In addition to the above benefits for businesses, the three important macro-economic effects already described earlier are relevant not only for society as a whole but as well for the corporations as well.<\/p>\n

\n
1. It makes available to businesses a robust international standard of value.<\/li>\n
2. It systemically reduces the possibility or seriousness of a global recession by its countercyclical effects on the business cycle.<\/li>\n
3. It resolves the conflict between long-term sustainability and financial priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   In conclusion, the Terra mechanism is a Win-Win approach for all main actors in the global scene, and that is why it may have a chance to succeed where others have failed in the past. What is at stake is more than economics. Today, the bulk of the decisions that will influence the future of humanity are made by the major corporations. And as long as those decisions are made mainly on short-term criteria, the chances of us getting to a sustainable future have unfortunately to be considered low. The Terra mechanism would contribute to reorienting these decisions towards a longer term perspective, which may turn out to be vital for our entire biosphere.[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>

   \n\t\t

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   Laura Uplinger\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

   [vc_column_text]Laura Uplinger is a proponent, educator and life-long student in the field of conscious pre-conception, prenatal and perinatal parenting. Since 1978, she has extensively promoted prenatal and perinatal education, conducting workshops and speaking at symposiums, forums and conferences in North America, South America, and Europe.<\/p>\n

   Work experience includes:<\/u><\/p>\n

   \n
   • Chair of the XIII international congress of the Association for Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology and Health \u2013 APPPAH – \u201cBirth & the Human Family ~ Embracing the Power of Prenatal Life\u201d held in Los Angeles, 2007 (www.birthpsychology.com)<\/li>\n
   • Served on the Board of Directors of APPPAH from 1988 to 1999<\/li>\n
   • Facilitating \u2018Mommy & Me\u2019 groups in Los Angeles, 1997-1999<\/li>\n
   • Chair of the VI International APPPAH Congress, \u201cWomb Ecology, World Ecology\u201d, Washington, DC., 1993<\/li>\n
   • Member of the Psychosomatic Medicine Team in the Hospital da Lagoa and in the maternity ward of the Hospital Santa Casa da Misericordia, Rio de Janeiro, 1981-1985<\/li>\n
   • Working with CPAIMC (Center of Research and Assistance Integrated for the Woman and the Child) in a slum area of Rio de Janeiro, 1980-1981<\/li>\n
   • Preparing a Brazilian implementation of the Venezuelan \u201cFamily Project\u201d for the Superintendent of Education and Culture in the State of Rio de Janeiro, 1980<\/li>\n
   • Staff Member of the \u201cProyecto Familia\u201d in Caracas during the project\u2019s pre-operational phase. A program of the Venezuelan Ministry for the Development of Intelligence, 1979<\/li>\n
   • Volunteer at the Children\u2019s Orthopedic Hospital of Caracas, in charge of the children\u2019s library, 1979<\/li>\n
   • Teacher of French, Spanish, Portuguese and English at the Berlitz School of Language in Caracas (1979) and Washington, D.C. (1987)<\/li>\n
   • Staff member of the Office of Public Information at UNESCO (United Nations Education Science, Culture & Communication Organization) in Paris, 1977-1978<\/li>\n
   • Licence de Psychologie Appliqu\u00e9e, Sorbonne, Paris V, 1977<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     Wrote the script of \u201cA Gift for the Unborn Children\u201d an award winning video (1985), and contributed a chapter on conscious conception entitled \u201cA Cosmic Collaboration\u201d to the anthology \u201cThe Marriage of Sex & Spirit&rdou;, published by Elite Books (2006)<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

     ---

     \n
     A Sacred Way<\/span><\/center>\u201cThe power to create is one of the most divine attributes which man possesses. In his exercise of that power, he enacts microcosmically the great macrocosmic drama of creation. The fusion of the male and female organisms is a sacramental enactment of the great drama of the creation of the universe. When it is performed with the motive of pure and mutual love the two halves of God, as represented in man and woman, are united.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

     Geoffrey Hodson, 1929<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

     In the mid-seventies, a new field of psychology was born: Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology. In the past three decades, research studying the psychological factors that affect conception, pregnancy, birth, and the first months of life, have caused old assumptions to fall like leaves in a Canadian autumn. Even at the point in history when science was taking humans to the moon, we still mistakenly believed that the placenta could protect a fetus from practically everything happening to the mother. Likewise, a newborn was considered tabula rasa\u2014a blank slate.<\/p>\n

     But Science is now revisiting this crucial chapter of our very early beginnings and making discoveries that have mighty implications for the kind of adults we become. Recent discoveries in biochemistry and cell biology have added to these scientific revelations about life before birth. For instance, hormones produced by psychological stresses endured by the pregnant mother actually influence placental vascular organization. This is startling, and highly motivating news.<\/p>\n

     In 2001, Neonatologist Jean Pierre Relier, editor of the prestigious Journal of the Neonate, wrote about the fundamental importance of psychoaffective equilibrium\u2014in each of the parents\u2014at the time of conception for healthy development of the embryo and placenta, which, in turn, prevents intrauterine growth retardation, prematurity, maternal hypertension, toxemia, and early miscarriage.<\/p>\n

     Thanks to pioneering popular books such as The Secret Life of the Unborn Child by Thomas Verny and The Mind of Your Newborn Baby, by David Chamberlain, little by little we have become more aware of what goes on psychologically before birth. For the last decade, Professor Bruce Lipton, a cell biologist, has been deciphering for the lay public, recent and exquisite scientific discoveries about the life of our trillions of cells. Especially revealing are Lipton\u2019s elucidations as to how our cells take cues from their immediate environment in order to activate, or not, as the case may be, particular functions and specific genes.<\/p>\n

     From Harvard Medical school, we hear: \u201cWhat goes on in the womb before you are born is just as important to who you are as your genes.\u201d Thanks to recent epigenetic data, it is even possible to infer that the health of a 50 year old person depends more on the way she or he was formed in-utero than on eating and exercising habits.<\/p>\n

     Unfortunately, this understanding has not yet reached the general public worldwide; in fact, at the dawn of the second millennium, very few are familiar with the power of prenatal life. I first heard of it in the lectures of the Bulgarian spiritual teacher Omraam Mikha\u00ebl A\u00efvanhov. Nothing of the kind had ever been mentioned in my psychology classes at the university. Later, my continued interest in the subject led me to discover that sacred traditions have emphasized the importance of conception, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding for centuries. Even in the Vedas, one of the oldest known scriptures, reference is made to the importance of the quality of conception.<\/p>\n

     Few important moments are more empowering, or harbinger more freedom as the conscious conception of a child. Such a momentous freedom to say YES to a cosmic collaboration and welcome the works of life in one\u2019s body! Alchemists perceive the sperm as light in liquid state, gold being light made metal. What a gorgeous image to hold for this miraculous emergence of a human from the union of egg and sperm.<\/p>\n

     During the months leading to the conception of my child, I was aware that my body was to become an alchemical vessel for the making of a new human body. My husband and I had posted an ad in the galactic website of the universe, stating who we were and what we could offer to a soul wishing to join us. We carried on our daily activities in a mood of solemn expectation and profound surrender: was a soul going to be drawn to us?<\/p>\n

     On a clear and blossoming morning of May, we were willing to welcome an eventual earthling. I recall thinking: \u201cDear One, in case we are conceiving your physical body, we wish you a vast and luminous life.\u201d<\/p>\n

     The formation of a child in the womb is analogous to the way a fruit grows on a tree. As everything matters inside and around that tree, every detail of the life of an expectant mother matters. And for Spirit, matter matters. A European physician from the 16th century, Paracelsus, wrote: \u201cWoman is the artist of the imagination and the child in the womb is the canvas whereon she painteth her pictures.\u201d The family of words \u201cimage,\u201d \u201cimagination,\u201d \u201cmagus,\u201d \u201cmatrix,\u201d \u201cmatter,\u201d \u201cmama,\u201d all contain the root sound \u201cma,\u201d which means \u201cmother\u201d in the original root language of Sanskrit.<\/p>\n

     The formidable time of our formation before birth sets the stage for the way we relate to life. From the remarkable spiritual teachings of Rudolf Steiner in the early 1900s, we learned that, “During pregnancy, the mother’s joy and pleasure are the forces that provide her baby with perfect organs.” In 2004, renowned obstetrician Michel Odent demonstrated the same notion in an embryology lesson.<\/p>\n

     As I am writing these lines I have in front of me a beautiful painting representing a human fetus in the spiraling shell of a nautilus; above, in silvery letters, I read the following invitation: \u201cParenting Your Baby Before Birth \u2013 Explore the Relationship\u201d. Our relationship with our children begins when we start wanting them, dreaming of them, conceiving of them. In fact, prenatal parenting sets the tone for the kind of parent we become, for the way we raise our children and accompany them throughout life. We draw strength, patience and determination, as well as inspiration, wisdom and love from such a powerful start; the children draw trust, balance and self-esteem.<\/p>\n

