CIVIL RESISTANCE
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CIVIC EDUCATION
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Folke Bernadotte Academy Course on Reconciliation, Sweden
Nobel Peace Prize 1982: Swedish Alva Myrdal
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Here I am in Rome but yet still reflecting on the amazing time I spent in Sweden. It helped that it is raining and dreary cold outside, making the writing of this journal and work on the computer a bit more bearable, with a break to the neighborhood café for a late lunch. Plus, I know I will have to venture into the city (rain or shine) starting tomorrow (a meeting with International Rome Film Festival organizer Jacopo at his office in the Auditorium where all the events and activities are, a working lunch with staff of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights branch office here in Rome, meeting my visiting brother Sina from Michigan and at least one interview an Australian journalist in the late afternoon. (The screening is tomorrow night. I am very much looking forward to meeting Jacopo who called to express his welcome and to inform me of the various interview requests.)
 Facing Genocide director David Aronowitsch and IRFF Jacopo standing in front of preserved ruins of hundreds of years ago discovered only after the Rome Music Auditorium (also venue of International Rome Film Festival) began construction; incorporated into music auditorium design (Rome, 2 Nov. 2010) For having only a population of 9 million, Sweden claims disproportionately acclaims for its impressive marks in international affairs and diplomacy (UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, Hans Corell, Ragnar Angeby, Raoul Wallenberg, etc.), international peace (Nobel founder Alfred, Alva Myrdal) and international business (Ericson, Ikea, Volvo , H&M etc.). I was nicely greeted by a very talkative taxi driver who with pride informed me of life in Sweden – it’s clean (and yes, it is!); it’s safe; it’s expensive but that’s the price for the high-quality social services of free excellent education, health and well-being. Stockholm is very beautiful and pristine, with all the old buildings standing in tact. Unlike London and other European cities, this Nordic country has not experienced the destruction since the mid-1800s.
 Farewell dinner for Folke Bernadotte Academy participants and resource persons, here Liberian Commissioner Pearl Brown Bull with FBA director Ambassador Ragnar Angeby (Sando, Sweden, 27 Oct. 2010) Even though I was asked to join the Folke Bernadotte Academy as a Resource Person for its pilot Course on Reconciliation, I learned as much if not more than the participants. First of all, I am deeply impressed by the visionary Ambassador Ragnar Angeby and his impressive staff headed by Therese Jonsson. Second, it was great to see again good friends from the Stellenbosch workshop in Dec. 2009 – Ervin Staub, John Caulker and James Latigo – as well as meet new friends, in particular the brilliant facilitator/consultant Graeme Simpson.
 Theary Seng on Reconciliation panel with Colombian Hernando, Ugandan James and Turk Omer (Folke Bernadotte Academy, Sweden, 23 Oct. 2010) What is JUSTICE? Whatever else it may be, justice must include FAIRNESS, rule of law of societal norms and TRUTH. Truth is a pre-condition of justice. Truth involves who speaks and who gets heard. We delved into the difference of “amnesty” (before conviction) and “pardon” (has been convicted). We challenged the idea that “revealing is healing” by watching the film “Where the Truth Lies” about South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
 Graeme Simpson and Gunilla, Folke Bernadotte Academy (Sweden, Oct. 2010) We contextualized the JUSTICE conversation within the larger week-long discussion of RECONCILIATION and reparations, which was succinctly summarized for us by Graeme in the 6Rs of REPARATIONS:
- Recognition (including obligations of the State) - Right to remedy, right to participate, to design, to citizenship - Repair (sometimes symbolic) - Reform - Real and Realistic (must be tangible and practical) - Reconciliation – which is a not a moment but a process, not a principle but a strategy.
- Theary C. Seng, Rome, 1 Nov. 2010
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Nobel Peace Prize 1982: Alva Myrdal
Alva Myrdal was born in Uppsala in 1902, graduated from University in 1924, and married Gunnar Myrdal the same year. Together with her husband she made a major contribution in the 1930s to the work of promoting social welfare. They were joint authors of a book entitled "The Population Problem in Crisis", and she was also actively engaged in the discussion on housing and school problems. She was a prominent member of the Social Democrat Party in Sweden, and in 1943 was appointed to that party's committee with the task of drafting a post-war program. Also in that year she was appointed to the Government Commission on International Post-War Aid and Reconstruction.
After the second world war she devoted more and more of her time and energy to international questions. In 1949 - 1950 she headed UNO's section dealing with welfare policy, and in 1950 - 1955 she was chairman of UNESCO's social science section. In 1955 she was appointed Swedish ambassador to India, and in 1962 was nominated Sweden's representative to the Geneva disarmament conference. In that year she became a Member of Parliament and in 1967 a member of the Cabinet, entrusted with the special task of promoting disarmament. For a number of years she has represented her country in UNO's political committee, in which questions of disarmament have been dealt with.
During the negotiations in Geneva she played an extremely active role, emerging as the leader of the group of non-aligned nations which endeavored to bring pressure to bear on the two super powers to show greater concern for concrete disarmament measures. Her experiences from the years spent in Geneva found an outlet in her book "The Game of Disarmament", in which she expresses her disappointment at the reluctance of the USA and the USSR to disarm.
In her work for disarmament Alva Myrdal has combined profound commitment with great professional insight. With the support of experts she has familiarized herself with the scientific and technical aspects of the arms race. Her understanding of the need to base the work of disarmament on professional insight also found an outlet in her active participation in the establishment of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI. Through her many articles and books Alva Myrdal has exercised a very significant influence on the current disarmament debate.
From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1982, Editor Wilhelm Odelberg, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1983
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