Videos

  • Image licensed under creative commons https://www.flickr.com/photos/buckaroobay/3721809183

    Upgrade Our Social Operating System

    “Exiters are leaving outdated systems and creating new ones”. These guys have some interesting ideas.  From their website at: http://voiceandexit.com “In this Voice & Exit 2013 talk, V&E co-founder Max Borders sets out his vision for social change. How can people “criticize by creating?” How can human beings flourish? Can we create new communities? Can we upgrade our democratic operating systems (DOS)? Meet co-founder and filmmaker Seth Blaustein as they launch their inaugural event.”  Below Max Borders on: upgrade our social operating system.

  • I am an immigrant

    Movement Against Xenophobia – I am an Immigrant

    “I AM AN IMMIGRANT” is a positive campaign out of the United Kingdom. It celebrates the contribution immigrants make to society. Xenophobia is rising around Europe.  Rather than buying into the controversy, the campaign shifts the rhetoric by simply telling the truth.  The truth is captured in stories to be placed on posters throughout Britain.  The posters tell the story of the contribution that migrants have made to Britain.  These stories are as diverse as life itself: from heart surgeon to train driver. Organizers cite the toxic political debate which vilifies migrants and fosters xenophobia as the motivation for the campaign. The video below introduces the campaign.   The campaign…

  • World in Union

    There’s a dream, I feel So rare, so real All the world in union The world as one. Gathering together One mind, one heart Every creed, every color Once joined, never apart. One of the most beautiful anthems to human unity begins with these words.  The anthem comes from Rugby Union.  Perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising given the long association between sport and international friendship. The lyrics of the World in Union were written by 1991 by Charlie Skarbek at the request of International Rugby Board.  The melody comes from Thaxted, part of the Jupiter theme of Gustav Holst’s The planets. The song has been sung many times by…

  • Lucretia Mott – Campaigner for Abolition, Advocate of Women’s Rights, Quaker Visionary

    Lucretia Mott was born in 1793 and much of her long life was devoted to working for the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of women.  Her life and work, is among those, which have shaped the world in which we live. The significance of her contribution was recognised in when in 1923, when Alice Paul first introduced the equal rights amendment to the US Congress calling it ‘the Lucretia Mott amendment’.  The amendment, which has still not been adopted into the U.S. Constitution, states in its first draft article: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state…

  • Human footprint in sand

    What does it mean to be human?

    The Prem Rawat Foundation asks this question in its video release to mark the 2014 International Day of Peace. It’s just there in the flow of the narrative.  What does it mean to be human? Sometimes, the questions we ask, are the most significant thing.  Some questions create new realities.  They lead to discoveries we didn’t imagine before.  So, what does it mean to be human? If we look back into the history of human rights, we find similar transformative questions asked which opened a new future.  For example, what does it mean to be a woman? was a question repeatedly asked throughout the struggle to achieve gender equality.  In the…

  • Martin Luther King Jr – Civil Rights Leader and Peace Advocate

    Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for the poor of the world, the garbage workers of Memphis and the peasants of Vietnam. The day that Negro people and others in bondage are truly free, on the day want is abolished, on the day wars are no more, on that day I know my husband will rest in a long-deserved peace. —Coretta King This article is part of a series on human rights forebears.  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived a life beyond the ordinary and writing about him is challenging.  His life made the world that came after him better.  This article will not do justice to his…

  • The Peace Advocacy of Martin Luther King (Part 4 of 4)

    To appreciate Martin Luther King’s thoughts on peace, we must understand his thoughts about the relationship between human beings. He saw all human beings as caught “in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” He expands on this thought in his 1964 speech, “The American Dream”. All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated. And we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny — whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you…

  • Martin Luther King Civil Rights Leader and Peace Advocate (Part 1 of 4)

    Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for the poor of the world, the garbage workers of Memphis and the peasants of Vietnam. The day that Negro people and others in bondage are truly free, on the day want is abolished, on the day wars are no more, on that day I know my husband will rest in a long-deserved peace.—Coretta King This article is part of a series on human rights forebears. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr lived a life beyond the ordinary and writing about him is challenging. His life made the world that came after him better. This article will not do justice to his contribution.…