Lily Ghebrai, a local high school student, presented before UNA Seattle members, board members and the public a speech and slideshow of her recent trip to Iran. Lily’s trip was sponosored by UNA Seattle, who helped her to raise the funds necessary to participate.

Lily’s presentation about the trip was nothing less than inspiring.  Lily captivated the audience as she told stories from her trip and shared pictures she had taken.  Lily reflected on the mannerisms and customs of the local people, many of whom asked her to ‘go back to America, and tell them we are nice.’  After Lily’s presentation, a Q & A session was held and it was obvious that everyone was intrigued by Lily’s experience.

The program, “Global Rhythms Uniting Nations,” will feature two separate, yet equally intriguing programs. The first program, beginning at 11am, features guest speaker Will Davis, Director of the United Nations Information Center.

Later, at 2pm, the United Nations of Greater Seattle welcomes five groups of multicultural performers representing music and dance from four continents.

The programs will be held at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. Tickets for the  11am program are $35 and include lunch and beverages. Tickets for the 2pm music program are $45. Tickets combining both events are $65 and include a one-hour admission to the Museum of History and Industry. 

The United Nations Association of Greater Seattle is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that supports the work of the United Nations and encourages active civic participation in the most important social and economic issues facing the world today.

As the nation’s largest grassroots foreign policy organization and the leading center of policy research on the UN and global issues, UNA-USA offers Americans the opportunity to connect with issues confronted by the UN from global health and human rights to the spread of democracy, equitable development, and international justice. Through the work of the Greater Seattle chapter, we educate the community about the work of the United Nations, and encourage public support for strong U.S. leadership in the UN.

Featured Guest:

Will Davis is currently the Director of the United Nations Information Center in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he is the United Nations Secretariat’s senior representative in Washington, serving as a spokesman for the organization and working with officials in the executive branch, the Congress, the media, civil society and the business community to further the relationship between the UN and its largest contributing member state.

Performers:

The evening’s entertainment will feature award-winning virtuoso guitarist Andre Feriante, Silk Strings – a Japanese koto ensemble, Steve Thoreson – a high-caliber tenor, and runner-up at 2011’s Sweden’s Got Talent, Cuban music ensemble Charanga Danzón, and Leif Totusek & Freestyle Candela – a cross-culture fusion of rumba, soukous, and Latin.

Purchase tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/201497.

From Hiroshima to Hope: The Dual Legacy of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”

– Prepared for delivery at Hiroshima-to-Hope event, 6 August 2011, Seattle, WA.

Good evening, everyone. I bring greetings from the Greater Seattle Chapter of the United Nations Association—USA. What an honor it is for me to be invited to speak on this propitious occasion.  I thank the organizers of this annual peace gathering and you for taking the time to be here this evening.

Since that terrifying event of 6August 1945, in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, in which some 140,000 met a most dreadful and unseemly death, an event repeated three days later in Nagasaki, where 74,000 lay dead, the world has witnessed a massive buildup of nuclear weapons, ten times more powerful than the two that unleashed their fury in rising plumes of smoke and scorching fires on those terrifying two days in August, even as the American pilots who fired them from their Superfortress B-29s looked down in awe and wonder.

One unpromising legacy of that event derives from the “harnessing of the basic power of the universe,” as Pres. Truman remarked in the wake of the falling bombs, stylishly named “Little Man” and “Fat Boy.” The potential to harness the frightful power of the atom led countries and their leaders to grow more in confidence even as their insecurities grew. It was this paradox that became the progeny of the post-war nuclear build-up, the arms race, and the long Cold War, during which the whole of humankind stood hostage to the prospect of even more menacing plumes of smoke spread over even wider areas of the planet, unlit skies and cindery bodies. The east-west rivalry–built upon irreconcilable ideologies and geopolitical intrigues–played itself out in various parts of the planet. It led to a colossal misdirection of precious resources and human potential whose consequences remain with us today. Besides, it nearly sparked what we feared most– nuclear war–in that frightful autumn of 1962.