     Recently, I was deliciously surprised when Harvard Professor of Religious Symbology, Dr. Langdon, addressed the young men of his class in the following terms: \u201cThe next time you find yourself with a woman, look in your heart and see if you cannot approach sex as a mystical, spiritual act. Challenge yourself to find that spark of divinity that man can only achieve through union with the sacred feminine.\u201d True, Professor Langdon is a fictitious character in Dan Brown\u2019s, The Da Vinci Code, but my heart rejoiced when I saw this subject that is so central to my life\u2019s work touched on with so much clarity in a runaway bestseller.<\/p>\n

     Somewhere in the last pages of his seminal book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill wonders what is germinating the future of our civilization… Well, I hope that all over the world, many high caliber human beings are on their way or have already been born out of their parents\u2019 conscious intent. Brazilian psychiatrist and Jungian analyst Eleanor Luzes suggests that our times require the anthropological advent of the Homo sapiens frater. As a species, we are in need of more individuals capable of altruism, who cherish and foster brotherhood on Earth. Luzes believes it is imperative for every high school and college around the globe to impart the scientific and philosophical knowledge of the power to form babies who will grow up to be strong, caring, wise and creative individuals, aware of their kinship with all life. More than ever, we need people who embody lofty values of living, who use the power of their intelligence, the force of their love, and financial wealth to bring Heaven on Earth.<\/p>\n

     Even the best socio-economic and political measures will not be successfully implemented if we go on procreating the non-conscious way, ignoring the principles at work in conception, and in a pregnant womb. During pregnancy, a mother gives of her own substance for the formation of her child\u2019s organs and psyche. This child will one day walk the Earth expressing peace, wisdom and generosity\u2014or indifference, rage, and fear. The power of giving birth to civilizations is the very power nature has assigned to pregnant women. Hope for a brighter future lies on the correct understanding of the role nature has assigned couples and pregnant mothers. It is up all of us – fathers, families, and communities, nations – to support, empower and inspire each and every mother in her monumental endeavor of forming in her womb a healthy baby, a future adult who will be centered, intelligent, caring and creative. In fifty years time, conscious conception and gestation could indeed redeem our species and change the face of the world.<\/p>\n

     I KNOW A PLANET<\/span><\/u><\/center>I know a planet
     \nwhere nations live in peace,
     \nand nature is respected,
     \nwhere science and philosophy
     \nare never used to enslave,
     \nto limit, hurt or spread terror…
     \nThere, each person is conceived
     \nand gestated consciously.<\/p>\n

     In that world reigns
     \na true spirit of kinship with all life,
     \nand pregnant women are treated in a very special way:
     \nthe arts and crafts of each community
     \nare made available to them.
     \nThey admire trees, statues and fountains,
     \nas they walk through beautiful parks
     \nfilled with flowers.<\/p>\n

     By day, the birds\u2019 songs embrace them.
     \nBy night, the stars
     \nentice them to visit distant worlds…
     \nIn these parks there are houses
     \nwhere the mothers can take part in many activities:
     \nthey sing, weave, sculpt, embroider, draw…
     \nThere are also theaters, libraries and cinemas,
     \nand they can study, teach, meditate, laugh and cry.<\/p>\n

     In the schools of this planet
     \nadolescents study the importance
     \nof conception, pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding
     \nfor a happy humanity.
     \nCouples approach knowingly
     \nthe moment of fecundation,
     \nunderstanding the physiological,
     \npsychological and spiritual dimensions of a pregnancy,
     \nprepared to welcome the mystery of life with serenity.<\/p>\n

     Laura Uplinger, Rio de Janeiro, 2002.[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>

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     D Paul Schafer\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

     [vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

     \n

     \n

     \n
     • Director of the World Culture Project<\/li>\n
     • Acclaimed Author<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

       D. Paul Schafer is Director of the World Culture Project based in Markham, Canada. He has worked in the cultural field for four decades as an academic, adviser and administrator. He has taught arts administration and cultural policy at York University and the University of Toronto, and executed a number of missions for UNESCO and Canada\u2019s Department of External Affairs. Earlier in his career, he taught economics at several universities, specializing in international development and the history of economic thought.<\/p>\n

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       \n

        <\/p>\n

       DIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT<\/h3>\n

       CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS OR PERMANENT REALITIES?<\/b><\/center>D. Paul Schafer<\/p>\n

       Everybody is talking about diversity and sustainable development these days. It is impossible to pick up a book, read a newspaper, or engage in conversation without encountering numerous references to these terms.<\/p>\n

       Whether it is diversity in the racial, cultural, human or biological sense, or sustainable development as it relates to the natural environment and future generations, people, communities and countries in all parts of the world are struggling to deal with “diversity” and achieve “sustainable development.”<\/p>\n

       This was not always the case. In fact, until recently, little attention was paid to diversity and sustainable development. Little attention was paid to diversity because people knew the world is comprised of many different tribes, ethnic groups, communities, countries, cultures and civilizations, and the natural environment is composed of countless species, flora and fauna, and plant and animal life. So there was no need to belabour the point. Little attention was paid to sustainable development because the population of the world was much smaller than it is today. Moreover, there appeared to be a virtually limitless supply of natural resources. As a result, little consideration was given to future generations and the natural environment in developmental planning and decision-making.(1)<\/p>\n

       Much has changed over the last few years to transform this situation. Not only has a global crisis emerged that is affecting people and countries in all parts of the world and threatening to escalate out of control, but also humanity is standing on the verge of another major international catastrophe.<\/p>\n

       Many factors are contributing to this. One is the conflict between particular peoples, countries and civilizations, as epitomized by the current conflicts between United States and Iraq, India and Pakistan, Islamic and non-Islamic nations, Palestinians and Israelis, and numerous other countries and peoples throughout the world. Another is the environmental crisis, and with it, growing shortages of strategic resources such as wood, water, coal, gas, electricity, fish, oil, and especially arable land. Still another is the rapidly-escalating gap between rich and poor countries and rich and poor people. And still others are: alarming levels of poverty, pollution and unemployment; the spread of infectious diseases; increased violence and terrorism; and the perpetual threat of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare. Underlying these problems is an even more dangerous and potentially life-threatening problem. With the population of the world at six billion and growing rapidly, and with the carrying capacity of the earth severely limited, the entire global eco-system could collapse if ways are not discovered to prevent it. It does not take a great leap of imagination to visualize the kind of world that could result if viable solutions are not found to these problems.<\/p>\n

       THE NEED FOR DIVESITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT<\/b><\/p>\n

       Situated squarely in the middle of this matrix of debilitating and demanding problems is diversity and sustainable development – so filled with promise but pregnant with difficulties. There is not a major problem in the world today that is not linked – and linked fundamentally – to diversity and sustainable development in a whole series of complex, compelling, and contradictory ways.<\/p>\n

       Take diversity for example. It is becoming increasingly apparent that failure to deal with diversity in an effective way will result in many more conflicts, confrontations and hostilities throughout the world. This has become painfully apparent as a result of the many differences separating the diverse peoples, races, ethnic groups, religions, countries, cultures and civilizations of the world. As a result of colossal developments in transportation, communications, trade, technology, demography, immigration, emigration and the like, there is a great deal more intercultural mixing and racial interaction going on today. Although this is yielding numerous opportunities – such as the opportunity to learn customs, beliefs, traditions, languages and ways of life that are different from one\u2019s own – it is also increasing the potential for conflict and confrontation. Without a great deal more cross-cultural fertilization, dialogue, communication and exchange, the world could easily become a more volatile place – a chilling prospect in view of the state of the world today.<\/p>\n

       Nor is this all. Diversity is disappearing in many parts of the world. As forests are chopped down, animals are hunted down, ecological habitats are plundered and destroyed, species are lost, and customs, traditions and entire cultures are eroded or are on verge of collapse, diversity is threatened everywhere in the world. In bygone eras, it was possible to find people who lived only several kilometers away dressing differently, speaking a different language, and living in a different form of accommodation. Not so today. While there is still an enormous amount of diversity in the world, it is more commonplace to encounter similarities rather than differences. Many people wear the same clothes, read the same books, watch the same films, listen to the same music, visit the same shops, work at the same companies, and enjoy the same forms of entertainment.<\/p>\n

       Many factors account for this. One is globalization. It is bringing people and countries closer together. Another is digitalization, convergence and media ownership. It is making it possible to create CDs, tapes, discs, films, television programs, news and information in some parts of the world and ship them to all parts of the world. Still others are: international trade; free trade; and the concentration of wealth, power and income in fewer hands. They are making it possible to produce goods and services in a few specific locations and market them to the entire world without tariffs, trade barriers, restrictions or constraints.<\/p>\n

       What seems to be emerging is a “global culture” which is predicated on uniformity rather than diversity. It is not difficult to see where this could end up. It could end up in the creation of a homogeneous way of life where people see the world the same way, act the same way, and think the same way.<\/p>\n

