Articles by René Wadlow
We found 552 results.
Creating a Climate for Negotiations
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Mar 2021
Negotiation means a joint undertaking by those in conflict with the aim of finding common interests that are acceptable to a large segment of the population. Thus, often an agreement must be more than a compromise. It must transcend the original negotiating positions to create a situation of positive peace–an advance in the welfare of much of the populations of the parties.
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Democratic Republic of Congo: Need for Reconciliation, Bridge-Builders
René Wadlow - TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Mar 2021
24 Feb 2021 – The people in eastern Congo have lived together for many centuries and developed techniques of conflict resolution. However, the influx of a large number of Hutu, local political considerations, a desire to control the wealth of the area — rich in gold, tin and tropical timber — all these factors have overburdened the local techniques of conflict resolution and have opened the door to new, negative forces interested only in making money and gaining political power.
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New Start for Stability in Libya
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Feb 2021
The Libya Political Dialogue Forum on 5 Feb 2021 announced the creation of a new executive authority for all of Libya. To what extent the new interim authority will be able to create public services, limit outside influences and create appropriate forms of government will have to be seen. Libya merits close attention.
→ read full articleProtracted Conflict, Elusive Justice: The International Criminal Court Trial of Dominic Ongwen
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Feb 2021
At the age of 9, Dominic Ongwen was captured by the militia of the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda and became a “child soldier”. The Lord’s Resistance Army is a continuation of the Holy Spirit Mobile Force created in 1986 around Alice Auna Lakwena, a woman healer who combined Christian Pentecostal elements, especially the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, with more traditional African beliefs in charms that can prevent being wounded.
→ read full articleWendel Willkie (18 Feb 1892 – 8 Oct 1944): “We Want Willkie”
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Feb 2021
Wendel Willkie had been a Democrat most of his adult life and was considered as “a wild card” among the Republican elite. Moreover, he had never run for a political office and to start out by wanting to run for President struck some, especially Republican senators and governors, as premature. Willkie was disliked by Democrats as a renegade and by Republicans as an interloper.
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Interfaith Harmony Week: Chou Tun-yi, a Voice for Our Time
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Feb 2021
The United Nations General Assembly on 20 October 2010 proclaimed the first week of February of each year as the “World Interfaith Harmony Week” among all religions, faiths and beliefs. The General Assembly resolution recognized “the imperative need for dialogue among the different faiths and religions in enhancing mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation among people.”
→ read full articleResistance: Voices of Exiled Writers
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jan 2021
This is an anthology of poems and short prose texts describing the situations that led to the exile of the writer. The suffering and loss of country, home, family members and friends along with the personal experiences of torture and imprisonment are shared with others through memory.
→ read full articleAlbert Schweitzer (14 Jan 1875 – 4 Sep 1965): Reverence for Life
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jan 2021
“Just as the rivers are much less numerous than underground streams, so the idealism that is visible is minor compared to what men and women carry in their hearts, unreleased or scarcely released.”
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Kahlil Gibran (6 Jan 1883 – 10 Apr 1931): Spirits Rebellious
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jan 2021
Gibran’s bitter denunciation of both religious and political injustice brought his anticipated exile from Lebanon. He was also excommunicated from the Church in a country where much civil identity and justice was based on religious membership — not to mention the popular idea that God did not allow excommunicated souls into his Heaven.
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Can You Hear the People Sing? Global Responses to the Pandemic
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Dec 2020
For many, the Covid 19 pandemic took loved ones and livelihoods away without discrimination. Yet for others, the confinement was a period in which some felt a sense that things could be better if all worked together. This is a rich collection of poems with reflections and observations. [Camilla Reeve (Ed.) London: Palewell Press, 2020]
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Still Fire under the Ashes
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Dec 2020
In 1987, there was a 13th amendment to the Constitution which allows for the creation of “provincial councils”. In practice these provincial councils have not been able to function as avenues for popular aspirations. However, the structure exists. The hope is that wise leadership will manifest itself in these provincial councils and thus prevent a new round of violence based on desperation.
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Anniversary of the Genocide Convention: 9 December 1948
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Dec 2020
The Genocide Convention is a landmark in the efforts to develop a system of universally accepted standards which promote an equitable world order for all members of the human family to live in dignity. Four articles are at the heart of this Convention and are here quoted in full to understand the process of implementation
→ read full articleNagorno-Karabakh: Protecting the Heritage of Humanity
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Nov 2020
On 18 November 2020, the Director General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay received representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. The protection of cultural heritage is only one of the many challenges concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian peacekeeping troops, and relations between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and Iran. A situation that merits watching.
