this can be reversed: learning to use the scientific method in everyday life can yield the narrowing of that aspirations-fulfillment gap in the short run, more frequent reinforcements for the individual, and the raising of both aspirations and their fulfillment in the long run. Yet this takes deep understanding of the forces involved. And it involves absolutely fundamental changes in the behavior of the individual. We should, then, all work toward our own individual evolution as a basis for developing the understanding, the emotional force and the actions that solutions to world problems require.
These few abstract words can do little justice to the detailed arguments in my books--I know that I'm not being clear. Let me try again in another way--perhaps in several ways. Erich Fromm's Man for Himself suggests that we must somehow learn to love ourselves before we can learn to love others. Carrying this idea much further, our failure to love ourselves derives from our stratified worldview which points us outward rather than, interactively, both inward an outward. Throughout early human history people had to learn to confront problems in their physical environments in order to survive, yielding an outward orientation, rather than the invisible world that language enables us to enter. I see this as continuing into the modern era, making it verty difficult for us to learn how to reinforce ourselves and develop our understanding, ability to express our emotions, and act effectively.
Coming at my basic ideas in still another way, social science has emphasized concepts that deal with structures--or persisting behavior--as yielding the major forces that shape human behavior (such as cultural values, social stratification, bureaucracy, rituals, self image cultural norms, institutions). And those structures can in turn be linked together in systematic ways as I've tried to do in my books (e.g., the cultural value of equality coupled with patterns of social stratification yields an aspirations/fulfillment gap, anomie, alienation, and fosters a wide range of social and personal problems). Yet our everyday concepts emphasize the momentary situation rather than structures. As a result, no matter how much we attempt to change our own behavior or that of others, we fail to alter structures and our efforts at change are self-limiting. Yet an evolutionary worldview coupled with a scientific method used in everyday life which follows scientific ideals can reverse this situation, narrowing that gap and making progress on social problems.
More specifically, I think that we all should learn to work in two ways: attempting to solve fundamental human problems like war, and indirectly, learning to change our own orientation from a stratified to an evolutionary worldview.
I'd appreciate your comments, as I know I've communicated my thoughts only slightly.
Best wishes,
Bernie
Saturday, June 11, 2005
The neglected Story of the Jews from Arab Countires and Modern anti-Semitism
Suggested Article
To the Editor of The
NEW YORK TIMES GLOBE AND MAIL, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star
The Neglected Story of the Jews from Arab Countries and Modern anti-Semitism
By Dr. Ada Aharoni
One of the major causes of the current wave of modern anti-Semitism in Europe and other places has been recognized to be mainly due to the Palestinian propaganda. This sweeping brainwashing propaganda has succeeded to produce an anti-Jewish climate. One of the ways to combat this basic source of lies, the truth must be revealed about the banishment of the Jews from Arab countries. The world has mainly heard about the injustice caused to the Palestinian refugees and almost nothing about the plight of the Jews from Arab countries, mainly from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. Let us compare what happened to both communities.
Whereas the Palestinians refugees numbered 650,000 in 1948, the Jewish refugees from Arab countries were - 850,000 (UNRWA Statistics). The Jewish property that was sequestered by the Arab Governments, when the Jews were forced to leave the Arab countries, both private and communal, was much vaster than that which the Palestinians left behind in Israel (documented by the International Court at The Hague).
There was practically an "ethnic cleansing" of Jews in Arab countries. Just very few Jews are left there today. Egyptian Jewry, for instance, numbered 100,000 in 1948, but only 28 Jews live there today, in the whole of Egypt, and only 22 Iraqi Jews remain in the whole of Iraq, out of 160.000 Jews in Iraq in 1948, and in Syria and Lebanon there are no Jews left there anymore.
On the other hand, there was no "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in Israel, and there are a million Arab/Palestinian citizens living in Israel today, and they constitute 20% of Israel's citizens.