There have been many other fall-outs from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to be sure: food insecurities have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands in the Global South; structural inequalities have wreaked incalculable havoc on the weak and powerless; ethnic-national strife has claimed too many to count–from Bosnia to Rwanda; from the Jaffna Peninsula to Chechnya; swollen waters and the earth’s trembling have take their toll on already vulnerable populations from Bali to Sindh, New Orleans to Port-au-Prince; thousands perish still from famine in the Horn of Africa; numerous children go without adequate nutrition, child-care, and primary schooling; and a frightening number die in civil wars or are forced to become soldiers– their childhoods ripped from them forever; rape and its attendant violence have joined the long list of innumerable atrocities committed in war and perpetuated, alas, even by those sent to protect; countless girls, barely arrived at puberty, die from too-early marriages into which they have been forced; women and the girl child in the four corners of the globe continue to suffer a myriad unequal treatment; human rights violations persist; and the plague of racism and intolerance stalks the land. Pandemics–HIV/AIDS and others–warn of more human suffering to come. Each day the health of our increasingly- fragile planet worsens, threatening life on earth and straining our home’s carrying capacity. Economic recessions have shattered the hopes of millions everywhere, and the gap between rich and poor widen, even while the Captains of Industry prosper. The Cold war’s end may have opened new opportunities for democracy to sprout but still over half of the earth’s peoples have no meaningful role in the decisions that govern their lives. Soldiers still go off to war, as they have done each decade since 1945–on the Peninsula, in Vietnam, the Middle East and Central Asia, the Subcontinent, the Horn, the Balkans and the old Soviet Union, and closer home, in Central America and even my own Caribbean.

Yet, when all is said and done, the period since that fateful August of 1945 has not all been one of doom and gloom, human misery, injustice, calamity, and war. We have made tremendous strides in providing safe drinking water for millions, eradicated smallpox and made great progress on other diseases; such as measles; child mortality and malnutrition rates have dropped; emergency food aid has saved millions of lives, and farm programs have grown crop yields and lowered food insecurity in many a developing country; land mines that maim and kill thousands each year have been removed; deforestation, overfishing, and ozone pollution have been arrested; the laws to protect workers’ rights and safeguard the health of consumers are being more consistently enforced; fertility rates are being lowered, affording  women in deepest Bangladesh room to improve their lives; painstaking efforts to promote literacy, especially for women, are seeing success; the efforts to safeguarded the rich but vulnerable storehouse of human artifacts, cultures and languages are showing fruit; expansion of air and sea travel has facilitated the movements of peoples from one part of the planet to the next, increasing mutual understandings and heightening our sense of our interconnections as common humanity. And thanks to the UN and a host of NGOs, millions of the voiceless across our planet, who have been silent for far too long, have found a voice. It was thousands of these voiceless who helped write the Earth Charter in 2000, “a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century;” and in April of this year, other voiceless gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia, at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth to found a “Peoples Agreement” a rights charter for the Planet– Pachamama, as the indigenous peoples of the Andes call it.

To add to this other, ever more promising, legacy of Hiroshima, we have explored the stars and marveled at the possibility that we might not be alone in the world, after all–even as the Hubble Telescope has brought back a treasure trove of scientific knowledge that has led to valuable breakthroughs in medicine, to the benefit of all humanity. We have invented the X-ray and mapped DNA and the human genome, invented the Internet, with all its endless possibilities. And on the world political front, the Berlin Wall, that solid symbol of the east-west rivalry, fell with a great noise, filling the air with white dust and cries of “free at last, free at last,” and shattering illusions and the deep psychological fissure that had formed over the decades since that frightful August–this time in 1961. China has, after many centuries of self-induced separation, re-entered the world–and what a re-entry it has been!–and on April 7, in Prague, the presidents of Russia and the United States agreed a deal to cut their massive nuclear stockpiles by a quarter–not nearly enough, surely, but in certain knowledge that they must lead by example.

