“One commitment of action inspires a myriad others”
According to experts, pundits and journalists, the Clinton Global Initiative (referred to as the Clinton summit by some) achieves more than the United Nations or the World Economic Forum
By Sam Cherribi
Global Vision is the International Magazine for Business Executives.
Global Vision invites you the discover a new mega trend
in the history of philanthropy and global development.
The location is the ‘City that Never Sleeps’, New York.
The architect of this mega trend is the man who is
described by friend and foe as charismatic, persuasive and the ‘President of the World’ – Bill Clinton, former President of the United States.
Now in its second year, the Clinton Global Initiative mobilized a unprecedented $7.2 billion for development in low income countries. Clinton rallied support from across the entire political spectrum, from the global South to the global North.Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and media mogul
Rupert Murdoch were among the many prominent
entrepreneurs who came together at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September 2006. Liberia’s resident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Iceland’s President Olnafur Ragnar Grimsson were among the many political leaders from around the world in attendance.
Microfinance expert Muhammad Yunus from
Bangladesh, pop star Ahmad Salman from Asia and
Diana Krall, from the US,were among the many
talented individuals there determined to have an impact on the world.
The Clinton Global Initiative, an impressive three-day gathering of kings, presidents and subaltern NGO’s and CEO’s, is creating a new world order in philanthropy.
President Clinton is creating the facts on the ground and driving this paradigm shift. Philanthropists as well as the newly wealthy without significant history of philanthropy are interested in giving money now, so
that they are able see and feel the impact of their gifts during their lifetimes.Through the Clinton Global Initiative, philanthropy will set the agenda for development in low income countries, in partnership with the states or the governments. Governments have no choice but to join these engines of innovation and change: the principled entrepreneurs who see the whole picture, not only profit but the social and cultural
conditions that make profit sustainable.
Samina Ahmad, the manager and wife of pop star
Salman Ahmad who mobilized 1.5 billion viewers with his video clip and music against AIDS, said:“The Clinton Global Initiative was an exhilarating experience for us and we carried back a lot of positive energy and
are motivated to act on the commitment we made,
mainly to promote global health and women’s
empowerment in developing countries.We also wish to build cultural bridges through music,movies and the media in conflict ridden areas of the world.”These words reflect the heartwarming responses one could
hear from the hundreds of influentials gathered in the immense ballroom.
Jordan’s Queen Rania and King Abdallah spoke
eloquently and President Clinton described them as an essential bridge between the Arab Islamic world and the West in this time of uncertainty and frictions.The highlight of this year’s philanthropic feast was when Richard Branson, the billionaire and CEO of Virgin Atlantic Airlines and the multi-platform Virgin brand, pledged no less than $3 billion. He wants to use ethanol for cars and develop bio-based fuels for airplanes.
Global Vision interviewed a number of outstanding
guests including Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, novelist and writer Mario Vargas Llosa, and the president of CARE, Dr. Helene Gayle.
Sam Cherribi, Guest Editor
Global Vision, vol. 6 nr. 3, october/november 2006.
From Nicola Vidali & Jake Jacobson... an annoucement.
Sam.
"Dear Italy Atlanta Films Friends,
We would like to offer our deepest thanks for your participation at the 1st Italy Atlanta Film Festival kick-off event on February 18th for Fellini's "Ginger & Fred" at the beautiful Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. We are delighted and inspired by the event's success.
We hope we can count on you to enjoy the remainder of our exciting film series throughout 2007. Our next event is designed around the superb comedy-drama "Big Night", with Stanley Tucci and Tony ("Monk") Shaloub that will be presented at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center on Thursday March 15th. Our doors open at 7.00pm for a wonderful Italian buffet followed by a brief introduction and then our film and a discussion and Q&A session with our special guest speakers. See http://www.italyatlantafilms.com/programs.html
After the more celebrative opening night on February 18th, we are going to probe deeper into each film's themes for the remainder of our series, engaging our presenters and the audience in academic and cross-cultural conversations and processes.