It is important to explain these crucial historical facts as widely as possible, as they contradict the evil and thwarted image of the prejudiced anti-Israel propaganda. In addition to the possible turning of public biased opinion in Europe and other places, from bias to fairness, justice and veracity, telling the story of the banishment and uprooting of the Jews from Arab countries, has additional possible advantages.
Realizing that they were not the only ones who have suffered, and that the Jews from Arab countries have suffered just as much as the Palestinians when they were thrown out from the lands of their birth with only their shirts on their backs, and were made so miserably destitute precisely at the hands of the Arabs - may cause Palestinians to become more conciliatory and less intransigent regarding peace with Israel.
Secondly, seeing that their history, narrative, and cultural heritage is taken into account, as a crucial and integral part of the Arab - Israeli Conflict, may make the Jews from Arab countries and their descendants, who are today almost half of Israel, more inclined to make concessions for the sake of peace. The neglect of their story and narrative, makes some Jews from Arab countries intransigent toward a reconciliation that does not include their own history. Yet, these uprooted Jews could become major contributors to reconciliation because they understand Middle Eastern culture and mentality, the Arabic language, and rituals of reconciliation.
The “Nakba” (Catastrophe) of Jews from Arab Countries, the cruel displacement of 850,000 Jews who were born and grew up in their ancient communities in Arab Lands, and the hardships and misery accompanying their forced migration and emigration to Israel or other western countries, and the loss of all their assets and property - constitute an aspect of the Arab – Israeli Conflict which should be thoroughly researched by serious academics. As almost half of the Jewish citizens of Israel (together with their descendants), are from Arab countries, any peace effort must acknowledge this crucial facet of the history of the conflict. To be able to reach a peaceful solution, the forced migration of Jews from Arab countries must be acknowledged as part of the tragedies incurred during this long and painful conflict. It would also constitute a strong barrage to the dangerous neo anti-Semitic "Tsunami" flooding us today.
Biographical Note
Dr. Ada Aharoni is a Middle East researcher and a cultural sociologist, she conducted a research on “The Forgotten Jews from Arab Countries,” at the Neaman Institute at the Technion: Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa (Funded by the Boren Foundation). She has published 24 books to date, and more than 120 articles and founded: The International Forum for the culture and Literature of Peace, IFLAC PAVE PEACE. She was born and raised in Egypt.
For more information - please visit the following websites: www.iflac/jac http://www.wcje.net/ www.iflac.com/ada
To the Editor of The
NEW YORK TIMES GLOBE AND MAIL, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star
The Neglected Story of the Jews from Arab Countries and Modern anti-Semitism
By Dr. Ada Aharoni
One of the major causes of the current wave of modern anti-Semitism in Europe and other places has been recognized to be mainly due to the Palestinian propaganda. This sweeping brainwashing propaganda has succeeded to produce an anti-Jewish climate. One of the ways to combat this basic source of lies, the truth must be revealed about the banishment of the Jews from Arab countries. The world has mainly heard about the injustice caused to the Palestinian refugees and almost nothing about the plight of the Jews from Arab countries, mainly from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. Let us compare what happened to both communities.
Whereas the Palestinians refugees numbered 650,000 in 1948, the Jewish refugees from Arab countries were - 850,000 (UNRWA Statistics). The Jewish property that was sequestered by the Arab Governments, when the Jews were forced to leave the Arab countries, both private and communal, was much vaster than that which the Palestinians left behind in Israel (documented by the International Court at The Hague).
There was practically an "ethnic cleansing" of Jews in Arab countries. Just very few Jews are left there today. Egyptian Jewry, for instance, numbered 100,000 in 1948, but only 28 Jews live there today, in the whole of Egypt, and only 22 Iraqi Jews remain in the whole of Iraq, out of 160.000 Jews in Iraq in 1948, and in Syria and Lebanon there are no Jews left there anymore.
On the other hand, there was no "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in Israel, and there are a million Arab/Palestinian citizens living in Israel today, and they constitute 20% of Israel's citizens.