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Martin Wight (26 Nov 1913 – 15 Jul 1972): Analyst of International Relations Traditions
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Nov 2020
Martin Wight was an analyst of approaches to the study and practice of international relations. He taught at the London School of Economics and later at the then newly created University of Sussex. He was a conscientious objector to military service during the Second World War.
→ read full articleNew Refugee Flows: Karabakh and Ethiopia
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Nov 2020
13 Nov 2020 – The recent armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia has led to a flow of refugees toward Armenia and Russia. The world community needs to develop more adequate early warning systems so that preventive action can be undertaken before the outbreak of destructive violence. Peace needs peacemakers; there is a need to train more adequate humanitarian workers.
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Jacques Maritain (18 Nov 1882 – 23 Apr 1973): World Citizen Philosopher
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Nov 2020
Jacques Maritain was a French intellectual who spent the years of WWII in Princeton, U.S.A. where his friend anti-Nazi German author Thomas Mann also lived. Both were active advocates of world citizenship. In 1945-1948 he was named by Charles De Gaulle as the French Ambassador to the Vatican.
→ read full articleHow Frozen Are the OSCE’s Wars?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Nov 2020
6 Nov 2020 – The lack of progress in the UN/OSCE mediation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict indicates that non-governmental networks of conflict resolution must be developed. As Anthony Judge has pointed on TMS, one must choose one’s metaphor or symbol for a political situation with care. The metaphor of the flowing streams coming together in confluence to become a river of consequence may be the appropriate metaphor.
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Velimir Khlebnikov (9 Nov 1885 – 28 Jun 1922): The Futurian and World Citizen
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Nov 2020
Velimir Khlebnikov was a shooting star of Russian culture in the years just prior to the start of the First World War. He was part of a small creative circle of poets, painters and writers who wanted to leave the old behind and set the stage for the future. They called themselves “The Futurians”.
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Eugene Victor Debs (5 Nov 1855 – 20 Oct 1926): An Early U.S. Socialist Voice
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Nov 2020
With the increasingly high profile of Senator Bernie Sanders in U.S. politics, the term “Democratic Socialist” has become increasingly used. Thus it is useful to look at the first person on the U.S. political scene to represent the term.
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Nobel Literature Laureate Albert Camus (7 Nov 1913 – 4 Jan 1960): Stoic Humanist and World Citizen
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Nov 2020
Albert Camus was born in Algeria, the son of a French father killed in the First World War when he was only one and an illiterate Spanish mother who raised him while working as a cleaning woman. Camus was intellectually stimulated by his father’s brother who read books of philosophy and was active in the local Masonic lodge.
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Paul Brunton (21 Oct 1898 – 24 Jul 1981): The Spiritual Search
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Oct 2020
The world citizen Paul Brunton was concerned with building intellectual bridges between the West and the spiritual traditions of Asia, in particular India.
→ read full articleNagorno-Karabakh: A Phantom Republic Takes Center Stage
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Oct 2020
9 Oct 2020 – The Phantom Republics is the name given to the States demanding the status of independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union: Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Transnistea in Moldova, and Nagorno-Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The conflicts in Georgia and Moldova are now “frozen”, but they can “melt” at any time.
→ read full articleNagorno-Karabakh: Are Con-federal Structures Possible?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Oct 2020
1 Oct 2020 – On 27 Sep, military forces from Azerbaijan moved into six villages held by Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh area. The Prime Minister of Armenia warned that the two countries were “on the edge of war with unforeseeable consequences”. The President of Azerbaijan declared martial law and called up reserve military.
→ read full articleStrategic Nonviolent Struggle Spreads
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Sep 2020
25 Sep 2020 – Gene Sharp may be looking down from Heaven as four nonviolent struggles go on at the same time in different political-cultural settings: Hong Kong, Thailand, Belarus, and Libya. It is difficult to know from the outside how much these struggles are the result of strategic planning or a spontaneous reaction to events.
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H.G. Wells (21 Sep 1866 – 13 Aug 1946): The Open Conspiracy for Peace
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Sep 2020
Herbert George Wells, an active world citizen, is usually known as just H.G. Wells. He was a creator of modern science fiction, a pioneer of women’s rights (though he treated some badly in his many love affairs), a journalist, historian and novelist. Above all he was a social thinker devoted to peace and a stable world order.
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Paulo Freire: Popular Participation
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Sep 2020
In the Declaration of Principles and Programme of Action adopted by the 1976 World Employment Conference it is stated, “A basic needs-oriented policy implies the participation of the people in making the decisions which affect them through organizations of their own choice.”
