President of the electoral committee of Guinea Ben Sekou Sylla (L) speaks with president of the national transition council, Rabiatou Sera Diallo, during a meeting of political party leaders in Conakry (from AFP)
From VOANews.com
The head of Guinea’s electoral commission has died, just days ahead of a critical election already thrown into turmoil by fraud allegations and political violence.
Family members say Ben Sekou Sylla, 57, died overnight Monday at a Paris hospital after an undisclosed illness.
Last week, Sylla was convicted of falsifying results in June’s first-round presidential election. He and another top election official were sentenced to a year in prison.
Guinea’s interim government suspended all campaigning Sunday after clashes between supporters of Alpha Conde and Cellou Dalein Diallo, the two candidates in the September 19 presidential run-off election.
Some Conde supporters have called for the election to be postponed. But an adviser to Diallo told VOA Tuesday that he expects the vote to be held as planned.
Diallo took 44 percent of the vote in the first round. Conde was second with 18 percent.
Election observers say June’s first round of voting was generally free and fair. But nearly all of the 24 candidates who took part complained of irregularities.
An interim election chief, Hadja Aminata Mame Camara, was appointed in August while Sylla sought medical treatment. But supporters of Conde say the new chief is too close to Diallo. They have asked for her to be replaced.
The election is Guinea’s first multi-party presidential poll since the country won independence from France in 1958. Since then, the country has been under some form of autocratic rule.
9/11 Widow, Nikki Stern Appeals for Unity
Common Ground Awardee Nikki Stern, who lost her husband in 9/11, speaks out against anger and hopes that:
“Next year, besides reading the names of the dead and marking the times the planes crashed and we all lost so much, maybe we can resurrect the feeling of unity that saved us then, and will save us again.”
Watch the video here.
If you’d like to come to this year’s awards or get more information check out this link!
The Unknown Soldier
We did not bury him deep enough; break up the monument,
Open the tomb, strip off the flags and the flowers
And let us look at him plainly, naked Man.
Greet him with silence since all the speeches were lies,
Clothe him in fresh khaki, hand him a rifle
And turn him loose to wander the city streets
Where eyes so quickly inured to death’s accoutrement
Will hardly spare him a glance, equipped to die for us.
“You see that fellow with the grin, one eye on the girls,
The other on the pub, his uniform shabby already?
Well, don’t let him hear us, but he’s the Unknown Soldier,
They just let him out, they say he lives for ever.
They put him away with flowers and flags and forget him,
But he always comes when they want him. He does the fighting.’
~Douglas Alexander Stewart (1913-1985)
The Common Ground News Service believes that certain recent events, the Qur’an burning and the anniversary of September 11, merit a special focus on promoting Muslim-Western understanding. While the Qur’an burning has now been “suspended” the debate surrounding Park 51 has brought out an ugly discourse of Islamophobia and the message of this Op-Ed, which was distributed yesterday (Sept 9), remains just as relevant and full of grace.
By Rev. Wayne Lavender
Clifton, Virginia – I am a man of faith. I have been a Christian pastor for 25 years in the United Methodist Church. It is out of this deep commitment to the principles of my faith that I feel I need to do something – anything – in response to the potential hate crime that will be perpetrated by a Christian church, the Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida, on 11 September 2010.
Despite the fact that authorities for the city of Gainesville have denied a permit for the event, saying that open burnings of books are not allowed in the city, Pastor Terry Jones has promised to burn copies of the Qur’an in the parking lot of his church on the ninth anniversary of the 11 September attacks.
What can I do to confront such hatred and ignorance? read more…
We’re pleased to announced that Susan Collin Marks, Senior Vice President, Search for Common Ground and Ambassador John McDonald, Chairman and Co-Founder, Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, will discuss paths to peace at the PeaceWeek Global Telesummit.
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
International Day of Peace
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
PeaceWeek is a free global telesummit featuring more than 50 groundbreaking and inspiring peacebuilders. It is the largest virtual peace summit ever created. It will offer profound insights to create peace in your life, your family, your community and our world.
It promises to be an unprecedented journey of personal growth and collective change, as well as an opportunity to come together with people from around the world who deeply care about the future of our planet and the potential for humanity to make a profound shift beyond violence.
There will be dozens of teleseminars during PeaceWeek including these participants: the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Aqeela Sherrils and Shiva Rea. You’ll hear about groundbreaking work from Israel to Sri Lanka to Watts, as well as emerging innovations such as a Peace Academy or the Youth Promise Act.
And you’ll get free access to the entire PeaceWeek library of calls to inspire you for years to come (and share with friends).
You can participate live on as many calls as you like and interact with both the leaders and other participants via a state-of-the-art MaestroConference platform, which will connect you to people from around the world. Or even if you can’t make live calls, go ahead and register and you can listen to any of the recordings later.
PeaceWeek begins Sept. 14th and culminates on the UN International Day of Peace (Sept. 21st) as a FREE offering from The Shift Network and The Peace Alliance.
For more information and to register, click here.
By Sydney Smith
Terry Jones
Perhaps you’ve heard about Terry Jones who (along with maybe five other people) will be burning copies of the Qur’an in a ridiculous attempt to commemorate 9/11, seriously offend and outrage most people (regardless of their religious background) and somehow act as a “warning” to…someone (he’s not entirely clear on who that is but it would seem to encompass a number of people who aren’t Muslim at all):
“We are talking here, not to the moderate muslim, we’re not talking to the american army, we are wanting to send a message to those people who do not mind threatening the president, who do not mind bombing buildings, who do not mind storming embassies. We’re sending a message to them that we can go beyond talk.”
Naturally, there have been anti-American demonstrations around the world as a result of Jones’ plan. People are right to be upset. This is a disgraceful act that should be condemned. And certainly there are many people who have legitimate grievances against America as a country.
This is not one of them. This is the act of a single man. And an idiot at that.
This is a man who says his actions are not directed at “moderate Muslims” and still plans to burn their holy book; hoping perhaps that they’ll listen to his words instead of his actions? This is a man who thinks enraging people is a deterrent to terrorism. Who has gotten the idea that burning a book is really scary warning to people who are willing to kill and die for their cause.
The Guardian has a great video of both James’ ranting and Hilary Clinton’s remarks at the State Department Iftar dinner.
I hope that people hear the voices condemning Jones’ message as strongly as they hear Jones himself. (A quick look at facebook will show overwhelming numbers against Jones’s venture). Just as Jones is guilty (among so many other things) of tarring all Muslims with the same brush, so too are people who take him as representative of America.
Watch the video and see what you think. As disgusted as I am with this, I am almost more disgusted that any fool with a facebook account and a half-baked plan can get legitimacy.