It is important to explain these crucial historical facts as widely as possible, as they contradict the evil and thwarted image of the prejudiced anti-Israel propaganda. In addition to the possible turning of public biased opinion in Europe and other places, from bias to fairness, justice and veracity, telling the story of the banishment and uprooting of the Jews from Arab countries, has additional possible advantages.
Realizing that they were not the only ones who have suffered, and that the Jews from Arab countries have suffered just as much as the Palestinians when they were thrown out from the lands of their birth with only their shirts on their backs, and were made so miserably destitute precisely at the hands of the Arabs - may cause Palestinians to become more conciliatory and less intransigent regarding peace with Israel.
Secondly, seeing that their history, narrative, and cultural heritage is taken into account, as a crucial and integral part of the Arab - Israeli Conflict, may make the Jews from Arab countries and their descendants, who are today almost half of Israel, more inclined to make concessions for the sake of peace. The neglect of their story and narrative, makes some Jews from Arab countries intransigent toward a reconciliation that does not include their own history. Yet, these uprooted Jews could become major contributors to reconciliation because they understand Middle Eastern culture and mentality, the Arabic language, and rituals of reconciliation.
The “Nakba” (Catastrophe) of Jews from Arab Countries, the cruel displacement of 850,000 Jews who were born and grew up in their ancient communities in Arab Lands, and the hardships and misery accompanying their forced migration and emigration to Israel or other western countries, and the loss of all their assets and property - constitute an aspect of the Arab – Israeli Conflict which should be thoroughly researched by serious academics. As almost half of the Jewish citizens of Israel (together with their descendants), are from Arab countries, any peace effort must acknowledge this crucial facet of the history of the conflict. To be able to reach a peaceful solution, the forced migration of Jews from Arab countries must be acknowledged as part of the tragedies incurred during this long and painful conflict. It would also constitute a strong barrage to the dangerous neo anti-Semitic "Tsunami" flooding us today.
Biographical Note
Dr. Ada Aharoni is a Middle East researcher and a cultural sociologist, she conducted a research on “The Forgotten Jews from Arab Countries,” at the Neaman Institute at the Technion: Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa (Funded by the Boren Foundation). She has published 24 books to date, and more than 120 articles and founded: The International Forum for the culture and Literature of Peace, IFLAC PAVE PEACE. She was born and raised in Egypt.
For more information - please visit the following websites: www.iflac/jac http://www.wcje.net/ www.iflac.com/ada
Monday, March 28, 2005
SAVE THE LIFE OF SALAH SHOAIB CHOUDHURY PLEASE READ AND SIGN THE PETITION
PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK AND SIGN THE PETITION.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/IFLAC102/petition.html
To: United States, the United Nations, the European Union, Canada
We the undersigned, petition the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, Canada and all free governments, to help to release Mr. Salah Choudhury from his undeserved imprisonment in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His only crime, was that he wanted to go to Israel to attend a Writers' Conference in Tel Aviv.
The charge against him at first, when he was arrested on November 29, 2003, was a passport violation. Nonetheless, he has now been charged with Sedition, WHICH IS A VERY SERIOUS CHARGE THAT CAN LEAD TO A DEATH SENTENCE.
Salah Choudhury is not a spy, he is just a democratic journalist who wanted to create bridges of understanding between Bangladesh and Israel.
Two additional important factors are at play.
1. Whereas Israel recognizes Bangladesh as a State, Bangladesh does not recognize Israel as a State to this day.
2. Whereas, in Israel a person can freely travel to Bangladesh, a person from Bangladesh is restricted in movement.
We the undersigned are for FREEDOM of MOVEMENT and of SPEECH. WE DEMAND THAT MR. CHOUDHURY BE RELEASED FROM JAIL IN BANGLADESH AT ONCE AND BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO HIS FAMILY, and have the charges against him totally disbanded.