→ read full articleIndia the Malevolent Republic
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Sep 2020
Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India, by K.S. Komireddi, London, C. Hurst and Co. 2019 – This is a lively analysis of Indian politics since independence.
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Tolstoy and Gandhi: Light as Darkness Approached
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Sep 2020
By 1901 Tolstoy had been excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church — not that he expected much light to come from Church-State relations. The Church did insist that no prayers be said at Tolstoy’s funeral. For Tolstoy as for Gandhi, nonviolence was an expression of ‘soul force’ — the outward expression of the Inner Kingdom.
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Turkey-Greece Mediterranean Tensions: Track II Efforts Needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Sep 2020
4 Sep 2020 – With Turkish war ships in the Mediterranean and the Greek army on alert, the tensions between Greece and Turkey are growing. Greek soldiers on the Greek island of Kastellorico, some two kilometers from the Turkish coast are on alert. Governmental efforts of mediation especially that of the German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass have not produced positive results.
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Maria Montessori (31 Aug 1870 – 6 May 1952): The Spirit of Education for World Citizenship
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Aug 2020
Maria Montessori’s teaching displeased the narrow nationalist leaders in power in the 1930s. The Fascist government of Mussolini closed the Montessori schools in Italy in 1934 as did Hitler in Germany and then in Austria when Hitler’s troops moved into Vienna. The dictators saw that creative thinking among children was a danger to their authoritarian rule.
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Edward Carpenter (29 Aug 1844 – 28 Jun 1929)
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Aug 2020
Edward Carpenter was an English writer, educator, pacifist, and socialist reformer. He lived in a homosexual relationship with a farmer at a time when homosexuality was considered a criminal offense. He saw that an awareness of the spiritual dimension of each person was the basis for the healing of the nations.
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Edmond Privat (17 Aug 1889 – 18 Aug 1962): The Inner Light
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Aug 2020
It was natural for Privat, a citizen of Geneva, to be drawn to the efforts of the League of Nations. He served from 1923 to 1927 as the vice-delegate for Iran. Privat is an important symbol of those who worked between the two World Wars for new positive attitudes and strong inter-governmental structures that would create a climate of peace. The tasks still face us today.
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Arthur Waley (19 Aug 1889 – 27 Jun 1966): Ways of Thought in Ancient China
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Aug 2020
Arthur Waley was an important cultural bridge-builder between China and the West. He was a translator of Chinese and Japanese poetry and philosophical texts, especially the Taoist classic Tao Te Ching attributed to Lao Tsu.
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World Humanitarian Day
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Aug 2020
In memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello (15 Mar 1948 – 19 Aug 2003). The UNGA has designated 19 August as “World Humanitarian Day” but celebrated to pay tribute to aid workers in humanitarian service in difficult and often dangerous conditions.
→ read full articleCould the Dogs of War Have Been Kept Chained? Prelude to the Guns of August
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Aug 2020
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, started on 28 Jul 1914: Guns of August.
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South China Sea Delimitation Disputes: Good Faith Negotiations Needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jul 2020
23 Jul 2020 – Although most maritime delimitations are, in fact, achieved without recourse to adjudication and settled by bilateral negotiations, submitting a dispute to the World Court can better ensure that the results of the delimitation process conform to the rules of international law.
→ read full articleReligious Liberty: Concern and Opportunity for Action
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jul 2020
18 Jul 2020 – In an earlier TMS issue, I highlighted two avenues for informing on questions of religious liberty. Today, there is greater use of Track II diplomacy–meetings among relevant people on all sides of a conflict to see what issues might be negotiated. Religious and spiritual bodies have the resources for such Track II efforts. My impression is that they could do more.
→ read full articleMonitoring Pressures against Religious Freedom
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2020
3 Jul 2020 – Religious freedom is under pressure today. A worldwide erosion of religious freedom is causing large scale human suffering and grave injustice. In some cases, a religion is closely associated to an ethnic group or a tribal community. It is more inter-ethnic tensions which are the motor of the dispute rather than the core belief system.
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Antoine de Saint Exupéry (29 Jun 1900 – 31 Jul 1944): Solitude and Solidarity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2020
Saint Ex for the style was influenced by Frederic Nietzche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra which he had read. However, the spirit is much closer to Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet. There is no indication that he had read Gibran in Saint Ex’s period in New York. It is more likely that both writers shared a common outlook on life.
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Giuseppe Garibaldi (4 Jul 1807 – 2 Jun 1882): Godfather of Transnational Democratic Politics
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2020
Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, now France, often called the hero of two worlds because of his efforts for independence in Latin America and then Europe, is in many ways inventor of transnational democratic politics.
