「血鑽石」未完待續-戰後民主重建的「獅子山」
作者/趙宏禧(台灣與獅子山願景實踐團隊)
在2000年「世界銀行」(World Bank)的一份「導致內戰之經濟因素與其政策關係」報告中,分析自1960到1999年之間世界各地所發生的47場內戰,總結認為:「反政府軍以武裝奪取權力並非是為了政治的、種族的或宗教的因素,其目的皆是企圖掌控經濟利益」。因電影「血鑽石」讓世人開始正視的西非國度「獅子山」,即為此例。
與台灣相較,獅子山有著兩倍大的面積,人口不到台灣四分之一,然其鑽石蘊藏量(克拉數)竟與台灣2300萬人一樣多,而其他貴金屬(如黃金),以及鋁土、鐵礦等也佔有世界重要地位。然而,美麗的鑽石並未帶來美好生活,相反的,在經濟利益爭奪下,不論獅子山政府軍或叛軍「革命聯合陣線」(RUF)都依賴鑽石交易以獲取軍火。自九十年代起,獅子山歷經十年殘酷內戰,更成為西非動盪的火藥庫。
內戰期間,獅子山超過五萬人喪生,數以千計的人被叛軍割去手腳,在學年齡的兒童被豢養成童兵,每3個人就有1人痛失家園。戰前首都「自由城」(Free Town)的人口不滿百萬,戰後因大量湧入的難民而成為超過250萬人的城市,每日遊蕩街頭的乞討幼童與青年超過15萬。2002年,在聯合國及西非聯軍的主持下,戰火終於離開獅子山,然而2006年聯合國公布的全球人文發展指數(Humanity Development Index)卻告訴我們,獅子山在世界176國中居最末位。
滿目瘡痍的家園,水、電及道路等基礎設施等皆付之闕如,而執政黨「獅子山人民黨」(SLPP)效能低落且貪污嚴重,最重要的礦產經濟也淪為當權者禁臠,而使重建工作步伐蹣跚。因此,2007年第一次由獅國自辦的民主選舉備受國際關注,重點在於,此次選舉將選出新任總統及112名國會議員,作為國家未來發展的掌舵手,將是2005年聯合國維和部隊撤出後,獅子山能否邁向政治民主、經濟重建及軍隊中立的重要檢證。
此次獅國大選競爭激烈,過程中也曾傳出買票、幽靈票及暴力攻擊等事件,甚至執政黨藉此恐嚇施行戒嚴及停辦選舉,但在國際各方監督下,經過兩輪尚稱平順的投票,2007年9月16日「國家選舉委員會」(NEC)宣布結果,在野黨「全民國會黨」(APC)的Koroma當選總統。選舉結果公布後,首都「自由城」(Free Town)民眾立刻沈浸在嘉年華般的狂歡中,可知人民對貪腐政府的不滿與對經濟民生的渴望,使任職西非經濟共同體且具有財經專長背景的Koroma備受期待。
然而,這僅是重建的開端。曾在六十年代作為西非第一海灘度假勝地的獅國,在「血鑽石」電影重新喚起世人關注後,未來或可借鏡杜拜以石油資源作後盾、跳脫西方對阿拉伯世界刻板印象之成功經驗,妥善運用豐沛礦產資源與西非第一良港條件,進行基礎建設及吸引投資,創造就業和提供社福資源,將是新政府對人民期待的積極回應。總統當選人Koroma選後首次發言,提出將設置獨立的「反貪腐委員會」之政策,看來是踏出了漫長道路的第一步。
作者/趙宏禧(台灣與獅子山願景實踐團隊)
為響應聯合國千禧年宣言(Millennium Declaration)所揭櫫的消除貧困與協助非洲落後地區的理念,本團隊獲法鼓山人文社會基金會支持,贊助筆者於96年9月期間赴獅子山田野調查,並與當地青年公益組織YEDEM共同進行人道援助與和平推廣工作。
2007年11月9日 星期五
「血鑽石」未完待續-戰後民主重建的「獅子山」
| Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
2007年4月2日 星期一
【青年發聲──各國青年的願心和行動】
| Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
「國際青年領袖會議」特別報導
和平,是我們每天都喜愛的事
各國青年領袖齊聚法鼓山 分享推動國際事務經驗
| Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
「法鼓山國際青年領袖會議」遴選青年菁英 站上國際舞台
法鼓山於7月28日至7月30日假金山鄉法鼓山世界佛教教育園區,舉行《國際青年領袖會議》,邀請來自全球13個國家的青年代表前來與會,與台灣120名青年菁英進行對話。28日上午的開幕儀式中,法鼓山青年部展現青年世代散發的光與熱,以氣勢磅礡的鼓隊表演為會議開場;並由法鼓山惠敏法師代表聖嚴法師說明舉辦會議的目的;地球憲章委員Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp 及代表Desmond Tutu Peace Center 的Mr.Clem van Wyck等外賓則應邀致詞;現場主辦單位更邀請與會代表發表和平願望,並於世界地圖在其所屬的國度貼上和平鴿,象徵國際社會的和諧,為一連三天的會議揭開序幕。