Sincerely,
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/IFLAC102/petition.html
To: United States, the United Nations, the European Union, Canada
We the undersigned, petition the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, Canada and all free governments, to help to release Mr. Salah Choudhury from his undeserved imprisonment in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His only crime, was that he wanted to go to Israel to attend a Writers' Conference in Tel Aviv.
The charge against him at first, when he was arrested on November 29, 2003, was a passport violation. Nonetheless, he has now been charged with Sedition, WHICH IS A VERY SERIOUS CHARGE THAT CAN LEAD TO A DEATH SENTENCE.
Salah Choudhury is not a spy, he is just a democratic journalist who wanted to create bridges of understanding between Bangladesh and Israel.
Two additional important factors are at play.
1. Whereas Israel recognizes Bangladesh as a State, Bangladesh does not recognize Israel as a State to this day.
2. Whereas, in Israel a person can freely travel to Bangladesh, a person from Bangladesh is restricted in movement.
We the undersigned are for FREEDOM of MOVEMENT and of SPEECH. WE DEMAND THAT MR. CHOUDHURY BE RELEASED FROM JAIL IN BANGLADESH AT ONCE AND BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO HIS FAMILY, and have the charges against him totally disbanded.
Sincerely,
Poem by Ada Aharoni: Mount Carmel Pomegranates
Mount Carmel Pomegranates
The trees smile, the trees laugh, the trees sign,
and every pomegranate on Haifa's Mount Carmel,
peals its love song:
take her tenderly by the hand
wherever you go,
she is part of you
we are witness.
The trees whisper,
the trees weep,
the trees sleep,
when he goes
and leaves her smile behind,
awakes at morning
in a snow land
kissing his own
cold hand...
www.iflac.com/ada from the collection of women poems
The trees smile, the trees laugh, the trees sign,
and every pomegranate on Haifa's Mount Carmel,
peals its love song:
take her tenderly by the hand
wherever you go,
she is part of you
we are witness.
The trees whisper,
the trees weep,
the trees sleep,
when he goes
and leaves her smile behind,
awakes at morning
in a snow land
kissing his own
cold hand...
www.iflac.com/ada from the collection of women poems
POEMS BY DR. Ada Aharoni:
Kindly visit www.iflac.com/ada for more poems Women collection poems
I grapple with the edge
of the taste
of seaweed and bombs
You have kept your
underground river away from me,
preferred filling your pockets
with pebble-bombs and seaweed silence.
You knew of your thirst
and my river longings - yet
not enough empathy for surging waves
not enough to break away
from absurd deterrence reasoning
and send it flying,
there's no cold war
anymore.
My fears
refuse to stay in port,
they fling pebble-bombs
and brown seaweed
like drowned hearts
full in my face.
I grapple with the edge
of the taste
of seaweed and bombs
You have kept your
underground river away from me,
preferred filling your pockets
with pebble-bombs and seaweed silence.
You knew of your thirst
and my river longings - yet
not enough empathy for surging waves
not enough to break away
from absurd deterrence reasoning
and send it flying,
there's no cold war
anymore.
My fears
refuse to stay in port,
they fling pebble-bombs
and brown seaweed
like drowned hearts
full in my face.
BOOKS BY ADA AHARONI
Reproduced with the permission of Dr. Aharoni to order these books you go to
www.iflac.com/ada
SOME BESTSELLER BOOKS
You and I Can Change the World:
"These fine and moving poems shine with deep and challenging truths about life, relations between women and men, and above all, Ada Aharoni instills a vivid hope and vision of a Middle East and a world beyond war. Ada shrinks from no emotional, ethical or moral complexity. She is a marvellous poet!"
(Prof. Fawzi Deif, Cairo University)
Woman: Creating a World Beyond War: A powerful eye-opener as to women's power to abolish war and terror. At a time when the world is still caught up in the clutches of war, terror and violence, humankind should now "listen to women for a change." If the women of the world succeed to unite, they can powerfully throw the demonic belief that "wars and terror can solve conflicts," into the anachronistic dustbin of history where its belongs, and they will be able to gain their right to live and raise their children in peace in a world beyond war.