My dear friends, as you can see, August 1945 has bequeathed to us dual and contradictory legacies. It is tempting to focus on the unpromising side of the ledger, but that would only lead to more despair. When future generations arrive–your and my children’s children and grand-children–they’ll not ask or judge us by how penitent we were for the things we did not attend to in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki–or even for the inhumanity we meted out to our fellows. No. Instead, they’ll want to know what we did to put it right. They’ll want to know how much we strove “to seek, to find, and not to yield.” And so, I put it to you that the best way that you and I can remember the dead of two cities, who perished in that August heat, is to rededicate here and now, on this spot, and in this place, our lives and fortunes to the service and well-being of the human family.

With all due respects to the Enlightenment, in this time of globalization, when the world has grown small and our futures more intertwined, to attend to our narrow self interests will not do. My dear friends, the age beckons us to a higher state of mindfulness. It asks, how will you and I engage meaningfully with those constructive and unifying process occurring all over our fast-shrinking world, in little villages and hamlets, its agents ordinary women and men like us? What shall we do singly and together to improve the lot of our fellows everywhere? Are we ready to stand shoulder to shoulder, in small and large groups, join hands and heart to fashion an altogether better, more promising future for the generations yet unborn? I urge you to see with new eyes into the future. For all that and all that, the things we do, however small, to make life a little better for others, is progress towards building a better world, a world of enduring fellowship and ready embrace of all peoples.

So, let us pledge here and now to do what we can to nurture genuinely affectionate and supportive relationships with all those who may cross our paths. After all, the sure way to prevent another grim August is to build bonds of reconciliation and understanding amongst one another. Peace is only possible with unity, justice, and prosperity for all. In a world torn by religious, ethnic, racial and other strife, our task must be to become harbingers of cooperation and mutual trust. We must set aside our deeply-bred prejudices and embrace and celebrate our fellows near and far. If we do this, we might yet be able to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” which, so many times since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has “brought untold sorrow” to our world. We can get through this August and the many Augusts to come, and we can start again to construct a future unlike the past.

All my relations!            

From Hiroshima to Hope, Seattle’s annual peace event honoring the victims of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all victims of war and violence, takes place from 6:00 pm. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 6 at Green Lake, just south of the Seattle Public Theater. This year’s commemoration marks the 66th anniversary of the bombings, and the 26th anniversary of the From Hiroshima to Hope commemoration event in Seattle.

The Seattle event, which concludes with the floating of the lanterns on the lake at dusk, has grown to be one of the largest commemoration held anywhere outside of Japan.  More than 1,000 attendees are expected again this year. 

This year’s keynote speaker is Trevor McMorris Tate, Faculty, International Studies Program at Bellevue College and President of the United Nations Association of Greater Seattle. Pre-event activities begin at 6:00 p.m. and include lantern calligraphy, folding of peace cranes and a Meditation Space sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. The family program begins at 7 p.m. with a blessing by Pat John, with Ahousat First Nations. In addition to Tate’s keynote, the program includes musical performances by Seattle Kokon Taiko, a Japanese-American taiko drum performance group and Peter Hill on the shakuhachi, the traditional Japanese bamboo flute.  The Toro Nagashi lantern floating ceremony concludes the program at dusk, with music by Marcia Takamura, koto, and Peter Hill, shakuhachi.

From Hiroshima to Hope has been organized by local peace, faith and community organizations every August 6th since 1985.  The many sponsors include Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Peace Action of Washington, the United Nations Association, WA Chapter, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund.

The From Hiroshima to Hope commemorative event offers the hope to resolve our conflicts without violence and to join hands together in friendship to walk the pathway to peace. The Seattle Public Theater (formerly Bathhouse Theater) is located at 7312 West Green Lake Drive North, served by Metro bus routes #16, #48, #358. For more event information, please call 206-453-4471.            

Event Details

Speaker

Dr. Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State featuring special delegation of legal leaders and specialists from North African and the Middle East

Event Information

Location: http://www.washington.edu/maps/?l=LAW

NOTE: The pre-event reception  featuring Legal Leaders from North Africa and the Middle East is included in the cost of the event.