       Some people feel this would be a good thing. Contending that diversity is at the root of many of the world\u2019s most difficult problems, they claim that once differences in religion, culture, politics and education are stamped out, the world will be a better, safer and more secure place. Those who share this belief contend that all people, after all, have the same needs, concerns and aspirations, so it is high time we emphasized the similarities and did away with the differences.<\/p>\n

       This is not an easy argument to refute. At the superficial level, diversity is the spice of life. Without it, life is boring, humdrum, and mundane. However, at the more profound level, it will not be possible to create the new ideas, ideologies, technologies, models of development and ways of life that are needed to ensure human survival and environmental sustainability if diversity is stamped out. Nor will it be possible to rid the world of dictators, tyrants and imperialists who are anxious to impose their wills and values on everybody else. For there is a “balance of humanity” that must be created that is equally as important as “the balance of nature” if human survival and well-being are to be assured.<\/p>\n

       What is true for human diversity is equally true for biological diversity. Without biological diversity, all forms of life are threatened because the intimate interdependence of all forms of plant, animal and human life and the delicate balance of nature are destroyed. We are beginning to get a taste of this, as holes in the ozone layer, drought, pollution and global warming are playing havoc with life in all its diverse forms and manifestations everywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

       If diversity is imperative for the world of the future, so is sustainable development. With the world\u2019s population escalating at an alarming rate and the world\u2019s resources being stretched to the breaking point, there could be chronic shortages of renewable and non-renewable resources and international resource wars in the very near future if sustainable development is not achieved. While everyone agrees sustainable development is imperative in principle, it is proving to be extremely difficult to execute in practice. Why is this? What vortex of factors is at work throughout the world which is making it difficult, if not impossible, to realize sustainable development?<\/p>\n

       It is not difficult to identify some of these factors. Many people throughout the world are not prepared to make the changes and sacrifices in their lifestyles that are required to achieve sustainable development. In addition, many corporations and governments are unwilling to institute the tough regulations, policies and legislative measures that are needed to control pollution, reduce emissions, and thwart undesirable environmental practices. More fundamentally, a developmental ideology and global system have emerged throughout the world that are predicated on consuming rather than conserving resources and making phenomenal demands on the natural environment, nature and other species. This ideology and system are based on making economics and economies in general – and products, production, consumption, expenditure, profits and the marketplace in particular – the centrepiece of society and principal preoccupation of municipal, regional, national and international development.(2) As a result, the world is now saddled with a situation where the more economic growth takes place, the more damage is done to the natural environment, the more resources are consumed and contaminated, the less is available for future generations, and the greater is the disparity between rich and poor countries and rich and poor people. This is not a viable scenario for the future.<\/p>\n

       It is for reasons such as these that much more thought and attention will have to be given to diversity and sustainable development in the future. If diversity and sustainable development are not to become meaningless terms, a developmental strategy and global system will have to be created that are equal to the challenge.(3) Since the cultural community has a vital role to play in this, it is to the role of the cultural community that attention can now be directed.<\/p>\n

       THE ROLE OF THE CULTURAL COMMUNITY<\/b><\/p>\n

       Over the last decade, the cultural community has made many valuable contributions to the quest to preserve diversity and achieve sustainable development.<\/p>\n

       At the international level, UNESCO has published the report of the World Commission on Culture and Development on Our Creative Diversity, convened a major Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development in Stockholm, adopted a Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and a detailed action plan to realize it, participated in the World Summit on Sustainable Development, created the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, hosted the Third Round Table of Ministers of Culture on The Intangible Cultural Heritage – A Mirror of Cultural Diversity, and engaged in numerous other undertakings. The Council of Europe has made an equally-valuable contribution by adopting a Declaration on Cultural Diversity, instituting many projects on cultural diversity and sustainable development through its Mosaic and Cultural Diversity in the Context of Globalization projects, and published numerous documents on this subject.<\/p>\n

       At the national, regional and local level, many governmental cultural departments and agencies have played an important role by initiating policies, programs and practices aimed at broadening commitment to diversity and sustainable development. Specific reference should be made to Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage here. In 1992, Canada negotiated a free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico – the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA – where culture was exempted, thereby providing a valuable model for countries wrestling with the projection of American culture abroad. In addition, the Department of Canadian Heritage has been extremely active throughout the world asserting the importance of cultural diversity – which is perhaps understandable in view of the fact that Canada has a long history of multiculturalism and cultural pluralism – as well as providing the impetus for the creation of the International Network for Cultural Diversity.<\/p>\n

       This important non-governmental organization has made many original contributions to the preservation of diversity over the past few years by asserting the need to protect cultural diversity in the GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs), GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) and TRIPS (Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), promoting the development of a legal instrument to protect cultural diversity at the international, national, regional and local level; vying for the creation of effective dispute mechanisms to settle disagreements based on the trade in cultural goods and investment in cultural services, and evolving a Draft Convention on Cultural Diversity. This Convention is designed to establish “a multilateral framework of principles, rules and disciplines for the purposes of preserving and enhancing cultural diversity both within and between nations,” as well as create the necessary legal mechanisms and policy processes to achieve it.(4)<\/p>\n

       These pioneering achievements have been accompanied by numerous contributions from other cultural organizations. For example, many cultural organizations have made important contributions to the World Social Forums in Porto Alegre, Brazil – in contrast to the World Economic Forums in Davos, Switzerland. Then there is CULTURELINK. This indispensable organization, which was created by UNESCO and the Council of Europe in 1989, has made many seminal contributions to cultural diversity and sustainable development through its publications on these matters, as well as its in-depth analysis of cultural diversity, identity and identities in the Balkan and Mediterranean regions. (5)<\/p>\n

       While strong and sustained actions will be required on all these fronts in the future, the cultural community will have to make a much greater contribution if diversity and sustainable development are to be assured in the years and decades ahead. This contribution must come from all segments of the cultural community, and not just particular parts of it.<\/p>\n

       At present, the cultural community is divided into three main groups. First, there are people working in the arts, humanities, and the mass media. People working in this area believe culture is generally concerned with “the performing, exhibiting, and literary arts, the finer things in life, heritage, and the “cultural industries” of publishing, radio, television, film, video and sound recording.” Second, there are people working in anthropology, sociology, and social anthropology. People working in this area believe culture is primarily concerned with “the total way of life of people” or “the complex whole.” Finally, there are people working in biology, zoology, botany, and related disciplines. People working in this area believe culture is largely concerned with “the organizational forms and structures of different species,” both human and non-human.<\/p>\n

       Each of these groups has a fundamental contribution to make to diversity and sustainable development in the future. In combination, their contribution may be the most essential of all.<\/p>\n

       People working in the arts, humanities and mass media create many of the signs, symbols, myths, legends, metaphors, stories and rituals that are needed to preserve diversity and open the doors to broader and deeper understandings of culture and cultures. This is why people working in this area – and their works – require protection in all future trade agreements and economic, financial and commercial negotiations. Without their contribution, it will be not be possible to protect diversity and broaden and deepen understanding of culture and cultures in the more general, all-encompassing sense.<\/p>\n

       People working in anthropology, sociology and social anthropology create many of the methods and techniques that are needed to enhance knowledge and understanding of culture and cultures as wholes or total ways of life, and therefore the values, value systems, patterns, themes, characteristics and worldviews that underlie culture and cultures. Given the rapidly-escalating importance of culture and cultures in the modern world, these methods and techniques are of crucial importance to people and countries in all parts of the world.<\/p>\n

       And people working in biology, zoology, botany and related disciplines create many of the insights, ideas and methodologies that are needed to understand the similarities and differences that exist between human and non-human cultures. For cultures exist not only in the human domain, but also throughout the entire realm of nature.<\/p>\n

       While each of these groups has a different way of looking at and dealing with culture, there is an identifiable trend throughout the world towards a holistic understanding of culture. This is understandable in view of the fact that people working in all three areas have a common interest in culture as a whole and cultures as wholes. For culture and cultures differ not only in their details and parts. They also differ – and differ fundamentally – as wholes or total ways of life. This has become painfully apparent as a result of the profound differences separating American and Taliban culture, eastern and western culture, southern and northern culture, Islamic and non-Islamic cultures, Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern cultures, and all the other cultures in the world. Without a much better understanding of these differences, violence and terrorism are inevitable and human welfare and well-being are not assured anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

       This makes the trend towards a holistic understanding of culture – and cultures – valuable and timely.<\/p>\n

       In the first place, it places humanity in a much stronger position to come to grips with cultural differences. This is because the emphasis is placed on the different ways of life of the diverse peoples, cultures and civilizations of the world. Without this, it will not be possible to achieve sustainable development, peace, harmony, or unity in diversity in the world. For peace, harmony, unity in diversity and sustainable development depend on discovering ways of living together, particularly when these ways of life are very different, and not just on taking future generations and the natural environment into account in developmental planning and decision-making.<\/p>\n

