So it is a very very dark time in Myanmar–with tens of thousands dead from Cyclone Nargis, which made landfall on May 2nd.
Along with all the dark truth about how this is going to very negatively affect rather a lot of people in Burma, which is #132 out of 177 on the Human Development Index, especially in light of the current developing world food crisis, as well as some truth about the extent to which such a storm is a result of climate change, I think there’s a lot of puzzle pieces which point to hope:
See for instance, this list in the International Herald Tribune, with pledges of US$12 million and lots of logistical aid from 15 different nations. Here’s the really crazy thing. The population of Burma in 1900 was 10 million. Now it’s 55 million. If the disaster had taken place in 1900:
I don’t have the beginnings of an answer to any of these questions (ask someone with an appropriate Ph.D.). But I have a strong suspicion that the changes between the answers for “In 1900″ and “In 2008″ are solid grounds for a little joy and hope in the midst of heart-wrenching disaster.
I grew up in a fundamentalist, right wing, independent Baptist church. One of the things we were taught was that it was right and “Biblical” for Jews to have a state in Palestine, and that therefore we, as good American Christians, ought to promote the existence, welfare, and possibly even the expansion of the state of Israel. The Palestinians never really got mentioned.
So I’ve had to undergo a bit of a reeducation process. Among other things, I now realize that things are never that simple, that finding a best way forward to MTWABP in Israel/Palestine is a hell of a tall order. It *seems* to me that both world and U.S. media and political ideation and action about the whole thing is rather enormously tilted in favor of the Jews and against the Palestinians. But this is of course a seeming, and I haven’t quantified it.
Recently I found a website that attempts to quantify it, called IfAmericansKnew.org. Here are some of the stats they cite.
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While admitting up front that I am almost altogether naive regarding both the ancient and the modern history of Kosovo in particular, and of the Balkans in general, I can definitely say this: The language of Sunday’s Kosovar Declaration of Independence strikes me as very beautiful, embodying some of humanity’s best ideals. Here’s the first bit. You can read all of it (in translation, I assume) at BBC.
Convened in an extraordinary meeting on February 17, 2008, in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo,
Answering the call of the people to build a society that honours human dignity and affirms the pride and purpose of its citizens, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci (right) and MPs applaud during parliament session (17/02/08) Kosovo’s parliament unanimously approved the historic declaration
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