→ read full articleChina-India Frontier Tensions: Are Track II Efforts Possible?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2020
As Citizens of the World, we devote ourselves to the safeguarding, restoration and construction of peace through dialogue, cooperation and reconciliation. We need to facilitate contacts of the China-India frontier issues to see what doors might open.
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Hermann Hesse (2 Jul 1877 – 9 Aug 1962): Revolt and Enlightenment
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2020
Rebellion against established structures, the quest for personal values and a religious impulse are all elements in Siddhartha, published in 1922, perhaps his most widely-read book. It is not clear that Hesse found the harmony of enlightenment in his own life. In his last major work The Glass Bead Game (1943) he describes what might be an ideal Buddhist monastery devoted to the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge.
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Norman Cousins (24 Jun 1915 – 30 Nov 1990): A Pioneer of Track II Diplomacy
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jun 2020
World Citizen Norman Cousins was a pioneer of Track II diplomacy. Track I is official government to government diplomacy among instructed representative of the State. Track II is a non-official effort, usually by a non-governmental organization (NGO) or an academic institution.
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8 June: International Day of the Oceans
René Wadlow - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Jun 2020
World Citizens Call for Renewed Efforts to Resolve Asian Maritime Delimitations Dispute – This date can serve as the start of a strong mobilization of voices calling for good-faith negotiations and for a vision of cooperation among the States of the China Seas.
→ read full articleComprehensive World Food Policy
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 May 2020
In a 12-May-2020 report the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the COVID-19 impact would increase by some 15 million the 820 million persons who the FAO estimates are the daily victims of hunger.
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Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 Aug 1941): The Local and the Universal
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2020
In a period of rapid change as we face today, it is often difficult to find the right balance between the cultural contributions and needs of the local, the national, and the universal. One way of finding this balance is to look at the life and work of others, who earlier confronted the same challenges. One such person was the poet, writer and cultural reformer Rabindranath Tagore.
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Teilhard de Chardin (1 May 1881 – 10 Apr 1955): Evolution toward World Unity
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2020
Pierrre Teihard de Chardin, the French paleontologist, after a lifetime of study of the evolution of the human species concluded that humanity was entering a new age with a higher, peaceful and more responsible sense of the unity of the world community. Optimism and evolution are the two themes that Teilhard de Chardin leaves with us. He insisted at looking at the human population as one global family, developing a network of mutual support − recognizing the need of global solidarity.
→ read full articleConscience: The Inner Voice of the Higher Self
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Mar 2020
The United Nations has designated 5 April as the International Day of Conscience. The first celebration is this year 2020. An awakened conscience is essential to meeting the challenges which face humanity today as we move into the World Society. The great challenge which humanity faces today is to leave behind the culture of violence in which we find ourselves and move rapidly to a culture of peace and solidarity.
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Maurice Béjart (1 Jan 1927 – 22 Nov 2007): Starting off the Year with a Dance
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jan 2020
Maurice Béjart was an innovative master of modern dance. In a world where there is both appreciation and fear of the mixing of cultural traditions, he was always a champion of blending cultural influences. He was a world citizen and an inspiration to all who work for a universal culture.
→ read full articleThe Genocide Convention: The World Court Case Relevant to Myanmar
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Dec 2019
2 Dec 2019 – The complaint lodged by The Gambia at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar (Burma) is the first time that rape as a weapon of war will be presented to the World Court, based on violations of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The hearings are scheduled for 10-12 December 2019. Sexual and gender-based violence is an important aspect of the genocide accusation and the discussions should be watched closely.
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Upholding Freedom of Conscience and Belief at the UN
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Nov 2019
25 November is the date anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly resolution in 1981 to proclaim the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. The Declaration is a development of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights highlighting freedom or thought, conscience, religion or belief. The 1981 Declaration is now recognized as articulating the fundamental right of freedom of conscience, religion, and belief.
→ read full articleThe Importance of Gambia Invoking Genocide Convention against Myanmar
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Nov 2019
The Government of Gambia on 11 Nov has brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague a complaint against the Government of Myanmar (formerly Burma) for violation of the 1948 Convention on Genocide concerning actions against the Rohingya.
→ read full articleThe Lasting Impact of the Islamic State
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Nov 2019
Out of chaos come strange leaders. Most often they are re-absorbed into the chaos. Sometimes they rise above the chaos and impose a momentary order. The death of a person, even if in a leadership position, does not kill an ideology. ISIS’ long-range impact can only be met by strong compassion for all and a positive, inclusive intellectual framework.
