UN General-Secretary Rings Peace Bell and Calls For Global Action Against Our Common Enemy: The Virus
Monday, 21 September, is International Day of Peace. To mark the 39th anniversary of this United Nations-sanctioned holiday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres held a Peace Bell ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York. Here are some highlights of his speech. Peace is never a given. It’s an aspiration that is only as strong as […]
Re-imagining Policing. By a Former Police Officer
Transforming Police culture and reforming the Judicial system is a complex problem rooted in systemic issues that dredge up rage, hate, and suffering. These emotional states of mind prompt people to cast blame and erodes our ability to use logic and reason to unify everyone to solve this cancer eating away at our nation. First, […]
Forgiveness And the Healing of America
At 9:05 pm on Wednesday, June 17, 2016, the unthinkable happened. Nine people were murdered while worshiping at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina. An unlikely place for a murder you may think, but an occurrence that has, unfortunately, become more commonplace, especially in light of the recent George Floyd incident. That night […]
Preparing for the Storm: A Guide to Weathering America’s Presidential Election Year
Today, nearly 9 in 10 Americans say this is the most divided our country has felt in their lifetime. The division is political — much more than it is racial, generational, or class-based — and as the 2020 election nears, the animosity is likely to reach a crescendo. The political debate has also expanded, sprawling […]
You Strike The Women, You Strike a Rock
The tragic death of three children, from a skirmish between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British troops in 1976, pushed two women into action and galvanized a divided community. It was an unprecedented display of what women can achieve when they join forces. Anne Maguire was walking to the shops with her three children […]
Fashion, the Mafia, and My Quest for Truth
My vision of journalism wouldn’t be shared by my American colleagues. In fact, when I explained what drives me and what my aims are to my professors while completing a Masters program at Columbia University, they told me I had probably chosen the wrong career. To me, being a reporter isn’t just a quest to find […]
Tutu and King: Two Kinds of Nonviolence
This article written by Charles Krauthammer originally appeared in his syndicated column on January 17, 1986, three days before the first national holiday honoring the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1987 Krauthammer won the Pulitzer prize for commentary and this was his winning entry: The accepted wisdom in South Africa, Lionel […]
The Secret to Conflict Resolution: Don’t Focus on the Conflict
Many years ago, I took part in a three-day conflict resolution between Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East. Arbinger’s international bestseller on conflict resolution, The Anatomy of Peace, had just been released, and the Shimon Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv had gathered a group of Palestinians and Israelis for an interaction, sponsored by […]
Ethiopian Prime Minister Wins Nobel Peace Prize 2019
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea. The prize is also meant to recognise all the stakeholders […]
Can a Photograph Inspire us Into Action?
It’s important to realize that a memorable photograph doesn’t happen by itself. Firstly, a photographer chooses to press a button at the right moment. Then, an editor decides whether to publish it or not. My hope as a curator, is that after presenting certain images to an audience they decide not to be bystanders anymore, […]
