From suffering to liberation: Mindfulness meditation in critical pedagogy
This article explores the problems and possibilities of implementing Buddhist mindfulness meditation in critical pedagogy. Buddhism and critical pedagogy are compared, particularly their conceptions of suffering, liberation, and self. Challenges to the adaptation of critical pedagogy in Buddhist cultural contexts are addressed. Mindfulness meditation is proposed to enrich critical pedagogy and expand its cultural applicability.
Women’s Political Representation in Sri Lanka: Leading towards Prosperity or Peril
This paper argues that greater representation of women in Sri Lanka’s parliament and local government institutions, and greater gender sensitivity in general, will have substantially positive implications for the country, including accelerating the post-conflict reconciliation and recovery process.
The Failure of Secular Parties in Pakistan
The Pakistan People Party (PPP) and the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) both sustained significant losses in last month’s general elections. These results can be at least partly explained by the former coalition government’s hasty devolution of federal powers to unprepared provincial authorities, as well as their hesitance to fully engage with civil society groups. Both parties should now focus on tranparent, democratic party reforms, and the clarification of a coherent secular policy agenda so as to become politically revelant again through the 2018 elections.
Sudan: Another resource war?
The world’s attention was recently attracted to the Darfur region in the west of Sudan, where the conflict has escalated in recent weeks, fearing a second Rwanda might take place. An estimated 1,000 people per week are dying in the region.
Permanent Emergency Powers in France: The ‘Law to Strengthen Internal Security and the Fight Against Terrorism’ and the Protection of Human Rights
On November 1, 2017, France introduced a new Counter-Terrorism Law ending a two-year state of emergency and making many of the exceptional measures taken under the state of emergency permanent law. Taking into account past practices of ethnic profiling displayed by the French police, the passing of the law constitutes a worrisome development and raises a number of concerns about France’s compliance with its human rights obligations. The paper discussed these implications of the new law in the wider context of counter-terrorism trends.
Keywords: counter-terrorism, ethnic profiling, human rights, state of emergency
Nepal: Withering Peace
Nepal: Withering Peace Author: Nihar Nayak Originally published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on 02/01/2006 The shimmering prospect of peace in Nepal has ended, for the time being, with the withdrawal of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) from unilateral truce on January 2, 2006. Despite the warnings and concerns of the international community over […]
The Mizrahi – Palestinian Connection, Part I
holarly analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has depicted it as a conflict between two homogenous entities, namely Israel and the Palestinians. However, scholars largely ignore the impact of the “inner-Israeli” conflict between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim on the “external” conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Not only are the Mizrahim excluded from the peace process itself, but academics also fail to research the role they play in the conflict, while their occasional public role is that of extremely right-wing “Arab-haters” who prevent the Ashkenazi-dominated “liberal peace camp” from reaching a solution– hence they are portrayed as an obstacle to peace .
Fire, Water, Earth: The Kashmir region
The India-Pakistan conflict has seen much progress toward resolution in the last years, with bilateral cricket matches taking place and buses now passing to the Kashmir region. Yet tension in the form of arms shopping and multiple missile tests still persists. Through analyzing the three aspects of the conflict – fire, water, and earth – Semu Bhatt proposes some tentative solutions.
Religions and War
The study of religions and war is somewhat inchoate, yet for many years scholars have noted the important role religion plays in national, ethnic and international conflicts. Many have recently pointed to the use and abuse of religious symbolism by politically motivated leaders who employ religious language as a means of generating support for purportedly righteous causes.
We have become increasingly aware that when conflicts are couched in religious and moral language, followers often quickly and enthusiastically fall in line many willing to make ultimate sacrifices to fight on God s behalf, or at least on God s side as defined by their leaders.
Whether such political leaders are sincere in espousing religiously-imbued rhetoric or whether they are simple demagogues, the approach clearly works. It works to a great extent because it seems that many people, no matter what their political leanings, prefer to reduce complex socio-economic, or political conflicts into a zero-sum values game of right and wrong.
A Kashmiri Pandora’s Box
Speaking at an Iftar party (the supper to break fast during the holy month of Ramadan) last week, Pakistan’s ruler Gen. Parvez Musharraf opened a Pandora’s box. He suggested that India and Pakistan should consider the option of identifying ‘’some regions’’ of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control, demilitarise them and grant them the status of independence or joint control under the United Nations.