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Syria: The Human Cost of War
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Oct 2019
No Turning Back: Life, Loss and Hope in Wartime Syria, by Rania Abouzeid (London: Oneworld Publications, 2018) – A moving book by the Lebanese journalist. As an Arabic speaker, she was able to move in Syrian society to interview a range of Syrians caught up in the violence. She was also able to interview Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
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24 Oct » U.N. Day: Strengthening and Reforming
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Oct 2019
24 October is U.N. Day, marking the day when there were enough ratifications including those of the five permanent members of the proposed Security Council for the U.N. Charter to come into force. It is a day not only of celebration, but also a day for looking at how the U.N. system can be strengthened, and when necessary, reformed.
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Turkey-Syria-Kurds Violent Conflict: Action Needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2019
On 9 October, Turkish troops began a long-anticipated cross-border assault against the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria. The Turkish operation is code-named “Operation Peace Spring” but there is a real danger that the situation turns into “Operation Violent Winter”. Before the situation grows worse, clear and dynamic leadership from non-governmental organizations is required. As Turkish Troops Advance, Dangers Escalate
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Jayaprakash Narayan (11 Oct 1902 – 8 Oct 1979): Advocate of the Nonviolent Total Revolution
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2019
Jayaprakash Narayan was an Indian social reformer in the struggle for Indian independence led by Mahatma Gandhi and a social reformer after the independence of India. “The problem is to put man in touch with man, so that they may live together in meaningful, understandable, controllable relationships. In short, the problem is to recreate the human community.”
→ read full articleProgress toward Ukraine, Donbas, Russia Conflict Resolution: Serious Negotiations still needed
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2019
3 Oct 2019 – There is a need for dialogue, trust-building, and reconciliation within Ukraine. The same issues as to what “self rule” means in practice is still the crucial issue. Ultimately, all conflicts can end only when there is an agreement about the shape of government and the rules of law under which people agree to live.
→ read full articleU.N. General Assembly: Can It Provide the Needed Global Leadership?
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Sep 2019
27 Sep 2019 – The international relations specialist Stanley Hoffmann once quipped “Goals are easy to describe. What matters more is a strategy for reaching them.” This September the UNGA began with a “Climate Action Summit” to evaluate governmental efforts to meet the challenges of climate change. Government leaders set out what they have done, or plan to do, at the national level but they said relatively little on what they could do together.
→ read full articleGrowing Tensions on the Road to Persian Gulf Security
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Sep 2019
17 Sep 2019 – The 14 Sep drone attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia have dimmed hope for U.S. – Iranian discussions. Tensions have increased, and oil prices have risen. In fact, the aim of the attacks may have been to lessen the possibility of Iran – U.S. discussions which might have taken place during the start of the UNGA later in September. There is a need for non-governmental efforts today as the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East are growing ever-more tense.
→ read full articlePreparing the U.N.’s 2020
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Sep 2019
Although it is likely that the 2020 U.S. presidential elections will get more media space, the United Nations is preparing a number of 2020 landmarks. Members of the TRANSCEND network may propose avenues of creative action, and we must prepare now, as negotiations on content are already underway. The UN is sensitive to anniversary dates to look back as to what has been done (or not done) and to look ahead at the new challenges and what can be done to meet them.
→ read full articleImmanuel Wallerstein: Ah, We were once both young and hopeful!
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Sep 2019
Immanuel Wallerstein (28 Sep 1930 – 31 Aug 2019) the political sociologist best known for his writings on the “world system” and I were friends in the mid 1950s; perhaps not friends but at least both student activists in the World Federalist-World Citizen Movement, especially in their international dimensions.
→ read full articleIran Crisis: Dangers and Opportunities
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Sep 2019
The Russian proposal for Collective Security for the Persian Gulf follows closely the procedures which led to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the creation of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Bogdanov stressed multilateralism as a mechanism for all involved in the assessment of situations, the decision-making process, and the implementation of decisions.
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(Português) Amazônia em Chamas
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2019
O Presidente brasileiro Jair Bolsonaro declarou que os incêndios são uma questão puramente doméstica e as atitudes do G7 representam uma política neocolonial do passado. Como Cidadãos do Mundo, acreditamos que a Amazônia, assim como outras grandes áreas florestais, fazem parte da herança comum da humanidade; a sua destruição afeta a todos nós.
→ read full articleWomen at the Peace Table: Building from the Grassroots to the Tree Tops
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Aug 2019
There is a need to study how to overcome the cultural barriers, the traditional patriarchal attitudes that prevent women from playing a full role in armed-conflict resolution and to strengthen the capacities of women-led initiatives.
