Jaajef wa G-L,
I recieved this through another e-mail group I am
subscribed to; Action Without Borders. I hope
some people might find it worth pursueing and/or
subscribing.
Yeenduleen ak jaama
Tony
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE FREEDOM WE SHOULD ALL HAVE
At the heart of the work that many of us do is the belief
that there is one basic freedom - the freedom to work
with others for a better life - that should be as
available to us as the air we breathe. Without it, you
can't promote literacy, fight preventable diseases or
protect the environment. With it, everything else
becomes
possible.
If we have this freedom and others do not, two
questions
come up: Why should we care? And if we care, what
can
we do about it?
WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
If peace, nuclear safety or endangered species are
important to you, you need people to be free in their
own
country so they too can work on these issues.
At a deeper level, though, this basic freedom is simply
something we owe one another. Four hundred years
ago,
John Donne wrote that "no man is an island... any
man's
death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind."
Building on this, we can say that any person who can't
act peacefully to help himself or others diminishes all
of us.
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
Working together, we can define this freedom as
concretely as possible, and build a broad coalition to
help promote it around the world.
At http://www.idealist.org/freedom.html you will find
a
short draft for such a definition, as well as a
searchable database of 1,200 organizations working
for
freedom and human rights in 85 countries, to help
people
get involved wherever they are.
Until the end of October, we will circulate this draft
as widely as we can. Then, by the beginning of
January,
we will publish a table showing where each government
stands on this basic freedom, and invite people
everywhere to help promote it country by country.
Throughout this process, we look forward to your
feedback.
Thanks!
************************************************
This message was sent to the subscribers of Ideas in
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Idealist.org, which currently has 27,000 subscribers.
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Action Without Borders is a nonprofit organization that
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to help build a world where all people can live free,
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provided by 20,000 organizations in 140 countries.
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