Peace Flower: A story that will delight all, from the age of ten to a hundred and ten. It is an imaginative tale of fantastic adventures in space, to find the Peace Flower in the Future and bring it back to earth as it does not yet exist in our Present. Lee and Roni two brave children face the terrible nuclear giant Nuki, who tries to stop them from bringing peace to the earth. Through their courage and love for each other, they finally triumph. This original and hopeful book has been adopted by schools and colleges all over the world. English, Hebrew, and Arabic.
Not in Vain: An Extraordinary Life: Relates the remarkable story of Sister Thea Wolf, a German Jewish Nurse who came to work in the Jewish hospital in Alexandria, Egypt before the outbreak of World War 2. This not only saved her life but also thrust her a leading role of helping Jewish refugees who came to or through Egypt in their attempt to escape the horrors of the Holocaust.
From the Nile to the Jordan: A compelling and colorful historical novel, which captures in detail the spirit, excitement and intrigue of mid-20th century Egypt and Israel. At the core of this stormy saga is Inbar Etty, the beautiful and talented daughter of respected judge Mosseri, member of Cairo's Jewish community. When the storm of tragic events in the Middle East in 1948 threatens to destroy her future and that of her lover, the Holocaust survivor Raoul Lipsky, she sets out in a passionate quest for roots, love, fulfilment, creativity, and a new home.
www.iflac.com/ada
SOME BESTSELLER BOOKS
You and I Can Change the World:
"These fine and moving poems shine with deep and challenging truths about life, relations between women and men, and above all, Ada Aharoni instills a vivid hope and vision of a Middle East and a world beyond war. Ada shrinks from no emotional, ethical or moral complexity. She is a marvellous poet!"
(Prof. Fawzi Deif, Cairo University)
Woman: Creating a World Beyond War: A powerful eye-opener as to women's power to abolish war and terror. At a time when the world is still caught up in the clutches of war, terror and violence, humankind should now "listen to women for a change." If the women of the world succeed to unite, they can powerfully throw the demonic belief that "wars and terror can solve conflicts," into the anachronistic dustbin of history where its belongs, and they will be able to gain their right to live and raise their children in peace in a world beyond war.
Peace Flower: A story that will delight all, from the age of ten to a hundred and ten. It is an imaginative tale of fantastic adventures in space, to find the Peace Flower in the Future and bring it back to earth as it does not yet exist in our Present. Lee and Roni two brave children face the terrible nuclear giant Nuki, who tries to stop them from bringing peace to the earth. Through their courage and love for each other, they finally triumph. This original and hopeful book has been adopted by schools and colleges all over the world. English, Hebrew, and Arabic.
Not in Vain: An Extraordinary Life: Relates the remarkable story of Sister Thea Wolf, a German Jewish Nurse who came to work in the Jewish hospital in Alexandria, Egypt before the outbreak of World War 2. This not only saved her life but also thrust her a leading role of helping Jewish refugees who came to or through Egypt in their attempt to escape the horrors of the Holocaust.
From the Nile to the Jordan: A compelling and colorful historical novel, which captures in detail the spirit, excitement and intrigue of mid-20th century Egypt and Israel. At the core of this stormy saga is Inbar Etty, the beautiful and talented daughter of respected judge Mosseri, member of Cairo's Jewish community. When the storm of tragic events in the Middle East in 1948 threatens to destroy her future and that of her lover, the Holocaust survivor Raoul Lipsky, she sets out in a passionate quest for roots, love, fulfilment, creativity, and a new home.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
IFLAC Call for papers
IFLAC -
INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR THE LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF PEACE
INVITATION
V IFLAC PEACE CULTURE CONFERENCE
Los Angeles, US, 3-6 August 2005
With the participation of International Writers and Poets’ Associations
CHAIR:
Prof. Ada Aharoni: IFLAC World President
57 Horev Street, Haifa 34343, Israel
Tel. +972-4-8243230 - Fax +972-4-8261288
Email: ada@iflac.com
CALL FOR PAPERS
The V Iflac Pave Peace International Conference
IFLAC PAVE PEACE, The International Forum for the Culture and Literature of Peace, organizes this interdisciplinary conference. IFLAC is a network of peace researchers, writers, poets, educators, journalists and media, working together to foster joint cooperation and understanding in the Middle East and in our global village. The conference will bring together experts and participants from a broad range of fields, to discuss the impact of the cultural and literary dimensions for promoting the paving of global Culture of Peace, which would pave and promote a world beyond war.