       In the second place, it helps to unify the cultural field and reduce the enormous amount of confusion that exists over the nature and meaning of culture. When culture and cultures are visualized and dealt with in holistic terms, the narrower “artistic and humanistic concept of culture” and the broader “anthropological” and “biological” concepts of culture are not mutually-exclusive, contradictory, or competitive with one another. Rather, they are mutually-complementary and reinforcing. The artistic and humanistic concept of culture provides the “gateway” to culture and cultures because artists, humanists, film-makers, scholars and the like create much of the content that is required to understand culture and cultures in the broader, deeper and more fundamental holistic sense; the anthropological concept of culture provides the depth of understanding and breadth of vision that is needed to shed light on culture and cultures in the comprehensive sense; and the biological concept of culture provides the “missing link” that is needed to connect human beings and the natural environment, nature and people. Without this, it will never be possible to realize sustainable development because the intimate relationship between all forms of plant, animal and human life will not be understood or dealt with properly.<\/p>\n

       Finally, it makes it possible to understand the transformations that are needed in the global system, developmental ideology, and human condition if sustainable development is to be achieved in the future. While it is essential to create new technologies and new forms of energy like solar and hydrogen power which conserve resources and do far less damage to the natural environment than fossil fuels, does anyone seriously believe it will be possible to achieve sustainable development without transforming the overall ways of life of people and culture as a whole? People everywhere in the world know their cultures must change. What they are opposed to – and opposed to in increasing numbers – is not change, but rather losing control over their cultures as a result of globalization, colonization, imperialism and commercialism.<\/p>\n

       THE CENTRALITY OF CULTURE AND CULTURES<\/b><\/p>\n

       When culture and cultures are dealt with in holistic terms, they are of central importance to the world of the future. This is not wishful thinking, or some semantic “slight of hand” to make a compelling case for the centrality of culture and cultures. Rather it is the reality of the world situation, the human condition, and the development of human collectivities down through the ages.<\/p>\n

       When people come together in historical and geographical association for the express purpose of living together in the world and working out their relationship with the world, it is culture and cultures they create. Culture and cultures in this sense are the oldest forms of human settlement and activity. They predate towns, cities, economies, societies, countries and civilizations. They also exist at every level – local, regional, national and international. They are concerned with the whole way people visualize and interpret the world, organize themselves, conduct their affairs, elevate and embellish life, and position themselves in the world. As such, they are concerned with the total spectrum of people\u2019s needs – social, scientific, spiritual, artistic, educational, economic, political, religious, educational, technological and environmental.<\/p>\n

       No one understood this better than the Florentines of Renaissance Italy. At least, this is the opinion of the great Swiss cultural historian, Jacob Burckhardt. Following his massive study of the Italian Renaissance, Burckhardt concluded that the Florentines viewed culture as “the first and greatest of all needs” because they understood the central role culture plays in addressing human needs, making improvements in society, and stimulating powerful developments in the arts, sciences, education, economics, politics, and other areas of life.(6) We still flock to Florence to see how this remarkable transformation in the human condition was carried out.<\/p>\n

       The implications of this are clear and unequivocal. It is culture and cultures that are the real “foundations of human existence” and “engines that drive the train.” While economics and economies play an important role in this because they are concerned with people\u2019s material needs and the ever-recurrent problem of survival, they are part and parcel of a substantially broader, deeper, and more fundamental process.<\/p>\n

       When economics and economies are made the centrepiece of society and the principal preoccupation of municipal, regional, national and international development, the focus is on “a part of the whole” and “means to ends.” This places the priority on products, production, consumption, capital accumulation, profits, the marketplace, and acquisition of material and monetary wealth. However, when culture and cultures are made the centrepiece of society and principal preoccupation of municipal, regional, national and international development, the focus is on “the whole” and “ends as well as means.” This places the priority on people, human welfare and well-being, worldviews, values, value systems, and environmental sustainability. It is particularly important for governments and politicians to recognize this, as they will be required to make the tough decisions and create the policies, programs and safeguards that are essential to protect diversity and ensure sustainable development in the future.<\/p>\n

       When culture and cultures are dealt with in this all-inclusive sense, it is not a case of “bringing culture and cultures in from the margins.” Rather, it is a case of “projecting culture and cultures out from the centre.” Nowhere is this more essential than in the formulation and implementation of a cultural model of development.<\/p>\n

       A CULTURAL MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT<\/b><\/p>\n

       The entire world is searching for a model of development that can preserve diversity and achieve sustainable development. In order to realize this, it will be necessary to forge a harmonious association between human beings and nature, take past, present and future generations into account, and improve the welfare and well-being of the poorest people and countries in the world.<\/p>\n

       The cultural model of development possesses the potential to do this. But in order to do it, it is necessary to develop culture and cultures in breadth and depth, as well as situate culture and cultures effectively in the natural, historical and global environment.<\/p>\n

       Developing culture and cultures in breadth and depth means developing all activities in society and not just some activities, as well as achieving harmonious, balanced, synergistic and equitable relationships between them. The distinguished Dutch cultural historian, Johan Huizinga, had this uppermost in mind when he said “the realities of economic life, of power, of technology, of everything conductive to man\u2019s material well-being, must be balanced by strongly developed spiritual, intellectual, moral and aesthetic values.”(7) Without this, it will not be possible to achieve sustainable development, which is probably why L\u00e9opold S\u00e9nghor, the great African poet and statesman, said “culture is the alpha and omega of any sound development policy.”(8) For sustainable development is cultural development in the fullest and most complete sense of the term.<\/p>\n

       A great deal of emphasis will have to be placed on the arts, heritage, ethics, spirituality, philosophy, education and the cultural industries if sustainable development is to be achieved in fact. For these are the activities which are concerned with much of what is most valuable and worthwhile in life: the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, beauty and truth; the quest for excellence, creativity, equality and cooperation; the need for stability, order, unity and diversity; and especially the necessity of caring and sharing. This last requirement is particularly important, since it will not be possible to reduce the huge disparities that exist in income, wealth and resources throughout the world without this.<\/p>\n

       If culture and cultures must be developed in depth and breadth, they must also be situated effectively in the natural, historical and global environment, or space and time.<\/p>\n

       Situating culture and cultures effectively in the natural environment is essential if sustainable development is to be achieved. Since all human activities are composed of material and non-material elements, it is necessary to examine very carefully the \u2018material draws\u2019 and \u2018ecological impacts\u2019 that different types of human activities have on the natural environment and other species. Many commercial, industrial, manufacturing, transportation and technological activities draw heavily on the natural environment because the material component of these activities is high and the potential for environmental damage is great. Conversely, many artistic, educational, social and spiritual activities draw lightly on the natural environment because the material component of these activities is low and the potential for environmental damage is substantially reduced. Apart from paints for the painter, books and computers for the scholar, pulpits and religious venues for the priest, imam and cantor, and administrative amenities for the social worker – to cite only a few of the most obvious examples – artistic, educational, spiritual and social activities do not make excessive demands on the natural environment and nature\u2019s precious resource legacy.<\/p>\n

       The implications of this for local, regional, national and international development in the future are clear. As world population increases and more and more pressure is exerted on the carrying capacity of the earth, a great deal more emphasis will have to be placed on activities that reduce humanity\u2019s draw on natural resources and do as little ecological damage as possible. This is why Pitirim Sorokin, the prominent cultural scholar, advocated shifting from “sensate cultures” to “idealistic, ideational and mixed cultures.”(9) He was aware that whereas sensate cultures do a great deal of environmental damage because they are very material, physical and sensorial in nature, idealistic, ideational and mixed cultures do much less environmental damage because they are largely intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic in character. As such, they strike a much better balance between material and non-material needs.<\/p>\n

       Situating culture and cultures effectively in the historical environment is also essential. In terms of culture, this means protecting the legacy of artifacts, ideals, architectural monuments, beliefs and traditions that has been built up over centuries. This legacy provides the bonds and links that are necessary between past, present and future generations, and therefore the past, the present and the future. Without this, people and countries will not be able to learn from the past, maintain their identities and diversities, and protect their cherished ways of life. In terms of cultures, it means coming to grips with the cultural baggage that people pass on from generation to generation and century to century. This is particularly important when this baggage is negative, since it creates numerous hostilities and resentments.<\/p>\n

       Viewed from this perspective, the truth and reconciliation initiatives that have been taken in recent years – such as the truth and reconciliation commission established by Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa – offer a ray of hope for the future. For they indicate a willingness on the part of specific groups of people and particular countries – as well as institutions like the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican – to admit the wrongs of the past and seek forgiveness in the future. And what is true for the truth and reconciliation initiatives is equally true for many other developments throughout the world. Many countries in North, Central and South America, as well as Australia and New Zealand, are attempting to right the wrongs that have been done to the aboriginal peoples of the world. Whether it is the Maoris in New Zealand, the aboriginals in Australia, the First Nations in Canada, the Native peoples in the United States, or the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central and South America, efforts to resolve aboriginal land claims, provide greater control over indigenous ways of life, preserve distinctive traditions and identities, and ensure self-government represent important steps towards ensuring that cultures are situated properly in the historical environment or time.<\/p>\n