惠敏法師致詞時表示,這個會議主要的目的是提供一個環保、教育、文化的交流平台,讓台灣青年與國際青年有一個交流的機會,並從中發掘青年領袖,實踐大悲心起的理念。此外,並例舉一份科學雜誌的報導指出,未來世界人口將持續增加,青年人口將成為世界人口的主流,極度貧窮及生活水平的問題將因為經濟的發展而獲得改善,希望新世代的主人翁,持續努力達成目標。並以聖嚴法師開示:心靈環保及全球人文的提昇也是達成以上目標的有效方法。惟有心靈和平,苦難才能消弭,在面對苦難時,應以和平的心靈面對。地球憲章委員猶太主教Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp在致詞中表示,過去曾於某個場合中感受到聖嚴法師微笑的力量,用微笑可以改變一個世界;聯合國千禧年的宣言中提出,希望2015年達成極度貧窮及世界上沒有機會受教育的人口減半,並解決人類的衝突與需求。
Mr.Clem van Wyc 致詞時則表達來自非洲對人文的概念,『我,是因為他人而存在;心中有我,就要包容他人』,將心裡的和平轉化,人心和平,社會國家和平,世界因而和平;當慈悲心種植在每人的心理,便可以感受到別人的苦難,面對不同的困難,與挑戰時能感同身受,並用小小的力量去改變世界。地球憲章青年運動總召集人Michael Slaby則在發表和平願望時表示,希望所有的人類都可以快樂、都能活在和諧裡,並脫離疾病與心理的苦難。來自加拿大的代表Kim Citton則分享在印度的傳統:當看清楚自己內心的那道光,也看到別人心理的那道光。Kim Citton並邀請與會人員,左手朝下,希望我們能給我們擁有的;右手朝上,我們得到別人給我們的,一個接著一個傳下去。各國與會青年代表陸續上台,並表達心中的期待,現場沉浸在溫馨感人的氣氛中。主辦單位表示,為延續聯合國「千禧年宣言」所接櫫改善世界問題之任務,響應聯合國倡導2005至2014年為「永續發展教育年」,同時將「地球憲章青年活動」倡導的尊重生命、民主和平、維護生態與社會正義等理念與法鼓山的「心靈環保」相互融合,法鼓山邀請「地球憲章青年運動」領導人,與台灣青年菁英交流溝通,舉辦為期三天的《國際青年領袖會議》,希望與會青年藉由會議的參與,得以深度了解國際青年組織、國際社會議題、開拓國際交流、提昇領導、溝通與承擔的能力,並可藉此擴展台灣青年視野、建立與世界接軌的橋樑、共同為全人類和平與環保議題而努力。法鼓山自6月份開始,陸續舉辦系列的遴選活動,包括日前於北、中、南分別進行的「2006台灣青年領袖促進和平論壇」、7月28日開始於法鼓山世界佛教教育園區進行的「國際青年領袖會議」、以及預訂於8月26日舉行之「2006法鼓山國際青年領袖會議青年代表培訓營」等。一系列的活動最後將遴選推派出男、女各一位代表以及五位隨行義工參加2006年10月30日,在聯合國紐約總部召開之「全球青年領袖高峰會」(The UN Global Youth Leadership Summit ),讓來自世界上所有地區的青年領袖,藉由會議的溝通討論,加強新世代青年對國際社會的關懷與實踐美好願景的行動力。期將台灣經驗推向國際,為台灣青年邁向全球舞台開啟一頁門扉。(文/公關文宣室)
| Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
人生該做什麼事?
作者 jenwu 看板 alwayslove
標題 人生該做什麼事?
時間 Sun Apr 1 04:18:48 2007
-----------------------------------------------------
可曾想過,人的一生中,有什麼事情是非做不的?有
什麼事情是該做的?考大學、工作賺錢、結婚生小孩
....很多時候,沒有什麼事是一定的,瞬息萬變的環境
,千變萬化的機緣,沒有人可以說個肯定,但可以確
定的是,人們都追求著「幸福」。
什麼是幸福?能夠微笑就是幸福。在資本主義推動下
,人們一生活在慾望世界裡,看似幸福的背後,卻充
滿著空虛。除去所有物質的一切包裝,我們的心靈還
剩下什麼?
