#international relations
German is recognised as an official language in six countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland and is recognised as an official language at the provincial level in the northern Italian province of South Tyrol where more than 60% of the population speak German. Until 1990, German was also an official language in Namibia.
There’s an entire town for sale in New Zealand. Due to the large number of people moving to the major cities in the country, many small towns have found their populations shrinking with the town in question abandoned for almost thirty years. For US$2.8m, prospective buyers can acquire the entire town of Lake Waitaki including eight three-bedroom houses, a restaurant, a lodge, water rights, nine garages and 14 hectares of land.
During World War One, the United Kingdom passed a law which made “killing, wounding or molesting homing pigeons” illegal and offenders could face up to 6 months in jail for the offence.
Editorial: December
- Ibrahim Hewitt, Chairman of the Trustees
The past month has been marked by cataclysmic tremors in world politics, from the news that Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the United States of America to the ruling in November that legitimises settlements build on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. These watershed moments, though stemming from different contexts and significant in their own respective ways, herald a difficult new era for the international solidarity movement.
On the 29th November the United Nations commemorated International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; an annual affirmation of the organisation’s commitment to pursuing a lasting peace and justice in the region. In his speech to the assembly, Jan Eliasson, the Deputy Secretary General commended the efforts of the global solidarity movement in reaching historic milestones for the movement, such as the formal recognition of Palestine as an Observer State in 2012. However, Eliasson also acknowledged that the past decade has been characterised by symbols of solidarity rather than lasting measures to pursue peace.
As events on the world stage unfold, unfortunately the reality on the ground for Palestinian refugees remains woefully unchanged. With winter approaching, the situation is uncertain. Our fundraising team visited the Lebanese refugee camps in November to speak to staff from the Lebanon Field Office and see the conditions of the camps for themselves. You can read more about their trip here.
The winter stretches ahead of us, as the temperature drops and the nights draw in, it can be easy to forget about those for whom winter is a time of harshness, not comfort. This year, we aim to deliver aid to over 5000 Palestinian families, as well as to Syrian refugees displaced by the ongoing crisis. Only with your help can we equip those in need with vital supplies to see them through the winter. As we look ahead to 2017, let’s come together #ForPalestine and keep them out of the cold.
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Editorial: January 2017
The turn of the year is always a time for rest, reflection and resolution. As 2016 passes I would like to thank you personally for your support over the past twelve months and longer.
Looking forward, the year ahead brings with it both challenges and opportunities for the international Palestine solidarity movement, not least because there are some significant anniversaries in 2017. It is 100 years since the infamous Balfour Declaration;70 years since the signing of the UN Partition Plan;50 years since start of the occupation of the West BankandGaza Strip; and 10 years since the beginning of the ongoing siege of Gaza. This year, it is all the more vital for us to work together to ensure that these anniversaries do not pass unnoticed and unmarked.
As the inauguration of President-elect Trump looms — the first major political shift of 2017 — his campaign statements suggest that the Palestinians face a crisis like never before. Despite this, there is much to remain hopeful about.
The close of 2016 brought with it the news that the UN Security Council has adopted a landmark resolution calling for a halt to all of Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Politically and diplomatically, therefore, there appears to be some progress.
However, the humanitarian crisis is getting worse by the day. Now, more than ever, the imperative is upon us to come together #ForPalestine and do our part to support our brothers and sisters in need. Interpal’s teams are there on the ground; please help them to ease the day to day struggles of the Palestinians as they try to bring some normality into their lives.
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How President Trump’s travel abroad strays from the norm
In his first year and a half, the president has paid few visits to U.S. neighbors and has used the world stage to publicly confront allies.
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20 years after Rwanda’s genocide, a line worth repeating from Roméo Dallaire.
Full video from his 2004 interview at the Wilson Center is here.
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This is what democracy looks like.
The incredibly inspiring sights of Election Day in Afghanistan on Storify
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Just how big is China?
In this super-cool-nerdy interactive from The Economist, China’s provinces are matched with the countries closest in population size (and a host of other measures, too).
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“Nothing is more annoying than the image much of the world has of American presidents: a heroic action figure, a kind of cross between Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis, with limitless power”
-Aaron David Miller, on the misconception about the US & the world that drives him crazy
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“You can’t care about problems of every single country in the world!”
Beside the fact I’m human and I naturally wish everyone would get what I’m lucky to have, I’ll tell you why I do care.
I have friends in Ukraine. None of them have left or plan to do so. It’s their home and even though at least one of them has relocated, talking people out of returning home because it’s not safe, knowing damn well how it feels to miss your home, if it’s in the middle of a whirlwind or not, is not something I got prepared for. So I understand.
I have friends in southeast Asia. I would argue about how the palm oil is bad with anyone but them. Because they know. They do. But at the same time, they know that we have been going down this environmentally bad path for too long and cutting it off would make many of their fellow citizens fall into extreme poverty, the economy would fall apart and it’d be mainly the ordinary people who would suffer. So I understand.
I have friends in the US who are genuinely afraid of the prolife movements and feel sad when they hear how much we learn in our schools. The “stupid Americans” stereotype has made us mock the wrong people, those who became victims to the insufficient education system. So I understand.
I have friends in southeastern Europe. I have a friend in Azerbaijan. I have friends that are children of emigrants, that want to study abroad but don’t have finances, friends that are forced into some religion, friends that have never felt plight in their country, yet they’re not happy. Friends that are being told by ignorant people that they don’t understand their own history.
So I understand. I have opened my heart to people who are different from me, yet very similar and we talk a lot.
Before I met them, I had no idea what the world is like, that it’s so full of problems that get pushed aside. That we’d rather complain about how our problems are what we should focus on the most when some are dying for their ethnicity, religion, can’t find a job because of something their leader did and they speak against, are dependent on the brands we all know and love quite literally with their lives.
I decided to take the time to understand them. Because to understand is to love and to love is to understand.
Who leaves a possible love for later, repents when he understands that time does not come back and that feelings are fed; they don’t hide.
ExcitingCHESS!Nonprofit Social Media does not compete with:
- Journalism (Hard News)
- emergency services
- entertainment industry
- Other nonprofits
- Most businesses *unless unethical or unsafe*
- humanitarian aid
- egalitarian governments
- internet governance
- cybersecurity
I hope we are successful at Worldie.com so that we get higher quality and safety!
We move the “White Knights” ;)
I have to say, I think in the old style as if of the “Who’s Who” book - if you can think of what I prefer…
Nonprofit social media appeals to ethics, safety, positivity, and fact-checking.
The *opposite* (In design too! That was the point!)
You should be earning awards from Congress like AEDAN! Not being bought up by anti-egalitarian demographics. That’s SV..
(This photo is from a Lena Luthor scene)..
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