       If it is essential to situate culture and cultures effectively in the natural and historical environment, it is equally essential to situate them effectively in the global environment. As recent developments indicate – and indicate convincingly – many more bonds, links and connections will have to be established between the diverse races, peoples, countries, cultures and civilizations of the world if peace and harmony are to be achieved in the future. This will not be possible without a dramatic increase in international cultural relations, as well as many more opportunities for intercultural communication and exchange. For these are the real keys to solidarity, friendship and understanding in the world of the future.<\/p>\n

       NEW MEANINGS AND MEASURES OF WEALTH<\/b><\/p>\n

       If the cultural model of development is to play the role visualized for it here, it will have to lead to new meanings and measures of wealth. Without this, it will not be possible to reduce the demands human beings are making on the natural environment and nature\u2019s scarce resource legacy.<\/p>\n

       At present, wealth is defined in material, monetary and financial terms. To be wealthy is to be a person who possesses a great deal of money, income and material possessions. However, as more and more people are discovering throughout the world, this is not a guarantee of happiness and fulfillment in life. Perhaps this is why there is a great deal of talk of “cultural creatives” these days. These are people who are turned off consumption, consumerism and materialism and are searching for more contentment, creativity and meaning in life.<\/p>\n

       The cultural community has a valuable contribution to make here by pioneering new meanings and measures of wealth. When culture is defined in the all-encompassing, holistic sense, wealth is qualitative as well as quantitative, spiritual as well as material. Wealth in this sense means possessing the ability to achieve a harmonious balance between all the diverse factors and forces that constitute life. It should never be forgotten in this regard that it was a cultural scholar, Matthew Arnold, who talk about the need to develop and educate “the whole person.”<\/p>\n

       If new meanings of wealth are required, so are new measures of wealth. This is especially important in the collective, public sense, since communities, regions and countries in all parts of the world are engaged in attempts to measure municipal, regional and national wealth and compare this wealth with others.<\/p>\n

       The key to developing new measures of wealth lies in creating a set of comprehensive cultural indicators that can measure wealth in qualitative and quantitative terms. In the creation of these indicators, three initiatives are essential. First, indicators from a variety of fields – the arts, sciences, humanities, education, the environment, social affairs, religion, health, politics, economics, technology, business and commerce – should be brought together and compared. This is largely an eclectic exercise, since most of these indicators already exist. Second, the best indicators from each field should be selected for inclusion in the final set of indicators. This is largely an evaluation exercise, since a detailed assessment must be made of the effectiveness of the indicators in every field. Finally, the resulting indicators should be refined in order to ensure that they are the best indicators possible. This is primarily an elaboration exercise, since it necessitates refinement of each indicator to maximize its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

       While it will take time to develop this set of comprehensive cultural indicators, included among the most essential, in addition to others, are: environmental indicators such as the quality of water and air and levels of toxicity and waste; health indicators such as longevity, the availability of health care services, disease control and prevention and substance abuse; social indicators such as welfare assistance, participation in community, regional and national development, and levels of violence and crime; educational indicators such as student to teachers ratios, access to elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, students drop out rates and debt loads; recreational indicators such as the availability of parks, conservation areas and leisure-time activities; economic indicators such as the availability of jobs and access to income opportunities; and aesthetic, political and spiritual indicators such as the quantity and quality of artistic offerings, involvement in aesthetic events, stability of political systems, provision of security measures, and diversity of religious and spiritual undertakings. While some of these indicators are difficult to measure because they are more qualitative than quantitative in nature – and therefore less prone to concrete forms of measurement compared to economic, industrial and commercial indicators – they must be included in the final set of indicators if wealth is to be measured, defined and evaluated in the comprehensive, cultural sense.(10)<\/p>\n

       A great deal of collaboration will be required among policy-makers, planners, statisticians and scholars from a variety of fields, disciplines and professions if this set of comprehensive cultural indicators is to be developed in fact. A great deal of collaboration will also be required on the part of institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Economic Forum and UNESCO, since these institutions play a pivotal role in the creation, use and comparison of indicators throughout the world. The role of UNESCO could be paramount in all this, given the fact that it is the principal cultural institution in the world. Not only has it commenced publication of a World Culture Report devoted to analyzing major cultural developments throughout the world, but also it is in an ideal position to bring together the multidisciplinary teams and technical experts that are needed to ensure that the proposed set of indicators is capable of evaluating wealth from a comprehensive, cultural perspective rather than limited, economic perspective.<\/p>\n

       THE NECESSITY OF CULTURAL EDUCATION<\/b><\/p>\n

       It is impossible to talk about new meanings and measures of wealth without talking about wealth in an even more fundamental sense. When John Keats, the English poet, commenced one of his most famous poems with the words “Much have I travelled in the realms of gold\/ and many goodly states and kingdoms seen,” it was not wealth in the material, monetary or financial sense he had in mind. Nor was it wealth in the quantitative-qualitative sense. Rather, it was wealth in the sense of the greatest cultural accomplishments of all peoples and countries and the entire cultural heritage of humankind.<\/p>\n

       We must open the doors to this much more profound understanding of wealth if diversity and sustainable development are to be assured in the future. There are two principal reasons for this. First, it is necessary to provide all people in the world with opportunities to learn about the cultural accomplishments of others. Second, it is necessary to prevent an impending disaster. As Lester Pearson, former President of the General Assembly of the United Nations and Prime Minster of Canada, said, “humans live in an age when different civilizations will have to learn to live side by side in peaceful interchange, learning from each other, studying each other\u2019s history and ideals and art and culture, mutually enriching each other\u2019s lives. The alternative, in this overcrowded little world, is misunderstanding, tension, chaos and catastrophe.(11)<\/p>\n

       Viewed from this perspective, the fact that very few schools in the world provide opportunities to teach and learn about the culture, cultures and civilizations must be viewed as a cause for concern. Where such opportunities do exist, they tend to be extracurricular rather than curricular activities. This limits the study of culture, cultures and civilizations to the recognition of ethnic holidays, the preparation of diverse foods, and the presentation of multicultural events. As valuable as these activities are, they are no substitute for cultural education in the intensive and comprehensive sense. This type of education must be capable of examining culture, cultures and civilizations in depth, exposing the strengths and shortcomings of different cultures and civilizations, and shedding light on the reasons for racism, intolerance, violence, terrorism and hate.<\/p>\n

       In order to do this, there must be opportunities for people to learn about culture, cultures and civilizations in the formal educational system from the earliest years of childhood to the latest years of adulthood.(12) Not only will this increase knowledge, awareness and understanding of cultural differences – and therefore worldviews, values, value systems and ways of life that are different from one\u2019s own – but also it will increase the potential for a great deal more harmony, stability and tolerance in the world.<\/p>\n

       A CULTURAL APPROACH TO LIFE<\/b><\/p>\n

       We have been examining some of the actions and initiatives that are required to preserve diversity and achieve sustainable development in the future.<\/p>\n

       Some of these actions and initiatives – such as creating technologies that conserve resources, evolving an international instrument to protect cultural works and workers, finalizing a universal convention on cultural diversity, and promoting activities that reduce the demands on the natural environment and scarce renewable and non-renewable resources – are very specific and practical in nature. Others are more general and theoretical, such as the need to assert the centrality of culture and cultures, project culture out from the centre, formulate and implement a cultural model of development, create new meanings and measures of wealth, and provide cultural education in the schools.<\/p>\n

       If there is one point where all these actions and initiatives converge and come to rest, it is in the cultural approach to life. We can call this anything we like – cultural citizenship, deep culture, a cultural renaissance, entrance into a cultural age, or the necessity of designing and developing our communities, regions and countries as cultures and works of arts. But it all boils down to one thing in the end. It boils down to seeing life, living and development from a cultural perspective. When this happens, diversity and sustainable development are no longer contemporary concerns, but rather permanent realities.<\/p>\n

       NOTES<\/p>\n

       1. This changed dramatically with the publication of the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. See: The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future<\/i> (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987)<\/p>\n

       .2. D. Paul Schafer, Revolution or Renaissance?: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age<\/i> (Unpublished book manuscript, 2003).<\/p>\n

       3. I am grateful to Walter Pitman, past Chairman of Energy Probe and Project Ploughshares – Canada, for his valuable contributions to this paper.<\/p>\n

       4. Information on the Draft Convention on Cultural Diversity<\/i> is available from the International Network for Cultural Diversity at 804-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, Canada, K1P 5G4 or at http:\/\/www.incd.net.<\/p>\n

       5. See, for example: Biserka Cvjeticanin, Editor, The Mediterranean: Cultural Identity and Intercultural Dialogue<\/i> (Zagreb: Institute for International Relations, Europe House Zagreb, 1999); Nada Svob-Dokic, Editor, Redefining Cultural Identities: The Multicultural Contexts of the Central European and Mediterranean Regions<\/i> (Zagreb: Institute for International Relations, Royaumont Process, 2001); and Nada Svob-Dokic, Editor, Redefining Cultural Identities: Southeastern Europe <\/i>(Zagreb: Institute for International Relations, 2001).<\/p>\n