2011 has already witnessed the toppling of governments in Egypt and Tunisia, a sustained rebellion in Libya, and grassroots protests across North Africa, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and even into China.

How is the Obama Administration working through the United Nations to advance U.S. foreign policy goals in our rapidly changing world?

How has President Obama’s “era of engagement” changed U.S. multilateral diplomacy strategies and U.S. standing across the globe?

Why does U.S. diplomacy across the United Nations system matter?

The World Affairs Council presents Dr. Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, for an interactive discussion on, “The Value of Multilateral Engagement and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Time of Tumult.” Dr. Brimmer will address the Obama Administration’s approach to the United Nations and response to the rapidly changing political environment across North Africa and the Middle East. In addition, she will discuss the changing nature of U.S. diplomacy in the 21st century and the impact — and benefits — of multilateral engagement in an era of rapid globalization and change.

Dr. Brimmer’s address will be preceded by a networking reception with a special delegation of legal leaders and specialists across North Africa and the Middle East, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and the West Bank.

Dr. Esther Brimmer was nominated by President Obama to the position of Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations on March 11, 2009, and was confirmed to that position by the United States Senate on April 2, 2009. In her role as Assistant Secretary, Dr. Brimmer leads the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which strives to advance U.S. interests through international organizations in areas including human rights, peacekeeping, food security, humanitarian relief, and climate change. Prior to her appointment, Dr. Brimmer was Deputy Director and Director of Research at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at The Johns Hopkins University. There she specialized in transatlantic political and security affairs. Dr. Brimmer’s previous government service included two years in the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning, where she worked on European Union, Western Europe, UN, and multilateral security issues. Dr. Brimmer was also a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in spring 2000. From 1993-1995 she served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. In that capacity she worked on UN, peacekeeping, human rights and political-military issues.

NOTE: UNA Members can register using the member price.

Co-Presenters:
United Nations Association (UNA)

The World Affairs Council cannot refund cancellations later than 48 hours prior to an event.

The World Affairs Council is a non-partisan, non-profit organization which provides a forum for speakers representing diverse points of view. The opinions expressed by any and all speakers, presenters and/or guests at Council events are those of the speaker alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the World Affairs Council members, staff, Board of Trustees, or Advisory Council.

This is what Brooke had to say about her trip:

“As a 17 year old high school student, I did not know whether or not there was a place for me on a group trip to Iran.

However, from the moment I expressed interest in the trip, Abdi took steps to ensure that my experience in Iran was as educational, engaging and enriching as possible. How many other American teenagers can say they spent Spring break talking to soldiers, students and artists in Iran? Returning from Iran, I was asked by many friends how I was able to travel in such a seemingly “hostile” country and have such a wonderful time. The answer to this question lies in the conscientious care and attention that was paid to me and my goals in learning. It was a privilege and a pleasure to travel with someone as passionate and patient as Abdi, and I can only encourage prospective tour members to take advantage of the opportunity to travel with him while they have the chance!”

Brooke Loughrin – Seattle, WA

This year Lily Ghebrai, a schoolmate of Brooke’s who was born in Eritrea and raised in the U.S. is planning to do the same.

Lily with her host mother on a trip to Rabat, Morocco.

Lily was inspired by Brooke and her rich cultural experience. This trip is again sponsored by  United Nations Association of Greater Seattle. If you would like to support Lily’s trip please go to the UNA site at:

http://unaseattle.org/donate/

Please click “General Tax Deductible Donation” and note “Lily Ghebrai trip to Iran.” You can use a credit card or mail a check payable to UNA Seattle and mail to:  UNA Seattle PO Box 85682   Seattle, WA   98145 – please note Lily Ghebrai on the check.

Please let Abdi Sami know via email (abdi@solhtours.com) if you have made a contribution.