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International Humanitarian Law, Constant Challenges, NGO Responses
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2019
12 August is the anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Conventions in 1949. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols Additional are central instruments of International Humanitarian Law. The Geneva Conventions are also often called the Red Cross Conventions.
→ read full articlePeace Journalism: Signs and Trends
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jul 2019
A task of Peace Journalism is to be able to discern trends and to detect signs of emerging political and social issues. One aspect is what I call “raising a storm warning flag”. This is to highlight growing tensions or inappropriate responses to situations which are not yet on the world security agenda–that is, neither being discussed at the United Nations Security Council nor leading to action in a regular way.
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James Cousins (22 Jul 1873 – 20 Feb 1956): An Effort of Synthesis
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jul 2019
“From the total push and pressure of the Cosmos come the impulses of life that manifest themselves through desires (emotions) counsel (cognition) and works (action)…In other terms, the intuition flows through thoughts as truth, through feeling as beauty, through action as goodness.”
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Sahel Instability Spreads
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jul 2019
28 Jun 2019 – Despite U.N. troops, French army troops, European Union military trainers, and national armies, instability is spreading in the Sahel five States: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad–all former French colonies. The French government still plays a large role in the economic, political and security life of these Sahel 5 – what has been called “la Francafrique”.
→ read full articleHermann Hesse (2 Jul 1877 – 9 Aug 1962): Revolt and Enlightenment
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jul 2019
Rebellion against established structures, the quest for personal values and a religious impulse are all elements in Siddhartha, published in 1922, perhaps his most widely-read book. It is not clear that Hesse found the harmony of enlightenment in his own life. In his last major work The Glass Bead Game (1943) he describes what might be an ideal Buddhist monastery devoted to the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge.
→ read full articleGiuseppe Garibaldi (4 Jul 1807 – 2 Jun 1882): Godfather of Transnational Democratic Politics
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jul 2019
Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, now France, often called the hero of two worlds because of his efforts for independence in Latin America and then Europe, is in many ways inventor of transnational democratic politics.
→ read full article
Antoine de Saint Exupéry (29 Jun 1900 – 31 Jul 1944): Solitude and Solidarity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jun 2019
Saint Ex for the style was influenced by Frederic Nietzche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra which he had read. However, the spirit is much closer to Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet. There is no indication that he had read Gibran in Saint Ex’s period in New York. It is more likely that both writers shared a common outlook on life.
→ read full articleDemocratic Republic of Congo: Need for Reconciliation Bridge-Builders
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 -Felix Tshisekedi, son of the late, long-time opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, put an end to the 18-year rule of Joseph Kabila. However, in a number of provinces of the country, especially the east, armed violence continues between the army and different tribal-based militias. In some area, warlords battle among themselves.
→ read full articlePeace Journalism: The Sower, the Seed, the Harvest
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jun 2019
There is the New Testament symbol of the Sower and the Seed. The Sower has only one type of seed, which stands for the truth or at least that aspect of the truth appropriate for the period. He throws some of the seeds on ill-prepared hard ground. Some others are thrown on slightly prepared ground, but their roots do not go deep. Finally, some seeds are put into well-prepared ground, take root and in turn produce more seeds that can be used elsewhere.
→ read full articleAfter 30 Years of Stagnation, Incompetence and Repression, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan Is Pushed Out
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jun 2019
The Central government gave the Janjaweed guns, uniforms, equipment and indications where to attack by first bombing village–but no regular pay. Thus the bandit militias had to pay themselves by looting homes, crops, livestock, by taking slaves and raping women and girls. Village after village was destroyed; crops were burned, water wells filled with sand.
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William Butler Yeats (13 Jun 1865 – 28 Jan 1939): The Transition to Aquarius
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jun 2019
William Butler Yeats is the modern European poet most conscious of the transition within astrological cycles from the Piscean Period to the Age of Aquarius. The concept that humanity is at the end of a 2000-year cycle and about to start a new dispensation at a higher turn of the spiral – the gyre as Yeats called the historic spiral – was the framework within which he always worked.
