One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism One School at a Time
"BILL MOYERS: But this intrigues me because you've set out over these years to educate young girls primarily. I mean, you do have some boys in your schools, but primarily your goal is to educate young girls. And given the fact that the Afghani and Pakistani societies are so male dominated, that men run the families, they run the government, they run the villages, they run the Taliban, why focus on girls instead of the men who are going to, in that culture, grow up and run things?
GREG MORTENSON: Well, it's obviously the boys need education also. But as a child in Africa, I learned a proverb. And it says, ‘If we educate a boy, we educate an individual. But if we can educate a girl, we educate a community.’ And what that means is when girls grow up, become a mother, they are the ones who promote the value of education in the community. The education of girls has very powerful impacts in a society. Number one, the infant mortality's reduced. Number two, the population is reduced. The third thing is the quality of health improves. And, from my own observation, when girls learn how to read and write, they often teach their mother how to read and write. Boys, we don't seem to do that as much. They also, you'll see people, kids coming out for the marketplace, have meat or vegetables wrapped in newspaper. And then you'll see the mother very carefully unfolding a newspaper and ask her daughter to read the news to her. And it's the first time that woman is able to get information of what's going on in the outside world around--very powerful to see that. And another compelling reason is when women are educated, they're not as likely to condone or encourage their son to get into violence or into terrorism. In fact, culturally when someone goes on jihad, they should get permission from their mother first. And if they don't, it's very shameful or disgraceful. So when women are educated, as I mentioned, they are less likely to encourage their son to get into violence. And I've seen that happen, Bill, over the last decade in rural areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan. I mean, I could go on all day about this, but educating girls is very powerful."
(Bill Moyers Journal, 15 January 2010, PBS)
CONTRIBUTOR
Lindsay QuennellSHARE
BBC launches Persian TV channel
"BBC Persian TV will broadcast for eight hours a day, seven days a week, in peak viewing time in those [Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan] countries.
The head of BBC World Service, Nigel Chapman, says millions of Iranians have dishes and there is plenty of demand.
...
Mr Chapman said it was important to provide TV in Farsi because of the numbers of people accessing news and information through television. He called them "a very important audience... who trust the BBC, who value it".
As well as news, the BBC Persian channel will show BBC arts, culture, science and technology programmes, dubbed into Persian."
(BBC, Wednesday 14 January 2009)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Recombinant prose poem: What I Heard about Iraq
"...I heard an American soldier say: 'There's a picture of the World Trade Center hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my Kevlar. Every time I feel sorry for these people I look at that. I think: 'They hit us at home and now it's our turn.'..."
(Eliot Weinberger)
LRB, Vol. 27 No. 3, 3 February 2005
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Christian forces humiliating Muslims in their own heartland
"[Islam, like Christianity] is fuelled by diverse factors. Some point to the growing resentment of being humiliated by the Christian West. The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq have been the most recent causes for resentment, of Christian forces humiliating Muslims in their own heartland. The support of Israel by the United States to the neglect of the Palestinian people only confirms such resentment in the minds of many. But there are other factors as well. Many young, educated males in Muslim lands cannot find jobs. Since Western technology has failed them, they turn to their faith. The sheer pace of globalisation, and the migration of Muslims out of majority-Muslim countries into a Muslim diaspora have created an alienation that makes people cling more to their faith. Movements of revival have been moving through the Muslim world since the 1930s, but the recent developments of globalisation and migration have brought them to the attention of the rest of the world. As recently as the early 1990s, French scholar Olivier Roy saw worldwide Islam as too decentralised and too disorganised to make much social difference. Today, he speaks more carefully about what he sees happening."
(Robert J. Schreiter, p.5)
2). Schreiter, R. J. (2005). "A New Modernity: Living and Believing in an Unstable World". The Anthony Jordan Lectures, Newman Theological College, Edmonton Alberta, March 18-19, 2005 p.5. http://www.mission-preciousblood.org/Docsfiles/schreiter_new_modernity.pdf (Accessed 10 August 2005).
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