The major themes to be examined and discussed at this conference will include the following. Please choose one of them or suggest your own subject.
1. From A War Culture To A Peace Culture,
2. Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature,
3. Pluralistic Cultural Identity in an Era of Globalization,
4. Women and Peace,
5. The Communications Revolution and its effects on Culture,
6. Creation of a Peace Culture in the Media,
7. Peace Education through Literature,
8. Economic Globalization and Its Effects on Culture,
9. The Dangers of the glorification of the Culture of Terror and of Suicide Bombing
and the Possibilities of A Peace Culture As A Means to Combat it.
10. Can NGO’s like IFLAC, and “Gather the Women,” Influence World Governments
and Institutions to Promote Peace in the World?
See following websites for more information on Iflac: Pave Peace: www.iflac.com www.iflac.com/ada
www.iflac.com/iflacheb.htm
and online Anthology: HORIZON Numbers 1 to 5- www.iflac.com/horizon
Subscribe to IFLAC and to Digest IFLAC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* The WCP Congress (The World Congress of Poets), will take place at the same Hotel from August 6 - 10, and IFLAC Conference Participants are welcome to attend it. For more information please contact the WCP Congress President: Dr. Lucy Cabieles: Drcabieles@aol.com
INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR THE LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF PEACE
INVITATION
V IFLAC PEACE CULTURE CONFERENCE
Los Angeles, US, 3-6 August 2005
With the participation of International Writers and Poets’ Associations
CHAIR:
Prof. Ada Aharoni: IFLAC World President
57 Horev Street, Haifa 34343, Israel
Tel. +972-4-8243230 - Fax +972-4-8261288
Email: ada@iflac.com
CALL FOR PAPERS
The V Iflac Pave Peace International Conference
IFLAC PAVE PEACE, The International Forum for the Culture and Literature of Peace, organizes this interdisciplinary conference. IFLAC is a network of peace researchers, writers, poets, educators, journalists and media, working together to foster joint cooperation and understanding in the Middle East and in our global village. The conference will bring together experts and participants from a broad range of fields, to discuss the impact of the cultural and literary dimensions for promoting the paving of global Culture of Peace, which would pave and promote a world beyond war.
The major themes to be examined and discussed at this conference will include the following. Please choose one of them or suggest your own subject.
1. From A War Culture To A Peace Culture,
2. Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature,
3. Pluralistic Cultural Identity in an Era of Globalization,
4. Women and Peace,
5. The Communications Revolution and its effects on Culture,
6. Creation of a Peace Culture in the Media,
7. Peace Education through Literature,
8. Economic Globalization and Its Effects on Culture,
9. The Dangers of the glorification of the Culture of Terror and of Suicide Bombing
and the Possibilities of A Peace Culture As A Means to Combat it.
10. Can NGO’s like IFLAC, and “Gather the Women,” Influence World Governments
and Institutions to Promote Peace in the World?
See following websites for more information on Iflac: Pave Peace: www.iflac.com www.iflac.com/ada
www.iflac.com/iflacheb.htm
and online Anthology: HORIZON Numbers 1 to 5- www.iflac.com/horizon
Subscribe to IFLAC and to Digest IFLAC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* The WCP Congress (The World Congress of Poets), will take place at the same Hotel from August 6 - 10, and IFLAC Conference Participants are welcome to attend it. For more information please contact the WCP Congress President: Dr. Lucy Cabieles: Drcabieles@aol.com
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Welcome to IFLAC
IFLAC PAVE PEACE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Los Angeles, California - 3rd to 6th August 2005
AYRES HOTEL, L.A (near the L.A Airport)
THE MAIN GOALS OF IFLAC
To strive toward the promotion of peace and mutual respect between people and nations.