去年的七月,兩位來自獅子山的朋友,感動了我,那
眼淚不是為了他們曾經在獅子山所經歷的難過而流,
而是因為我的心受到他們充滿溫暖與生命力的歌聲和
舞蹈所撼動,那一時的激動讓我留下了眼淚。幸福是
在於我們珍惜我們所擁有的,並且與世界分享一切的
美好。
Please visit http://myurl.com.tw/ea9r
| Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
2007年3月29日 星期四
The Coincidence in Life
After two days, we met in the same coffee house. Her boyfriend is called Aleris. He is from São Tomé and Príncipe (聖多美普林西比), an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Africa. Rex and I simply presented our project. Then we started to talk about life in West Africa.
Aleris mentioned one big problem in Africa is the inefficient government and poor educated people. There are many natural resources in Africa and there are also many tribes. As usual, the natural resources belongs to the people who live there. However, government may confiscate from people without reason. In this case, people may fight against the government. Then the tribe where president comes from may start to fight against the other tribe which is against the government. It is so called tribal conflict or civil war.
Why do people fight? Aleris said it is because people are lack of education, so they can not tell what kind of things is good to follow. They just follow their friend or family but not the good policy.
The other big problem in Africa is water shortage. If one thing we can do there, that must be constructing the water well. People are always lack of water there. However, Rex mentioned about the problem of over extraction of groundwater. We must be careful about it. He also thought of sea water desalinization. Maybe we can try it in Sierra Leone.
I am so glad that I found at least on African partner in Taiwan now. I hope we can make a difference for people to see Africa in a different way, not always in the dark side. I also hope that people from Africa can get together and share more about African stories to Taiwanese youths here. Only if we start to communicate, we can know each other more and do more good things for each other.
-References
張貼者: alwayslove 於 晚上10:16 0 意見
| Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
2007年3月4日 星期日
The Team Organization
張貼者: alwayslove 於 凌晨12:34 0 意見
標籤: About the Team | Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
2007年3月2日 星期五
Two friends from Sierra Leone
By the chance to attend the International Compassionate Youth Conference hold by Dharma Drum Mountain, I learned that there are still more things we should know about the world. I was honored to join in the workshop where we discussed about the conflict resolution. There I met Sylvanus, the delegate from Sierra Leone, who shared the story about his country.Sierra Leone is famous for diamonds but also well-known by domestic conflicts and poverty. People have been lived in war for decades until UN entered and garrisoned. On 14 May 2002, new president was elected. Under the help by UN, he started to rebuild the country. However, people still need more than everything they have already provided. I asked Sylvanus about the real life that children and teenagers have now.
- Do children have enough food now and where do they live?
- There are still many children wandering on the street and begging for food everyday. Their parents died during the war time. They have no where to go.
- Who gives them food?
- People who have more food will give them. It’s not always the same ones. We call the children number 001 that means they only have dinner in one day, and 010 means that children have only lunch, and 100 means they only have breakfast.
Hearing about the children’s life in Sierra Leone and looking around the place I grew up in, I feel how fortunate I am to be here. Youths in Taiwan now have chance to go to school and seldom of them experienced starvation. We couldn’t imagine the life far away from us in Sierra Leone. People who live in the world but have totally different life experiences, and now we know it is never fair for everybody to not have the same life quality since we are born, however we can know one thing is that we should pursue a world where people all have enough food and nutrition to live and have chance to be educated, and then have the ability to create a hopeful future..
What can I do to make the ideal be realized? I can have long-term plan to make progress of people’s life in Sierra Leone, but now I’d like to let people know more about the unique place which should be more concerned about.