Also, we would like to remind you to invite your friends and associates for our exciting April screening as the Italy Atlanta Film Festival will present the American premiere of an important new work on April 12th at the splendid Rich Auditorium at the Woodruff Art Center (400 seats). The film is called "Gli Occhi dell'altro", or "Through The Eyes Of Another", directed by thrilling new talent Gianpaolo Tescari, and produced by Marco Mandelli (who we are bringing in from Rome to introduce the film!). Variety Magazine raved about the film at its European premiere calling the work "powerful, unusually mature, unflinching and superbly scripted" .You can read the entire review at http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117927494.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0. The film will be presented in 35mm and will deal with the theme of "Social and Cultural Integrations". The lively post-discussions of each film will be the trademark of our continuing screenings throughout the festival.
Again, we cherish your time and consideration for our efforts as we continue to build the strong ties between the Italian and Atlantan communities through this ground-breaking cultural film series. We welcome your comments and ideas.
Love, Peace & Good Movies,
Nicola Vidali & Jake Jacobson
Co- Producers
Italy Atlanta Film Festival"
"Sam Cherribi, a sociologist at Emory University believes our very national identity is at stake and the next generation of voters and leaders is at risk of emotionally dropping out of public life precisely because of the Internet's effect on news. He says it’s “a miracle” to hear a student mention reading stories in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or the New York Times. Most go online to catch up on events and, once there, they are barraged with information."
Author of Satanic Verses Accepts Professorship
By: Chris Megerian and Salvador Rizzo
Issue date: 10/6/06 Section: News
Salman Rushdie, the controversial and award-winning author of The Satanic Verses, has accepted an invitation to become a professor in Emory's English department.
A senior Emory official with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed Rushdie's acceptance. Vice President of Communications Ron Sauder would not corroborate the decision on Thursday.
The appointment of the British-Indian writer makes Rushdie arguably the second best-known professor at Emory, after former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Source: The Emory Wheel
On Rushdie's impact in the Netherlands cf. my 1989's contribution to Rushdie-Effecten (Rushdie effects).
Jessie Pounds
Posted: 9/19/06
It's 8 a.m. EST. While the afternoon sun bathes the schoolchildren of Kenya, a team of Emory Information Technology Division staffers stumble, coffee in hands, into the deserted Cox Hall Computer Lab on Emory's campus.The 8 a.m. meeting is a conference call with Wahobe Kaburu, a fellow computer whiz at Kenya Methodist University who is helping the Emory staff bring technology to a Kenyan high school.
Emory Director of Academic Technology Services Alan Cattier and Coordinator of Departmental Computing Ade Afonja dial in Kaburu's number, but something goes wrong.
Other calls clog the limited lines into Kenya, and the call does not go through. Cattier and Afonja dial at least 20 more times before they reach their Kenyan counterpart and have the weekly chat.
The telephone problems make up surface static in the larger disconnection between the two continents, but at least two groups at Emory are working to bridge the gap.
English Professor Ron Schuchard and an Emory ITD team are acting to bring computers, Internet access and technology training to the Meru school in Kenya.
And the Emory Development Institute, created in 2005, is pushing to meet former president Jimmy Carter's challenge to the University to do something for Africa, particularly for the country of Mali.
Both initiatives pit the power of unlikely alliances against the debilitating force of disconnection.
Meeting in Meru
Like most other high schools in Kenya, the Meru school in Meru, Kenya had no computers and no Internet. When Schuchard traveled to the school in 2003, its educational materials hadn't changed significantly since the time he spent there as a teacher in the 1960s.
Schuchard arranged to bring 21st-century technology to the Meru school as a memorial to the life of former Emory Professor Emeritus George Brumley, who died in a plane crash into Mount Kenya.
With the go-ahead from the administration to donate 17 used computers to the school, Schuchard worked together with Emory's ITD to ship computers to Kenya.