       6. Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy<\/i>, Volume I, Introduction by Benjamin Nelson and Charles Trinkaus (New York: Harper and Brothers: Harper Torchbook\/The Academy Library, 1958), p. 229.<\/p>\n

       7. Karl J. Weintraub, Visions of Culture: Voltaire, Guizot, Burckhardt, Lamprecht, Huizinga, Ortega y Gasset<\/i> (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966), p. 216.<\/p>\n

       8. Augustin Girard, Cultural Development: experience and policies<\/i> (Paris: UNESCO, 1972), p. 142.<\/p>\n

       9. Pitirim Sorokin, Social and Cultural Dynamics: A Study of Change in Major Systems of Art, Truth, Ethics, Law and Social Relationships<\/i> (Boston: Extending Horizons Books – Porter Sargent Publisher, 1957), pp. 2-66.<\/p>\n

       10. See: Colin Mercer, Towards Cultural Citizenship: Tools for Cultural Policy and Development<\/i> (Hedemora, Sweden: The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and Sida & Gidlunds F\u00f6rlag, 2002); Alvin Toffler, “The Art of Measuring the Arts,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences<\/i>, Annals 369-374. (Washington: American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 1967); and Tony Bennett, Cultural Policy and Cultural Diversity: mapping the policy domain<\/i> (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2001).<\/p>\n

       11. Kurt Peacock, “Pearson\u2019s skills needed today, Toronto Star<\/i>, Tuesday, February 18, 2003, p. A24.<\/p>\n

       12. D. Paul Schafer, “Culture and Cultures: Key Learning Requirements for the Future,” www.creatinglearningcommunities.org (click on New Chapters).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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       Norman Solomon\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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       • Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA)<\/li>\n
       • George Orwell Award Winner for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty & Clarity in Public Language<\/li>\n
       • Internationally Acclaimed Author<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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          <\/p>\n

         WAR, SOCIAL JUSTICE, MEDIA & DEMOCRACY<\/b><\/span><\/center> <\/p>\n

         For me and the grassroots activists who I work with every day in the United States, many events have caused us to feel discouraged during the last few years. But I have often remembered words that I heard in early 2001 at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. Speaking there, Eduardo Galeano mentioned a statement that he saw written on a wall on a street in a South American city. The statement said: \u201cLet\u2019s save pessimism for better times.\u201d<\/p>\n

         To people on this planet who are striving to overcome the destructive priorities of neoliberalism, the transition that has occurred in Brazil this year offers hope. We see in the present day that the struggles of millions of people, for years and decades, can bring uplifting changes that once seemed very unlikely or even impossible.<\/p>\n

         But in the United States \u2013 and for the people elsewhere in the world who have been in the main line of fire of U.S. policies \u2013 the times have gotten worse in recent years. I live in California, a state where a bad actor can become governor. And I live in a country where the presidents are bad actors. In Washington, the job description for presidents is to act like humanitarians while functioning as world-class exploiters and thugs.<\/p>\n

         Ten months ago, I visited Baghdad while accompanying Denis Halliday, the former United Nations assistant secretary general who had been director of the UN\u2019s \u201coil for food\u201d program in Iraq. I felt in January that I was at the scene of a crime against humanity \u2013 a crime that had not yet occurred, but that was being proudly proclaimed on the agenda of the leaders of the U.S. and British governments.<\/p>\n

         Before the launching of cruise missiles and two-thousand pound bombs against Baghdad and other heavily populated urban areas, before the \u201ccluster munitions\u201d that would be scattered across cities and towns in Iraq, before the depleted uranium shells that would be fired with the subsidies of U.S. taxpayers \u2013 before the all-out unleashing of the Pentagon\u2019s lucrative firepower \u2013 there were the weapons of mass deception.<\/p>\n

         In the cross-hairs of these weapons of mass deception were any people who could perhaps be persuaded to be gullible. The propaganda armaments were endless phony claims about seeking diplomatic solutions. The propaganda armaments were speeches at the United Nations where President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell fervently presented false claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda. But most of all, the arsenals of propaganda \u2013 enabling the war on Iraq to proceed \u2013 were the news media.<\/p>\n

         And in many ways, the most powerful technique of deception continues to be silence about truth.<\/p>\n

         In the United States, very few prominent journalists are willing to mention that President Bush has the blood of many Iraqi children on his hands after launching an aggressive war in violation of the U.N. Charter and the Nuremberg principles established more than half a century ago.<\/p>\n

         Anti-democratic news media are hostile to history. And so, the same propaganda machinery says little about the suffering that results from the class war constantly waged by the wealthy \u2013 and avoids telling much about the human consequences of militarism.<\/p>\n

         The writer Mark Twain once said that \u201cNone but the dead are permitted to speak truth.\u201d And often that seems literally to be the case.<\/p>\n

         In the United States, certain vital statements by Twain \u2013 who\u2019s often considered to be the nation\u2019s greatest writer \u2013 are excluded from corporatized media culture. A hundred years ago, he wrote: \u201cWho are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.\u201d He wrote: \u201cWhy is it right that there is not a fairer division of the spoil all around? Because laws and constitutions have ordered otherwise. Then it follows that laws and constitutions should change around and say there shall be a more nearly equal division.\u201d And he wrote: \u201cI am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.\u201d<\/p>\n

         In current times, for the government that is pleased to proclaim itself \u201cthe world\u2019s only superpower,\u201d the media bias that prepares the path for war must avoid certain inconvenient realities of history. One of those realities, for the U.S. media, has been the profound verdict rendered 58 years ago at trials in the German city of Nuremberg. Despite such deafening media silences this year, the fact remains that judgments at Nuremberg and precepts of international law forbid launching an aggressive war \u2013 an apt description of what the U.S. government inflicted on Iraqi people in the spring of 2003.<\/p>\n

         \u201cWe must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it,\u201dsaid Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, a U.S. representative to Nuremberg at the International Conference on Military Trials at the close of World War II. He added that \u201cno grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

         When a country \u2013 particularly \u201ca democracy\u201d \u2013 goes to war, the passive consent of the governed lubricates the machinery of slaughter. Silence is a key form of cooperation, but the war-making system does not insist on quietude or agreement. Mere passivity or self-restraint will suffice to keep the missiles flying, the bombs exploding and the faraway people dying.<\/p>\n

         We now face an emboldened regime in Washington which sees military actions as reliable solutions. To devote billions more dollars to weaponry while so many people are hungry and dying from preventable diseases is a sin and a crime.<\/p>\n

         No part of the world is spared the impacts. The excellent news agency Inter Press Service reported in late September that \u201clevels of U.S. military aid to Latin America have more than tripled over the last five years.\u201d The news agency added: \u201cAt a time when the region\u2019s economies are stagnating or even shrinking, throwing millions more people into poverty, total U.S. military aid to Latin America now almost equals the amount of money Washington is devoting to social or economic development there.\u201d The backing for the U.S. war on Iraq and the occupation of that country cannot be understood apart from the economic imperial designs known as \u201cneoliberalism\u201d and \u201cglobalization\u201d \u2013 the eagerness to create optimum conditions for investment and maximally profitable trade arrangements.<\/p>\n

         Today \u2013 despite all that has been revealed and all the splits that have developed among U.S. elites about the occupation of Iraq \u2013 the media supporters of it include the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. We should consider what the esteemed journalist Friedman had to say in his 1999 book titled \u201cThe Lexus and the Olive Tree.\u201d He wrote: \u201cThe hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald\u2019s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the U.S. Air Force F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley\u2019s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.\u201d<\/p>\n

         That declaration was written in a spirit of enthusiastic approval. The visions of hegemony \u2013 with their geopolitical, economic, cultural and media components \u2013 are driven by the specter of a kind of \u201cunited corporate states of the world\u201d … a world in which the preeminent sovereignty belongs to the likes of American Express and Citicorp and McDonalds and Burger King and Monsanto. And Disney and CNN.<\/p>\n

         Seriously distorted reporting tells us that the leaders in Washington are eager to achieve peace. But this is true only in the context of subjugation. The U.S. government wants peace \u2013 on its own terms.<\/p>\n

         The man with a boot on another person\u2019s neck may speak loudly of desiring peace. So does the Israeli government as it maintains a brutal and flagrantly illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, now in its 37th year.<\/p>\n

         As the Prussian general Karl von Clausewitz remarked two centuries ago: \u201cA conqueror is always a lover of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

         The recent shooting down of a helicopter in Iraq resulted in the deaths of 16 members of the U.S. armed forces.<\/p>\n

         On Monday [November 3] the organization that I\u2019m part of, the Institute for Public Accuracy based in the United States, released a statement from a California resident, Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar Navarro died in Iraq on March 27, a week after the start of the war. The bereaved father said: \u201cThese attacks are the tragic result of the illegal occupation of Iraq by the U.S. military. Our young people are exposed to death every day. They are wounded in faraway lands for the whims and lies of President Bush…. The military does all kinds of things to recruit Hispanics, African Americans and poor Anglos. How many children of congressmen or CEOs are in Iraq?\u201d<\/p>\n

