December 2007

Text of speech at the Indo-Japan joint symposium arranged by the Oriental Institute of Philosophy, Tokyo on 3rd April 2007 to mark the Centenary of the Satyagraha movement under Gandhi. We publish it as one TFF Associate’s hommage to another, Daisaku Ikeda. Read more.

BakgrundMånga medborgare, inte minst flyktingar och andra invandrare, har svårt att orientera sig i det svenska samhället. Den självklara kunskap man, som invandrare, bär med sig hemifrån fungerar inte längre. På främmande mark går man lätt vilse. Att finna sammanhang i tillvaron blir därför en daglig utmaning. Att höra till och delta i vårt gemensamma vardagsliv känns för många avlägset och möts man därtill av misstro blir vägen tung att vandra. Det som understryks hos främlingen är det främmande ursprunget, en egenskap gemensam med andra främlingar. När en generell egenskap är det vi först lägger märke till, förbigår vi samtidigt det som gör en person unik. Ömsesidig misstro motverkar integration och skapar klyftor mellan människor. Det uppstår ett ’vi och dom’.I denna situation är det komplicerat att vara förälder. Det är svårt att ledsaga sina barn i ett samhälle man inte själv är förtrogen med. Att barn lär språket fortare...

December 2, 2007 Vicky Samantha Rossi November 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People. On the eve of 60 years since the flight of the first Palestine refugees in 1948, it is more important than ever to return the spotlight to the Palestinian people, their narrative and their on-going struggle… Through art, craft and music, the Palestinian story and, as an integral part of that, the life of 1948 and 1967 refugees can be narrated in a creative and purposeful way. This is a vision shared by the Dar al-Kalima College in Bethlehem that offers 2-year diploma courses in arts, multimedia and communications. “Palestinians have a story to tell which needs to be told through their own eyes. We must show that we are a people who are part of the human civilization and that we have something to offer the rest of humanity”, says Nuha Khoury,...

December 2, 2007 Vicky Samantha Rossi November 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People. The year 2008 will mark 60 years since the flight of the first Palestine refugees. The marking of all tragic events is an important time to both remember what has been in the past and to envision anew paths towards a more vibrant future. Refugee status is more often than not percieved as a stigma by the “outside world” and even by many within Palestinian society itself. Yet, in truth, there is nobody better to tell the story of Palestine refugees than the refugees themselves. The land is an intrinsic part of the Palestinian identity. The importance of the land for the Palestinian people makes the 1948 and 1967 refugee question all the more poignant. In testimony to this fact, a custom is developing of refugees going back to the villages from where they fled or were...