To promote social, cultural and religious tolerance between people.
To eliminate violence in all its forms.
To organize peace culture researchers, writers, intellectuals and friends of literature.
To encourage creativity that promotes culture and peace.
PURPOSE OF THE ORGANIZATION
We believe that culture and literature can promote peace, freedom, and the enrichment of the quality of life. On the threshold of the twenty first century, we shall endeavor to pave the way towards the fulfillment of our main ideal “one world and one humanity, all living in peace”. Our goal is to help build a Middle East and a world beyond war in the 21st century, by means of literature, culture and art. This endeavor is in harmony with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodied in the Charter of the United Nations.
We strive for freedom of speech and expression, and for freedom from hostile and oppressive violence, whether it is war, or gender, physical, mental or moral oppression. We believe in the right of people everywhere to live in peace, and in their rights to pursue their various cultures, as well as human endeavors, and to obtain equal civil justice.
ACTIVITY
Toward these ends, we organized an "International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature," in Shavei Zion, Galilee, in June 1999, the Second Iflac Conference, in Sydney in 2001, the third Iflac Conference was held in London in 2002, and the fourth one will be held in Bursa, Turkey, in October 2003.
"IFLAC", under its former name: "The Friends of Literature Association", was founded in 1985 in Haifa Israel, and was registered as a Voluntary Association in 1987. There are nine branches in Jewish, Arab and Druze sectors in Israel, actively and harmoniously working together. We hold regular literary and cultural meetings including: Lectures, Poetry Reading, Story-Telling, New Books celebrations, Interviews, Literary Weekend Seminars, Cultural Festivals, Symposiums, Congresses, Jewish and Arab/ Palestinian Students Meetings and Workshops.
In 1996 the TENT OF PEACE was set up in the Druze village of Ussfiya, in which inter-cultural meetings and happenings are regularly held. From year 2000, Iflac’s center is in Haifa, in Beit Pinsky, the house of the late poet David Pinsky, where regular Dialogue Encounters and Literary meetings are held.
DECLARATION OF THE IFLAC WORLD ETHOS (2004)
THE IFLAC GLOBAL COMMON PEACE CULTURE VALUES ARE:
1. Respect, understanding and tolerance for other Cultures, Opinions and Religions,
2. The right of every individual to humane treatment and to his/her own cultural values, norms, cultural heritage and traditions.
3. The prinicple of freedom from war, terror and violence and respect for life.
4. Equal rights for all women and men.
5. Solidarity between people all over the world and advocacy of a just world economic order.
6. Separation of Religion and the political and public sphere.
The IFLAC Committee: The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace
DEFINITION of PEACE CULTURE
Culture: The Webster New World Dictionary describes "culture" as: "The development, improvement and refinement of the mind, emotions, interests, manners and tastes, as well as the arts, ideas, customs and skills of a given people in a given period."
The Oxford English Dictionary adds that culture is "The intellectual side of civilization."
The definition of "culture" in IFLAC, is based on all the above.
Peace - Webster's New World Dictionary defines peace as: freedom from war, public security, freedom from disagreement or quarrels, harmony, concord, serenity. The definition of "peace" in this article is based on this definition.
Peace Culture -A peace culture is based on all the above, and therefore it can create, mediate and transfer values, ideas, ethics, information, customs, traditions, interests, emotions, developments, arts and intellectual refinement, between: people, generations, nations, and civilizations. It is both a productive and reproductive force by transmitting the cultural patterns of the present and the past, and an important creative and educational influence, by its power to inculcate new values, norms, attitudes, behavior and trends.
for more information contact Dr. Ada Aharoni ada@iflac.com
website www.iflac.com
Los Angeles, California - 3rd to 6th August 2005
AYRES HOTEL, L.A (near the L.A Airport)
THE MAIN GOALS OF IFLAC
To strive toward the promotion of peace and mutual respect between people and nations.