→ read full article8 June–International Day of the Oceans: World Citizens Call for Renewed Efforts to Resolve Asian Maritime Delimitations Dispute
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jun 2019
Factions in both Japan and China are playing a “nationalist card” concerning the maritime delimitations disputes, no doubt for reasons which go beyond the specific aspects of the disputes. Although the Chinese “nationalist” focus is directed toward Japan, there is a vision among some Chinese that the USA is the cause of the continuing problems with Taiwan and Japan.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Sectarian Violence and the Higher Self
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 May 2019
On 14 and 15 May 2019, revenge violence broke out in a number of towns in Sri Lanka against Muslim shopkeepers by Christians motivated by the Easter Sunday attacks on three Christian churches. As has been said, it is difficult to solve problems on the same level from which gave rise to the problem. While Christian-Muslim dialogue is necessary in Sri Lanka, as elsewhere, it is only as the individual person moves beyond their self-identification as Christians or Muslims that a true harmonious society can grow.
→ read full articleCameroon: Moving Fast When There Are Short Windows of Opportunity
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 May 2019
11 May 2019 – There are two separate and not directly related crisis areas in Cameroon. One is a spillover of instability and conflict in Nigeria and the Central African Republic. The second crisis area concerns the Anglophone area of Cameroon to the south and west on the frontier with Nigeria.
→ read full articleTripoli Reflects a Disintegrated Libya
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 May 2019
3 May 2019 – The current situation in Tripoli is a reflection of the past seven years of disintegration. The crucial question remains how to structure a country as diverse in terms of geography and tribal societies. It is not certain that the U.N.-led negotiations can be held in the near future although a good deal of preparatory work was undertaken. There may be some room for Track II-type efforts sponsored by non-governmental organizations.
→ read full articleRabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 Aug 1941): The Local and the Universal
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 May 2019
In a period of rapid change as we face today, it is often difficult to find the right balance between the cultural contributions and needs of the local, the national, and the universal. One way of finding this balance is to look at the life and work of others, who earlier confronted the same challenges. One such person was the poet, writer and cultural reformer Rabindranath Tagore.
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Teilhard de Chardin (1 May 1881 – 10 Apr 1955): Evolution toward World Unity
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Apr 2019
Pierrre Teihard de Chardin, the French paleontologist, after a lifetime of study of the evolution of the human species concluded that humanity was entering a new age with a higher, peaceful and more responsible sense of the unity of the world community. Optimism and evolution are the two themes that Teilhard de Chardin leaves with us. He insisted at looking at the human population as one global family, developing a network of mutual support − recognizing the need of global solidarity.
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A Step Forward in the U.N.’s Efforts against Rape as a Weapon of War
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Apr 2019
On Tuesday, 23 April 2019, the United Nations Security Council voted resolution N° 2467 concerning the use of rape as a weapon in times of armed conflict. The new resolution introduced by Germany contained two new elements, both of which were eliminated in the intense negotiations in the four days prior to the vote of 13 in favor and two abstentions, those of Russia and China.
→ read full articleYemen and World Law: Building from Current Violations
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Apr 2019
The aggression against Yemen has created a moral vacuum, an area devoid of the most basic human values both within Yemen and in the countries attacking it.
→ read full articleAfter 30 Years of Stagnation, Incompetence and Repression Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is Pushed Out–Problems Remain
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Apr 2019
On 11 April 2019, the Defense Minister of Sudan, Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, announced that the President Omar al-Bashir had been removed from office and was under house arrest along with a few members of his inner circle. General Ibn Auf proposed that a transitional body of military and technicians lead the country for a two-year period after which elections for president would be held. Some have called the events “a recycled coup”.
→ read full articlePeace Journalism
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Apr 2019
Peace Journalism has two primary tasks: to make creative proposals for the settlement of conflicts and to work for broad inclusion of parties for negotiations held in good faith. Thus Peace Journalists need to work so that all voices can be heard. Inclusiveness may not make negotiations easier.
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Dogon-Peul Conflict in Mali Draws U.N. Attention to Broader Settled Agriculturalist-Pastoralists Tensions in Africa
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2019
The degree of poor administration and the disintegration of the State of Mali became apparent in March 2012 when there were revolts led by the Twareg in northern Mali. The creation of a new state, Azawed, to be led by ethnic Twareg was proclaimed.
→ read full articleRocky Road to World Law: Need for a U.N.-led Conference on the Reaffirmation of Humanitarian Law
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2019
World law, as world citizens use the term, is more than current international law. World law has as its base universally recognized international law but also the human rights declarations and standards, the oft-repeated declarations of the United Nations General Assembly as well as the international legal bodies such as the World Court and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
→ read full articleSyria: Concerns Raised and Possible Next Steps
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2019
I think that it is important for us to look at why organizations that promote nonviolent action and conflict resolution in the US and Western Europe were not able to do more to aid those in Syria who tried to use nonviolence during the first months of 2011.