Afonja and other ITD staffers worked from Emory to prepare the shipment, but because of pitfalls like changing government regulations and voltage discrepancies between the countries, the computers made it to Meru behind schedule.
The ITD staff had already flown into Kenya to set up the new computer lab, and the computers arrived shortly before the group's return flight to the states.
Rather than let down the students, Afonja spent more than 35 hours in the computer lab setting up the computers, occasionally stopping to nap on a table. Outside, more than 50 students camped out and cheered him on until he finished.
The excitement grew even stronger the next year, when Schuchard, his wife and ITD returned to install an Internet connection for the school. Within hours of gaining Internet access, the school staff began surfing CDC and other Web sites looking up information about diseases affecting the area.
Now students and teachers at the Meru school can e-mail Emory staff and faculty. But the electronic link is only one of many bonds between the two schools.
ITD staff completed a third trip to Kenya this year to provide additional training for the teachers, and Kaburu is now at Emory completing an apprenticeship with ITD. A visit by Emory adminstration to the Meru region next year is in the works.
McKinney said he was overwhelmed by the hospitality the Kenyans offered him.
"I spent about two weeks after I returned to the United States feeling angry and depressed with my friends," McKinney said. "At first I wondered why and thought maybe I just had jet lag, but on some level I felt like they just didn't measure up with the people I'd met in Kenya."
A Question of Connection
It's 6:30 p.m. EST. Two men stand in front of a class in White Hall 103.
One is Sam Cherribi, a sociology professor and a former Dutch politician. The other is George Vojta, a renowed international banker, former CEO of Bankers Trust and current chairman of eStandardsForum, Inc.
What the two have in common is a commitment to a continent.
In response to former President Jimmy Carter's 2004 challenge that Emory put its collective mind toward the problems faced by Mali and other African countries, Cherribi worked with administrators at Emory to create the Emory Development Institute and the Economic Development in Africa class.
To Cherribi, Carter's expectation that Emory lend a hand to the economic development of Africa made sense.
"If economic development for Africa doesn't happen in Atlanta, with its large African-American community, with the CDC, with the Carter Center, with the professors at Emory University, where will it happen?" Cherribi asked.
Vojta agreed. "The world is getting more unequal," Vojta said. "We have not solved the problem of global poverty."
A chance connection led Vojta to Cherribi, and Vojta became convinced that he should throw his weight behind the effort. Last semester Vojta flew to Atlanta almost every week to participate in the teaching of the economic development class.
With money from Vojta and from Coca-Cola Africa, students from the spring semester class were able to travel to Mali to present the development project ideas for the country.
In the class, Judith Taylor proposed using business centers in the country to help provide Internet connectivity for education in rural areas. When she traveled to the desert country, she found that natural barriers and a lack of financial resources meant that even good ideas might not be enough to solve Mali's connectivity problems.
Still, Taylor said she felt more enlightened than frustrated with her findings. While Taylor was learning about the lack of financial resources in the country, she discovered the inner resources of its people.
"The main thing that surprised me about the people of Mali was how resourceful they were," Taylor said. "They may lack cartons to put orange juice in, but they squeeze it into plastic bags and sell it anyway."
And whatever other connections the people of Mali lack, they now have a new group of ready-made ambassadors in the form of the Mali class students.
"Once you meet Africa you get hooked," Cherribi said. "You love the people, you love the societies, you want to be part of the change."
- Contact Jessie Pounds at jepound@learnlink.emory.edu
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(c) Copyright 2006 The Emory WheelMedia Credit: Courtesy of Sam Cherribi
The chief of the village Mobti in Mali holds up an Emory T-shirt that was presented to him by students from Professor Sam Cherribi's Economic Development in Africa course .
Consensus in: Emory ranks high in U.S. News U.S. News & World Report ranked Emory 18th among 248 national universities in its annual "America's Best Colleges" guide. Emory has also been recognized for its "Ivy League" qualities, its ability to attract top students and even its relationship with the Atlanta community.
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