To promote social, cultural and religious tolerance between people.
To eliminate violence in all its forms.
To organize peace culture researchers, writers, intellectuals and friends of literature.
To encourage creativity that promotes culture and peace.
PURPOSE OF THE ORGANIZATION
We believe that culture and literature can promote peace, freedom, and the enrichment of the quality of life. On the threshold of the twenty first century, we shall endeavor to pave the way towards the fulfillment of our main ideal “one world and one humanity, all living in peace”. Our goal is to help build a Middle East and a world beyond war in the 21st century, by means of literature, culture and art. This endeavor is in harmony with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodied in the Charter of the United Nations.
We strive for freedom of speech and expression, and for freedom from hostile and oppressive violence, whether it is war, or gender, physical, mental or moral oppression. We believe in the right of people everywhere to live in peace, and in their rights to pursue their various cultures, as well as human endeavors, and to obtain equal civil justice.
ACTIVITY
Toward these ends, we organized an "International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature," in Shavei Zion, Galilee, in June 1999, the Second Iflac Conference, in Sydney in 2001, the third Iflac Conference was held in London in 2002, and the fourth one will be held in Bursa, Turkey, in October 2003.
"IFLAC", under its former name: "The Friends of Literature Association", was founded in 1985 in Haifa Israel, and was registered as a Voluntary Association in 1987. There are nine branches in Jewish, Arab and Druze sectors in Israel, actively and harmoniously working together. We hold regular literary and cultural meetings including: Lectures, Poetry Reading, Story-Telling, New Books celebrations, Interviews, Literary Weekend Seminars, Cultural Festivals, Symposiums, Congresses, Jewish and Arab/ Palestinian Students Meetings and Workshops.
In 1996 the TENT OF PEACE was set up in the Druze village of Ussfiya, in which inter-cultural meetings and happenings are regularly held. From year 2000, Iflac’s center is in Haifa, in Beit Pinsky, the house of the late poet David Pinsky, where regular Dialogue Encounters and Literary meetings are held.
DECLARATION OF THE IFLAC WORLD ETHOS (2004)
THE IFLAC GLOBAL COMMON PEACE CULTURE VALUES ARE:
1. Respect, understanding and tolerance for other Cultures, Opinions and Religions,
2. The right of every individual to humane treatment and to his/her own cultural values, norms, cultural heritage and traditions.
3. The prinicple of freedom from war, terror and violence and respect for life.
4. Equal rights for all women and men.
5. Solidarity between people all over the world and advocacy of a just world economic order.
6. Separation of Religion and the political and public sphere.
The IFLAC Committee: The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace
DEFINITION of PEACE CULTURE
Culture: The Webster New World Dictionary describes "culture" as: "The development, improvement and refinement of the mind, emotions, interests, manners and tastes, as well as the arts, ideas, customs and skills of a given people in a given period."
The Oxford English Dictionary adds that culture is "The intellectual side of civilization."
The definition of "culture" in IFLAC, is based on all the above.
Peace - Webster's New World Dictionary defines peace as: freedom from war, public security, freedom from disagreement or quarrels, harmony, concord, serenity. The definition of "peace" in this article is based on this definition.
Peace Culture -A peace culture is based on all the above, and therefore it can create, mediate and transfer values, ideas, ethics, information, customs, traditions, interests, emotions, developments, arts and intellectual refinement, between: people, generations, nations, and civilizations. It is both a productive and reproductive force by transmitting the cultural patterns of the present and the past, and an important creative and educational influence, by its power to inculcate new values, norms, attitudes, behavior and trends.
for more information contact Dr. Ada Aharoni ada@iflac.com
website www.iflac.com
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