Comments for Jeune Street

Comment on “A continued expansion in our moral imagination” by Lev

Lev — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:12:22 +0000

This is a fascinating juxtaposition. Taken together, these quotes from Presidents Obama and Kennedy do suggest an approach to peace that harmonizes with the Teachings of Baha’u'llah.

“The betterment of the world can be achieved through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.” On the one hand, this suggests that a “revolution in human nature” is required – or more rightly a revolution in human conduct – perhaps an “expansion of our moral imagination.”

But we also know that the individual is not separate from the environment:

“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved.”

Altruistic action on behalf of individuals alone will not result in an improvement of the social environment. “Strong institutions” in isolation will not result in better conduct on behalf of individuals.

Thanks for sharing these, Geoff.

Comment on “A continued expansion in our moral imagination” by Lynne

Lynne — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:19:45 +0000

I remember hearing this speech live and how amazed I was at hearing President Obama voicing Baha’i beliefs, whether he knew it or not. It definitely reinforces my belief that the power of the Word is afoot and everyone is welcome to tap in. Thanks for sharing that!

Comment on Who is Xu Zhiyong? by Nicholas Stone

Nicholas Stone — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:13:50 +0000

How on earth did he get hold of a (presumably somewhat obscure) Baha’i book in China?

Comment on Recurring encounters by F.

F. — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:39:23 +0000

I’m so glad you had a good turn out, I wish I could have been there. Also, thanks for reminding me of that specific letter – now I’m off to reacquaint myself with the it in its entirety.

Comment on “A continued expansion in our moral imagination” by LizKauai

LizKauai — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:26:07 +0000

Mahalo for sharing this!

Comment on Development as knowledge by Andrew Skinner

Andrew Skinner — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:13:14 +0000

That is certainly a much deeper form of capacity development than I witnessed, yes. However, one exception to this is Engineers Without Borders. I’m not sure what you have heard about Lita’s brother’s experience so far, but what they do is pretty cool. We will have to talk about it at Xmas, as they are a group I am very enamored with.

Comment on Development as knowledge by G Cameron

G Cameron — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:14:43 +0000

That’s really interesting, Andrew. I found it significant that I never heard Juma mention ‘capacity’ in our conversations. He always talked about competence and about innovation — often in relation to the acquisition of practical knowledge and technical skills. I think that much work done in the name of capacity building actually builds very little capacity because it is too short-term and often focuses on abstract managerial or organizational capacities. Juma is talking about training programs, expert accompaniment, and the like. He referred to recent experiments where ICT universities were taken out of a ministry of education and put under the ministry of telecoms — making an immediate connection between training and practice. He also referred to Chinese experiments of bringing hundreds of African post-doctoral scientists to work in Chinese science parks for a year and then sending them back with $20,000 worth of equipment. These indicate more significant forms of knowledge development than your average NGO capacity workshop.

Comment on Development as knowledge by Andrew Skinner

Andrew Skinner — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:25:57 +0000

It would be interesting to hear Prof. Juma’s take on the World Bank and bilateral aid agendas that now focus on ‘capacity development’. In my placement report in Ghana I wrote that the theory behind ‘capacity development’ was a sound step in the right direction for the development community, but that most development actors were struggling to step outside of their old frames of reference. Implementing capacity development projects in a truly equal partnership, with a genuine offer of knowledge, is unfortunately not the norm in my experience.

Comment on The long shadow of the ICC by Pat Cameron

Pat Cameron — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:58:15 +0000

The “relationship between peace and justice” is key in this and all other issues before the ICC. The thing is, there will not be peace before justice… justice has to come first. “The purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among men…the well-being of mankind, its peace and security are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.” (Baha’u'llah) First justice, then unity, THEN peace. The vulnerable and oppressed need to be assured that justice is defending them before they can be safe to emerge into full social discourse. Examples should and must be made of those who have abused power, so that peace will be a day closer.

Comment on Making it right by Monday night round-up – anonymous cowgirl

Monday night round-up – anonymous cowgirl — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:11:51 +0000

[...] Jeune Street blogs the African Studies Association Conference in New Orleans (tag with: Katrina, NOL…. [...]