11-13 Dec 2011 - Doha Forum on Intercultural dialogue Doha & New-York, September 21 /PRNewswire/ — From December 11th to 13th, a powerful network of Heads of States, foreign ministers, young people, civil society organizations, business leaders and global media – more than 2000 in total - will convene in Doha to make United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) 4th international forum a turning point, taking into account the past and current achievements in Madrid, Istanbul and Rio De Janeiro. A turning point because of its particular format, as for the very first time in UNAOC's existence, the Civil Society will actively contribute to the forum's debates and outcomes (Doha Pre-Forum for Civil Society organized in May 2011 brought together 190 participants from 80 countries). As Qatar is taking for one year the UN General Assembly Presidency, the country is more than ever investing energy and strategic vision to become one of the most vibrant, knowledge-based economies in the world. Building a legacy About the UNAOC
Earth Hour PNoy not to blame for oil price hikes: analyst MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino should not be blamed for oil price increases and resulting difficulties being felt by the public, a political analyst said Monday. Oil prices hikes are caused by circumstances beyond the president's control such as unrest in the Middle East, according to Dr. Clarita Carlos, a professor at the University of the Philippines in Diliman and president of the Center for Asia Pacific Studies Inc. "Ang mga factors kase na dahil tumataas ang gasolina, at itong sunod-sunod nito, ay wala naman sa control ng Pangulo o maski sino. "So yung mga factors ay wala sa jurisdiction ng Pilipinas. She said the oil price hikes may have been one of the reasons behind the dip in Aquino's satisfaction rating. "Siguro hindi na nakapagtataka ito, ngayong nakalipas na linggo, sunod-sunod halos araw-araw ay tumataas ang presyo ng gasolina, diesel, LPG, na halos hindi ka makahinga," she said. However, she said the government has made decent gains in the last 2 years.
Defining a Culture in Doha’s Desert by Hugh Eakin I recently had the chance to see an extraordinary new exhibition space devoted to the arts of Islam. The collection included works in stone, metal, glass, ivory, and textile, as well as illuminated manuscripts, and spanned from Moorish Spain and Umayyad Syria to the Central Asian steppe and Safavid Iran; the pieces were mostly of a quality that might be worthy of any great world institution. Readers may at this point guess I am talking about the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s just-reopened Islamic galleries. Like the new Met galleries, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the Qatari capital, attempts to provide a comprehensive view of its subject; the two museums even feature a number of nearly identical works — inlaid wood panels from Medieval Cairo; the Ferman, or signature, of Suleyman the Magnificent; carved marble acanthus capitals from 10th-century Cordoba; ceramic bowls from Nishapur in the uncannily modernist “black-on-white” style. But why Qatar?
Columns / B S Raghavan : Ringing in the era of people's power Without any exaggeration, 2011 has indeed been a turning point, a cathartic experience, giving a foretaste of the invincible power people have for bringing about whatever change they want. I have never in all my life known a turn of the year that has not been marked by a gloom-and-doom syndrome in the outpourings in the media. If you want evidence, go to the section in the Madras University Library keeping old dailies and pick up at random issues of 1948, 1949 or 1950 — whatever comes to hand. If you remove the allusions to contemporary names and read on, you will have the illusion that you are reading today's newspapers: The same alarm being sounded about things falling apart, the centre not being able to hold and mere anarchy and blood-dimmed tide being loosed upon the world — in the ready-to-order words from the poem The Second Coming, of William Butler Yeats. It has been no different at the passing of 2011. Calm down, everybody. That's the future that is beckoning to us. It was M.
Palace: Philippine Government doing its best to cushion oil price hikes impact MALACAÑANG said Sunday that the Aquino administration has been trying to do its best to cushion the impact of the rising oil prices. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government has been providing assistance to the sectors, which are greatly affected by the oil price hikes. "If you know how the world market is, we can see what the limitations are and because we belong to deregulated industry. "The government is doing what it can to provide assistance to the industries or to the sectors that need the assistance the most," she added. The Department of Energy has started releasing P1,200 each worth of fuel assistance to about 100,000 public transport card holders under the Pantawid Pasada Program. Some militant groups and lawmakers have been criticizing the Aquino government for its alleged inaction to prevent the series of oil price increases. Valte said any amendments on those laws should emanate from Congress and not from the Executive branch.
The People Power Revolution in the Philippines The Power of Active Nonviolence and Truth Movements Author: Richard Deats In l986 millions of unarmed Filipinos surprised the world by nonviolently overthrowing the brutal dictator Ferdinand Marcos, known at the time as “the Hitler of Southeast Asia.” They called their movement “people power,” demonstrating in an amazing way the power of active nonviolence, the power of truth and love, similar to what was seen in the Gandhian freedom struggle in India and the civil rights movement in the United States. Beginning with the assassination in l983 of the popular opposition leader Senator Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino, the movement against Marcos grew rapidly. Imprisoned for seven years by Marcos, Aquino had experienced a deep conversion in his concentrated study of the Bible and Gandhi. I felt a strong affinity with this emerging movement. Deats teaching in the Philippines at St Andrew’s Seminary 1971 Also a part of the IFOR and having lived and worked in the Philippines, I joined in this campaign.
Oil firms, Aquino warned of nationwide protests vs oil price hikes MANILA – Drivers and operators allied with Piston (Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide) held an early morning noise barrage at Anda Street in Manila this Wednesday to protest what was then still looming as another round of oil price hike. On the same day, they marched to meet with a bigger group of protesters from the multisectoral alliance Bayan and Kilusang Mayo Uno. They held a louder and longer noise barrage in front of one of the gas stations of Petron, one of the leading oil firms in the so-called Big Three operating in the Philippines. With placards requesting the motorists to honk their horn in agreement with the protesters – many motorists honked in response as they passed by – activists held a program interspersed with noise-making to sound their alarm at the unchecked “profiteering” of the oil companies, and “inaction” of the Aquino government. On Thursday, the oil companies pushed ahead with their price hikes. Alternatives Not just the drivers’ protests
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