         But the U.S. news media cannot accept very much of such candor. The debates about policies are tactical, not fundamental. Certain perspectives \u2013 prevalent in elite circles and promoted by most government officials \u2013 are heard again and again. Other outlooks, questioning not only the strategic wisdom but also the moral basis of government policies, are heard only once in a while.<\/p>\n

         In the mass media, the power to include and exclude is the power to shape and manipulate public opinion. As dominant media corporations grow larger in size and fewer in number, the major means of mass communication are engaged in a \u201ccorporatization of consciousness.\u201d And in times of war, there is often a parallel militarization of consciousness. In a country with democratic forms of government, this is what makes possible the manipulated consent of the governed for war based onlies.<\/p>\n

         Now, the occupation of Iraq is imposing new economic models of privatization for the benefit of U.S. corporate interests. This is neoliberalism at gunpoint. Iraq has an estimated 112 billion barrels of oil under the sand. The news media of the United States like to pretend that the oil there has little or nothing to do with the war and the occupation. But can anyone seriously believe that the U.S. government would have 130,000 troops in Iraq today if that country did not have a single drop of oil reserves?<\/p>\n

         Thirty-six years ago, the civil rights leader Martin Luther KingJr. identified the U.S. government as \u201cthe greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.\u201d That statement was accurate in 1967. And it is accurate in 2003. So, too, we are still living with the truth that Dr. King expressed as he said: \u201cWhen machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.\u201d<\/p>\n

         The struggle over media and the flow of information \u2013 whether in the United States or Brazil or anywhere else \u2013 is inseparable from the battle for democracy. It is impossible for democratic participation to breathe freely while the heavy weight of capital sits on the windpipe of open expression and wide-ranging debate.<\/p>\n

         It is necessary but it is not enough to ensure freedom of speech. All people must also have the freedom to be heard. Otherwise, \u201cfree speech\u201d can be \u2013 and often is \u2013 the freedom to speak to the walls. The major news outlets are like walls with cracks. Every day the confining structures of big media loom large. Yet we have countless opportunities to find, utilize and widen the cracks in the corporate media\u2019s barriers to democratic communication. Meanwhile, we need to grow non-corporate media institutions capable of effectively promoting social change.<\/p>\n

         Steadily worsening concentrations of ownership and the hefty clout of advertising combine to severely limit the range of information and debate in news media. Ongoing pressures \u2013 economic, ideological and governmental \u2013 constrain the work of mainline journalists, whose efforts routinely suffer from skewed priorities and self-censorship. Self-censorship is a huge problem in our societies with freedom of the press. As George Orwell observed: \u201cCircus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip.\u201d<\/p>\n

         The profit-driven ideology of the \u201cfree market\u201d is in sync with the agendas of top management and advertisers. The tilt against truly independent media and wide-ranging discourse is extreme when corporations are the owners who hire the managers who hire the journalists and producers. While no individual or single organization can take on more than a fraction of the necessary endeavors, the overall work to create a democratic media environment must run a wide gamut. Popular movements now face the imperative of struggling for democratic media.<\/p>\n

         Sustained efforts to challenge the corporate media and support independent media outlets can reinforce each other with continuous synergy \u2013 to establish, sustain and expand progressive movements\u2019 media organizations; to spread deft criticism of rancid mass media; to push for better reporting and much wider debate in mainstream media; to fight for structural reform of government agencies so that the airwaves can be reclaimed by the public; to lambast, debunk and satirize the insidious junk that so often passes for journalism and cultural uplift.<\/p>\n

         In the long run, no campaign for basic media reform can succeed apart from broader social-justice movements \u2013 and vice versa. The degradation of journalism and mass entertainment is entwined with pervasive corporate power that severely damages virtually every facet of political and social life.<\/p>\n

         Media criticism becomes profoundly useful in combination with media activism. Too often we\u2019ve held onto theories about what is and is not possible. But analysis and action become much more powerful when they constantly inform each other \u2013 when assessments shift due to on-the-ground experiences that benefit not only from the results of trial and error but also from insightful up-to-date analysis. We\u2019ve discovered that it\u2019s not nearly enough to put out a powerful expose or release a cogent analysis in a few print outlets or on some web pages or on a few radio stations \u2013 or to briefly surface in a large national media venue. Such achievements, while important, are insufficient. They need to draw strength from each other \u2013 while simultaneously finding ways to reach broader audiences, including via mass media, where there are cracks in the corporate walls.<\/p>\n

         Some journalism students are taught the noble theory that journalists should \u201cafflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.\u201d But under corporate control, news media outlets are routinely engaged in comforting the already comfortable and afflicting the already afflicted. On an ongoing basis, major news outlets participate in class warfare, from the top down. And they often condemn those whoengage in class warfare from the bottom up.<\/p>\n

         In many countries, the routine is for the mass media \u2013 the daily newspapers, the biggest magazines, the radio and TV networks, the cable stations \u2013 to side with those who \u201chave\u201d against those who \u201chave not.\u201d<\/p>\n

         In the United States, every daily newspaper has a Business section. Not one has a Labor section. Apparently the dominant media assumption is that wealth creates all labor, instead of the other way around.<\/p>\n

         Popular movements urgently need to boost the resources and improve the coordination of their media work. It should be possible to attain the creative advantages of sharp analysis, institutional growth, coordinated planning and agile cooperation while encouraging a decentralized, democratic, grassroots approach to social action.<\/p>\n

         Right now the cracks in the media walls are much too thin and much too scarce. The long haul of our struggle involves bringing down the institutional barriers that, in effect, \u201csoundproof\u201d much of the media world and suppress the voices of those without privilege. Any campaign for media democratization will encounter massive opposition from those who own the big newspapers and large magazines and the radio and television networks. And they\u2019re determined to also dominate the Internet as much as possible. The corporate media are committed not only to their exorbitant profits but also to propagandizing the society to accept an economic order based on fundamental injustice.<\/p>\n

         We can have corporate domination of media or we can have genuine democracy \u2013 but we cannot have both.<\/p>\n

         Under the ownership of enormous corporations, heavily influenced by the main sources of advertising revenue, often functioning in tandem with state power \u2013 the major media outlets cast a massive shadow over our lives, wherever we live.<\/p>\n

         Every day, when the voices of the rich and powerful dominate what is loudly broadcast and widely published, the media managers are doing what they\u2019re paid to do.<\/p>\n

         But it is possible to create democratic media. Possible \u2013 and absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n

         Norman Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>

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         Selma Brackman\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

         [vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

         \n
         • Founder and President of the War & Peace Foundation (United Nations NGO)<\/li>\n
         • Board Member: The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation<\/li>\n
         • NGO Committee on Disarmament and The World Federalists<\/li>\n
         • Trustee and Delegate for the World Constitution & Parliament Association<\/li>\n
         • The Womens International League for Peace & Freedom<\/li>\n
         • Editor, Lecturer & Author<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

           Selma Brackman’s Open Letter<\/a><\/p>\n

           ---

           \n

           To Our International Leaders<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

           Dear Friends:<\/p>\n

           H.G. Wells wrote: \u201chistory is a race between education and catastrophe\u201d<\/i><\/center> <\/p>\n

           Nuclear weapons are singularly the most atrocious weapons conceived in all of history. The United Nations has not been able to halt the nuclear arms race and for over thirty years, the nuclear powers have betrayed their commitments to get rid of their weapons. The uncontrolled activities of manufacturers of arms merchants for fifty years, continued trafficking of arms sales, the Pentagon pursuits of weapon sales, and both the United States and Russian accumulation of their unique stockpiles of weapons, all indicate an unremitting intention towards war.<\/p>\n

           Even worse, now Mr. Bush prepares to renew nuclear testing and intends to build some small new nuclear weapons to be used indiscriminately in future military encounters. Nelson Mandela in speaking of Mr. Bush declared him “a president who can’t think properly and wants to plunge the world into holocaust”.<\/p>\n

           It is therefore imperative at this point that a world without war become a unified vision. There is no such thing as national security when it comes to nuclear weapons, only global security.<\/p>\n

           The United Nations has accomplished marvelous things. It has not been successful in halting the nuclear arms race nor has it succeeded in it\u2019s pledge \u201cto save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.\u201d The Rule of Law is the binding agreement of a civilized culture. It is as indispensable for men as for nations and is the only alternative to mass annihilation. It is large enough to accommodate all domestic and international needs.<\/p>\n

           In the face of current affairs, the United Nations seems helpless. The challenge of generating deep transformation for the human family must come from the activities of the people, not governments, not generals, not corporations, but non- governmental organizations of concerned planetary citizens; a United Nations People\u2019s World Assembly. Simply put, to renounce war is the next stage in human evolution. Nuclear disarmament is a beginning, a necessary first step; it is also a palliative and not a complete solution. Only the absolute repudiation of war assures us of survival.<\/p>\n