by Jen, Oct. 2, 2006, in Taipei
張貼者: alwayslove 於 晚上10:53 0 意見
標籤: The Story Between Us | Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
2007年2月21日 星期三
20070212高師大附中之專案說明會紀錄
→大家很認真的聽著說明,努力記筆記和攝影。若有所思的樣子,真是可愛。
第一次的計畫說明會在高雄師大附中展開,面對這些充滿熱情,即將和我們合作半年的班聯會同學,我一個頓號也沒有的直說著從去年七月到現在要落實此計畫的過程,也不忘鼓勵他們,無論在未來遇到什麼樣的困難,都千萬不能忘記當初,也就是現在,心裡是多麼迫切也期待能夠和獅子山的朋友們共同學習成長,雖然不太可能有直接見面的機會,但大伙還是受到Cleo的感召,願意全力以赴的在高師大舉辦這第一次的跨國合作。
對於台灣的學生而言,非洲是個再陌生也不過的地方,光是課本最後一課草草的介紹了非洲,根本不足以讓同學們了解到這塊充滿生命力的大地。這次由法鼓山贊助的願景實踐方案,即將展開與高中生合作,進行非洲深度認識,並在五六月期間舉辦愛心勸募的舊衣回收與英文書籍募集活動,將台灣學生對於遠在非洲孩童與青年們的關愛與這些具實質助益的物資,一同送到獅子山。活動即將展開,大家加油囉^^在高雄的Cleo一切拜託啦!!!!!
標籤: Project I | Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us
2007 International Lustrum Symposium
1stand 2ndNovember 2007
International Lustrum Symposium
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
Focus on Africa
Background
The importance of sustainability is recognized on a global level. However, developed and developing nations must confront different issues on the road to sustainable development. Many would argue that the Western world consumes much more than its fair share. On the other hand, developing nations still face enormous challenges related to poverty, disease, governance, environmental conditions, social unrest, rapidly increasing populations, inequity, and gender inequality. Africa is a special case, because in contrast with countries in Asia, standards of living in Africa have risen only relatively slowly during the last five decades.
What are the reasons that problems remain unsolved? What contribution can scientists and engineers make to global issues? To help answer questions like these, Delft University of Technology is organising a quinquennial year symposium, “SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS, Focus on Africa”, on the 1st and 2nd of November 2007.
Technology has a major role to play in addressing global issues. The aim of this symposium is to clarify the contribution to be made by scientists and engineers in bringing about sustainable development in general and in meeting Africa’s needs in particular. Before and during the Symposium, we will investigate the possibility of establishing a “Delft Centre for Sustainable Solutions”. The Centre would organise projects to be carried out by existing research groups with selected faculty and staff. Relating technical solutions to the social, ecological, and economic aspects of sustainable development could take the form of research, educational, or advisory projects.
Developing innovative sustainable solutions is a joint effort.
We invite you to join us in this process.
THEMES
We invite you to submit an abstract on technological solutions related to the social, ecological, and economic aspects of sustainable development. Those could be research, educational, or advisory projects focusing on one or more of the themes below.We especially welcome sustainable solutions for Africa’s needs and solutions from other parts of the world that might be relevant for Africa.
We invite interdisciplinary, cross-cutting and integrated approaches
to the mentioned themes.
Water
Water quality: Pollution prevention, Purification, Distribution, (De)Centralized sanitation systems, Water quantity: (Local) drinking water supplies, Flood control, Water management
Energy
Renewable versus non-renewable energy, Central versus decentralized power production, Energy efficiency, Energy storage
Food
Quantity and quality, Hygiene, Storage, Distribution, Traditional versus modern agriculture, Transgenic crops
Health care
Disease prevention, Medical technology, Local versus urban health care, Hospitals and other infrastructure, Availability and equity
Urban Areas
Housing, Urbanisation, Spatial planning and design, Environmental design, Indoor environment, Demographic development, Community building
Resources
Mining, Production technologies, Local versus imported resources, Role of renewable resources and materials, Waste management, Re-use, Recycling
Mobility
Modes of transport and systems, Motorized versus non-motorized vehicles, Infrastructure, Regional development
ICT
Internet, Telecom, IT systems, Wireless networks, Mobile communication, Satellites, Global Positioning Systems, Open source software, Online collaboration
Entrepreneurship
Socially responsible entrepreneurship, Safety and labour conditions, Private versus public, National versus local, Globalization versus cultural diversity, Nature conservation and eco tourism
Education
Knowledge transfer, Teaching and training, Technology transfer and co-development, Use of ICT, E-learning, Human resources and prevention of brain-drain, Mutual understanding
Methodologies
Tools for communication, design and evaluation, Industrial Design and services, Industrial Ecology, Life Cycle Analysis, Green Chemistry, Green Engineering.
Authors are requested to electronically submit an abstract not later than 15 April 2007.For further information in preparing your abstract please see Web page:http://www.Lustrum.TUDelft.nl/Symposium. For further questions please contact the organising committee: E-mail: LustrumSymposium@TUDelft.nl
Instructions to prepare an abstract
標籤: Related Events | Hotlinks: DiggIt! Del.icio.us