Thanks so much for your support.

www.solhtours.com

206-709-9552

Basheed teaching youth. Image from International Examiner

Dear friends,

Collin

As a hub of diverse and active international development players, the state of Washington is creating a model for collaboration in the global development sector, providing innovative strategies and cross-sector, cross-issue partnerships to build a better world. On November 15th and 16th, 2010, 430 members of the global development sector convened on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington for Bridges to Breakthroughs: How partnerships and innovation are changing the world, a two-day conference hosted by Global Washington.

Bridges to Breakthroughs, Global Washington’s 2nd Annual Conference, brought a wide array of actors in the sector together to network and to learn from dynamic speakers, including representatives from USAID, Global Impact, Interaction, The Grameen Foundation, PATH, World Vision, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The United Nations Millennium Campaign, and many other innovative companies and organizations. Over the two days of the conference, these leaders discussed strategic approaches for strengthening cross-sector partnerships; promoting scientific and technological breakthroughs; and harnessing the collective leadership of the region’s scholars, entrepreneurs, business leaders, scientists, philanthropists, and advocates.

The two days of the conference were packed with great information about the most relevant issues facing the global development sector; attendees and speakers also explored how Global Washington can best achieve its mission to promote, support, and advocate on behalf of the development community in the state and beyond. The organization has put together a recap report summarizing each conference session, as well as overall trends and future steps for Global Washington and the development community. This conference will help put Washington State on the map as an example in partnerships and innovations that will hopefully be followed by other states in the near future.

>    Read the conference recap report. <http://globalwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2010-conference-followup_r5.pdf>
>   Watch the videos submitted for our Conference Showcase here. <http://globalwa.org/?page_id=4872>
>   Click here to see a video of the keynote delivered by Ambassador Verveer. <http://globalwa.org/events/conference-2010/>
>   Click here for a Flickr photo collection from the conference. <http://globalwa.org/?page_id=6015>
>   Click here to read bios of dynamic Conference 2010 speakers. <http://globalwa.org/?page_id=5830>
>   Click here to read the blogs about the event discussions and speakers. <http://globalwa.org/?page_id=33>
>   Click here to Read a recap of the News coverage of the event. <http://globalwa.org/?page_id=6027>

In unity,

Bookda Gheisar
Executive Director, Global Washington

When North Korea fired 175 artillery shells and missiles on a military installation on the tiny South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on Nov. 23, Seattle’s Korean-American community reacted with surprise and anger. Tensions continue to simmer here and on the Korean peninsula, where this event has followed a sudden explosion that sank a South Korean warship last March, killing 46 sailors.

State Sen. Paull Shin, who was in Seoul last week to participate in the free-trade agreement talks, echoed the view of many local Korean-Americans. “The United Nations Security Council and General Assembly should pass a resolution unanimously condemning North Korea’s actions,” he said.

Following meetings with the state’s Korean-American community leadership, including churches, veterans, business and civic leaders, Shin said that Washington state’s Korean-American community is very concerned where the South and North Korean face-off will lead.

“Most overseas Korean-Americans are deeply perturbed about North Korea’s actions,” he said. “They support President Lee Myung-bak’s taking a tougher stance against North Korea. There is a unanimous consensus that they want to make a stronger policy to defend or retaliate against what’s coming in the future.”

For other Korean-American citizens, however, the escalating crisis evoked more complicated feelings. “My reaction to the most recent events is sadness,” said Cindy Ryu, state representative-elect in the 32nd District and the first Korean-American mayor of Shoreline. “Both my parents are from what is now North Korea. Korean-Americans seem much more expressive about this destabilization than those who actually live right next to the demilitarized zone.”

Despite fears that the joint military exercises this week may lead to military confrontation, many local Puget Sound Korean-American community leaders downplay the possibility. “Even though there is a crisis between both Koreas, I don’t think war will happen,” said Yang Joon Hwang, managing editor of the Korea Times Seattle.

“We have been living through this situation for the past sixty years. Many Koreans want the South to take a stronger reaction against North Korea, but the best way to reduce tension between both Koreas is to talk with the North,” Hwang said.

Continue the story at http://crosscut.com/2010/12/09/culture-ethnicity/20434/Korean-community-in-Northwest-feels-confrontation-s-tensions/.