           The ignorance and apathy of the vast majority of men and women world wide can only be overcome through education. We have allowed the major media, television, newspaper, radio, to renounce their essential responsibility to inform the people. And as a result they have been accomplices in the current slaughter. Profit is the first priority of our media and as a result the public is kept largely in the stone age.<\/p>\n

           Here are just a few key facts that the major media should be telling us…<\/p>\n

           The Trident fleet alone still carries over three thousand warheads. A single warhead could destroy a city with a million people. It is absurd to have this capacity on alert roaming the ocean.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

           There is no statesmen of international renown to challenge this absurdity<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

           Only one dozen of the twenty thousand weapons on hair trigger alert are needed to end all of civilization forever.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

           Studies of the area surrounding Three Mile Island years after the meltdown, have shown a significant and startling increase of cancers and infant mortality rates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

           The after-effects of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still, to this day, adversely effecting hundreds of thousands of people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

           The peril of nuclear weapons is one that effects all of mankind and is an issue in which the interests of mankind are one, the human species as a whole and not to the advantage of this or that group<\/p>\n

           Albert Einstein said in enjoining people everywhere that: \u201cno loyalty must override the survival of mankind. Everything in the world has changed. We must surrender loyalty to our flag, to our religion, to our friends, to our tribes, to our country, above all to our creed, to our race. All loyalty must be to the human race. Or all the piled up weapons will explode upon us.\u201d<\/p>\n

           The awful prospect of the extermination of the human race to atomic war is so completely sobering that sane men recognize that war as an instrument of policy must end.<\/p>\n

           \u201cThe real threat to man\u2019s future well-being and survival stems from the primitive state of political organization, not from differences in human knowledge. Only the evolution of supra-national institutions and arrangements can address global dilemmas of a crowded and finite world. Only the eclipse of state sovereignty can stem the tide of nuclear proliferation and prevent international competition from crossing the threshold with violent conflict and escalating global insanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

           – Richard Barnett<\/p>\n

           Selma Brackman[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>

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           Iden Wetherell\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

           [vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

           \n
           • Editor – The Zimbabwe Independent<\/li>\n
           • Winner of the 2002 World Press Review\u2019s International Editor of the Year Award<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

             Iden Wetherell’s Open Letter and Article<\/a><\/p>\n

             ---

             \n

             Zimbabwe’s tragic decline<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

             Iden Wetherell<\/b><\/p>\n

             It is a fundamental tenet of any democracy that voters have the right to choose their leaders. The Commonwealth’s Harare Declaration, adopted in the Zimbabwean capital in 1991, refers to the inalienable right of citizens of member states to participate by means of free and democratic processes in framing the society in which they live.<\/p>\n

             That participation cannot be meaningful if voters are unable to make an informed choice. That in turn depends upon their ability to hear a diversity of views. In Zimbabwe the government in September closed down the country’s only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News. While a number of small weeklies have kept alight the torch of press freedom, the government of President Robert Mugabe has embarked on a concerted campaign to close what remains of democratic space. The gains of the 1990s, backed by a then-robust Supreme Court, have been steadily eroded. Draconian security legislation has made it an offence to cause disaffection against Mugabe’s regime while gatherings of more than two people deemed by the police to be political are forbidden without their consent.<\/p>\n

             Newspapers now have to be registered under a sweeping press law called the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. This requires all media organisations to be registered with a state-appointed Media Commission and makes it an offence for a newspaper to employ a journalist who is not accredited with the commission.<\/p>\n

             The Daily News chose to challenge the press law in the courts but was rebuffed by the Supreme Court which is now seen as susceptible to government manipulation following the forced resignation or retirement of many independent-minded judges. However, judges in lower courts can still be fiercely independent as the recent ruling compelling the Media Commission to register the Daily News clearly shows. It remains to be seen how the state will respond.<\/p>\n

             Despite examples of courageous individuals and civic groups standing up to Mugabe’s tyranny, with a muzzled media, a suborned police and an electoral system run by the army, Zimbabwe has moved from a relatively free society three years ago to a totalitarian state today whose main ally is Cuba which regularly locks up journalists.<\/p>\n

             Behind this drastic curtailment of civil liberties is a programme of land seizures which has transferred 11 million hectares of commercial farmland to the state. While the Supreme Court has given its endorsement to this often violent and arbitrary process, the law has in many cases been openly violated as have the rights of farmers who have seen their life’s work destroyed. An estimated 500 000 farm workers have been made homeless, livestock has been slaughtered and wildlife decimated. It is the only resettlement exercise in history where more people have been dispossessed than resettled.<\/p>\n

             As a result, agricultural production has fallen by an estimated 60 percent. From breadbasket of the region, Zimbabwe has become a basket case. This means that a country which only three years ago was self-sufficient in food production is now dependent upon aid from the very countries it brands as “enemies”.<\/p>\n

             The United States and the European Union are the largest donors. Mugabe’s publicists claim that 300 000 families have been resettled on the acquired farms. But a report commissioned by the government in October revealed that only 134 000 households had in fact been given land. Many of the beneficiaries are senior politicians, judges, policemen and army officers. Journalists in the state-owned media have also benefited.<\/p>\n

             Mugabe is unapologetic about the land grab. White commercial farmers had supported the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in rejecting the government’s constitutional proposals in February 2000, he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation earlier this year. Therefore they became the target of “spontaneous” demonstrations by war veterans. The latest land audit confirms that political vengeance was the motive in government pursuing what it calls “fast-track” land reform.<\/p>\n

             “One of the main factors identified for prompting government to undertake this course of action,” the report of the land audit states, “is the rejection of the draft constitution in 2000 through the efforts of British-backed political opponents.”<\/p>\n

             In other words Zimbabweans of all colours have been punished with land confiscation and starvation for supporting the party of their choice. Meanwhile, Mugabe’s Zanu-PF militias stalk the land unrestrained visiting violence upon their political opponents. In the Midlands town of Kwekwe recently MDC candidates were prevented from registering in a municipal poll by a gang of ruling-party thugs. As a result the MDC is unrepresented on the council of a town where it has considerable support and where its then virtually unknown MP defeated a senior minister in the 2000 parliamentary election.<\/p>\n

             Nothing could more forcefully contradict the terms of the Commonwealth’s Harare Declaration than this crude denial of democratic rights. Yet South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki has been leading a campaign to have Zimbabwe’ s suspension from the “Club” lifted. The suspension followed the report of a Commonwealth team of observers which found Mugabe’s reelection in March 2002 to be seriously flawed. Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, after visiting Harare with Mbeki earlier this year, was persuaded to write to premier John Howard of Australia saying law and order had been restored in Zimbabwe. He gave as an example a police investigation into the torture of a prominent opposition MP by police.<\/p>\n

             Not only has that investigation been stalled but in mid-October a lawyer who had defended journalists in court cases was severely assaulted by police at a police station after she was the victim of a car hijacking. Police still haven’t found the individuals who bombed the Daily News’ printing press in 2001, nor have they made any arrests of the army personnel who abducted and tortured two journalists in 1999. The killers of commercial farmers continue to walk free as do the assassins of two MDC activists in the 2000 election campaign. A state security agent named in court in connection with the killing of the activists is responsible for directing a campaign of terror in Chimanimani, in the east of the country.<\/p>\n

             It is said that the media attention Zimbabwe has received abroad can in part be ascribed to ties of kith and kin in Britain, South Africa and Australia. While this may be partly true, a more likely explanation would be the horror felt in many parts of the world at the way a once successful and relatively prosperous country enjoying many of the freedoms found in democracies elsewhere was transformed into a violent dictatorship where corruption and lawlessness prevailed, forcing its brightest and most talented citizens into exile.<\/p>\n

             Zimbabwe today is infinitely poorer in terms of per capita GDP than it was at independence in 1980, or even in 1975 at the height of international sanctions and the bush war. Its decline – and with it the destruction of its rich wildlife and other natural resources – is one of the great tragedies of modern Africa.<\/p>\n

             Progressive nations are understandably horrified. The lesson is obvious: democracy can never be taken for granted. It has to be defended against populist demagogues claiming a national mandate and the mantle of history. Their pretensions need to be exposed and resisted before they impoverish the people they claim to champion. While leaders, such as those in southern Africa who have excused and even endorsed the misrule currently blighting Zimbabwe, are also partly to blame, history may be equally unforgiving of those who stand by and watch.<\/p>\n

             (Iden Wetherell is the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. He was the winner of the 2002 World Press Review’s International Editor of the Year Award.)[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>

             \n\t\t

             \n\t\t\t\t\t

             Dr Roger Nelson\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

             [vc_column_text]Dr. Roger Nelson\u2019s professional degrees are in experimental cognitive psychology, with a special focus on the lesser known aspects of perception. His primary work in design and analysis is supplemented by a background in physics, statistical methods, and multi-media production. Until his retirement in 2002, he served as the coordinator of experimental work in the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab, directed by Robert Jahn in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering\/Applied Science, Princeton University. He remains connected with PEAR, but gives most of his time to the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), which he directs. His work was recently profiled in TIME magazine.[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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