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The Spiritual and Socialist Start of International Women’s Day
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
8 March is the International Day of Women and thus a time to highlight the specific role of women in local, national and world society. International Women’s Day was first proposed by Clara Zetlin (1857-1933) at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1911. Later, she served as a socialist-communist member of the German Parliament during the Wiemar Republic which existed from 1920 to 1933 when Hitler came to power. Zetlin went into exile in the Soviet Union shortly after Hitler came to power. She died there several months later in 1933.
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René Dumont (13 Mar 1904 – 18 Jun 2001): Focus of the Small-Scale Farmer and Social Justice
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
René Dumont highlighted the importance of small-scale peasant farmers in the world’s food production. Despite massive displacement of the peasantry toward cities, more than 70 percent of the world’s food is produced by small family-owned farms. René Dumont was an active world citizen and always stressed world citizenship in his justification for his studies of agriculture worldwide.
→ read full articleArt of the Deal Revisited while Waiting for the Next Summit
Donald Trump with René Wadlow, Ghostwriter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2019
The Art of the Deal, part biography, part business advice, received wide readership and drew attention to Donald Trump beyond the New York milieu in which he worked. The book was largely written by his ghostwriter, journalist Tony Schwartz. In this spirit, here is a ghostwritten presentation of what Donald Trump should say in his next meeting with Kim Jong-Un which should also be held in Hanoi so that Kim can take a train.
→ read full articleThat Cooler Heads May Prevail
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
25 Feb 2019 – When the drums of war start beating, can cooler heads prevail and negotiations in good faith start? Vijay Mehta has written a useful overview of efforts to create a Department of Peace within governments so that there would be an institutionalized official voice proposing other avenues than war. Such proposals are not new.
→ read full articleThe Warsaw Process: Slow Start, Clear Focus
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2019
“This is a new era for the future and for prosperity for all the nations” Yusuf bin Alawi, Foreign Minister of Oman, said optimistically in Warsaw at the 13-14 February 2019 Ministerial Conference to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East. The Warsaw Conference may end up as only a “photo opportunity” and for Warsaw to be center stage for a short time, or we may work to have the Warsaw Process be the real start of a new era.
→ read full articleWarsaw Process toward a Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Middle East
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
On 13-14 February 2019, there is planned The Ministerial Conference to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East called jointly by the U.S.A. and Poland. Not all “players” of the Middle East drama are invited to Warsaw. Iran and Russia as governments were not invited. Non-State actors such as the Palestinians, the Kurds, the Islamic State and a host of armed militias – all of whom play a current role – will be officially absent.
→ read full articleReprisals on Human Rights Defenders: Need for NGO Action
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
Many human rights defenders are people working in isolated, remote areas far from the international networks of protection. These unsung defenders become a vulnerable target in areas where impunity prevails, and assailants operate with virtual no fear of having to account for their crimes. Nevertheless, international appeals with accuracy of information and speed of reaction can be helpful which the Association of World Citizens knows from direct experience.
→ read full articleRomain Rolland (29 Jan 1866 – 30 Dec 1944): The Cosmopolitan Spirit
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2019
It is as the popularizer and exponent of Gandhi’s thought that Rolland played a crucial role for nonviolent action. Gandhi was the embodiment of many of Rolland’s positions: a non-Leninist opposition to imperialism and a concern for movements of national independence. For Rolland, Gandhian nonviolence symbolized a universal hope and a political alternative to the pervasiveness of force in the West
→ read full articleFrance: Start of a Difficult but Vital National Dialogue
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2019
20 Jan 2019 – After two months of protests, discussions, and some physical violence beginning on 17 November 2018, the French President Emmanuel Macron has tried to organize a national dialogue from 15 January 2019 to 15 March. It is a difficult task as French political culture is one in which people easily talk but rarely listen.
→ read full articleStringfellow Barr (15 Jan 1897 – 3 Feb 1982): Joining the Human Race
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
Stringfellow Barr was a historian of the classic Greek and Roman period and an active world citizen. He served as president of the Foundation for World Government from 1948 to 1958 and of St. John’s College in Annapolis. The aim of St. John’s under Stringfellow was to turn out well-read liberals who would have studied a common set of “Great Books” starting with the Greeks such as Plato.
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Carl Rogers (8 Jan 1902 – 4 Feb 1987): Healing the Person and the State
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2019
Carl Ransom Rogers was a US psychologist and educator and a leading figure of what is often called “the third wave of psychology.” The first wave was Freud and Jung and their views of psychoanalysis. The second wave was the behaviorists symbolized by B.F. Skinner. The third wave, often called “humanist”, has Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, and Carl Rogers as its best known figures.
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