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December 29, 2011

2011’s Memorable Moments From the World

Filed under: World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — ICTMN Staff @ 2:30 pm

Indigenous issues were constantly bubbling over around the world, whether it was Bolivia’s fight over coca rights or the struggle to keep the Belo Monte dam from happening in Brazil, the effects on Indigenous Peoples were felt around the world and Indian Country Today Media Network is highlighting the memorable issues from 2011.

Our Coca Right

Earlier this year Bolivian President Evo Morales, the first indigenous president the country’s had, vowed to protect his country’s right to chew the coca leaf. The coca leaf is often confused with cocaine and the other negative aspects the illegal drug brings with it and is frowned upon by the United Nations. The fight continued throughout most the year, until July 7 when Morales announced he had withdrawn Bolivia from the U.N. treaty that bans chewing the leaf. The withdrawal would stand until an amendment was made on the treaty.

Dirty Hands a Sign of Guilt

In February an Ecuadorian Judge found oil giant Chevron guilty of polluting an area of the Amazon after 17 years. The landmark decision that came February 14 ordered Chevron to spend $8.6 billion to clean up the mess. Though Chevron appealed and seeing real action could be slow moving the decision marks a historic event.

Homeward Bound

In February, Yale University signed an agreement with the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco to return 5,000 artifacts and remains to the famed citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru after a century of exile in the United States.

Dam You Belo Monte

In June the Brazilian government ignored all challengers, whether in courts or through protests, of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. As the dam that will displace at least 20,000 people and ruin the livelihoods of approximately 40,000 mostly indigenous Brazilians, President Dilma Rousseff was unveiling an anti-poverty program called “Brazil Without Misery.” Oh the irony.

Stepping Out of the Shadows

As only a few countries recognize the existence of Indigenous Peoples in Southern Africa, while many others have been willing to let them fade into the backdrop, a new Indigenous Rights Programme that was announced in July was set up by the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa to benefit the indigenous communities. Only the programme was announced to mixed emotions in the very communities it was created for. Those who aren’t supportive feel the government still needs to do more.

One Small Step for Indigenouskind

In August, the Peruvian government under new President Ollanta Humala took a step in favor of Indigenous Peoples within the country. A law was unanimously approved and then signed by Humala mandates that Native populations must first be consulted for any developments within indigenous territories.

The Road Less Traveled

In September, a heated confrontation took place in Bolivia as police fired tear gas at protestors. The indigenous marchers protesting a road that was to cut through the National Park and Indigenous Territory Isiboro-Secure (TIPNIS) were forced onto buses and told to return to their villages before they were able to reach the end destination on their 350-mile journey—the capital. President Evo Morales condemned the police for firing the tear gas, the marchers were able to continue the march and ultimately the road had been stopped, though tension is still high, before the end of the year.

Making History

In September a Costa Rican indigenous community sued the Costa Rican government successfully to recover territory that had been theirs—a first in Costa Rican history. Federal agencies were ordered to expropriate more than 11,000 acres of land to be returned to the Bribri community of the Kekoldi reservation—an area currently occupied by non-indigenous people.

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October 18, 2011

A Historic Victory in Costa Rica

Filed under: News Alerts,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , — Rick Kearns @ 1:30 pm

For the first time in Costa Rican history an indigenous community has successfully sued to recover territory that had been theirs according to earlier rulings.

Along with the fact that this marks the first such victory for any Indigenous Peoples in Costa Rica, the community’s leader stated that it opens the door for similar suits from any of the indigenous groups in the nation.

“It is a very important achievement,” asserted Demetrio Mayorga, president of the Kekoldi reservation’s ruling body, the Integral Development Association (ADI), “because for the first time the law is on our side.

“This opens the possibility for the other 24 aboriginal territories to recover their lands, because without them we are not complete,” Mayorga added.

On September 12, the Administrative Tribunal of Contention ordered the relevant federal agencies – the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) and the National Commission of Indigenous Affairs (CONAI) – to expropriate more than 11,000 acres of land to be returned to the Bribri community of the Kekoldi reservation—this part of Bribri territory is currently occupied by non-indigenous people.

According to the ruling the IDA and CONAI will have one month to identify the non-indigenous people affected by the ruling, then six months to determine the monetary values of the properties and then one year to effect the moves and transfer of ownership.

Even though the formal transfer is not completed, the community’s attorney is pleased with this development.

“This ruling is historic,” stated Danilo Chaverri Barrantes, attorney for the Bribri community, “because it’s the fist time that they order these institutions to remove non-Indigenous Peoples from these lands, but the most important thing is that they have established that it shall take one year to do so.”

“It is also important,” Chaverri Barrantes noted, “as it is the first time that indigenous people sued the state and … they have never had a hearing before in that sense.”

These recovered lands had been included in a presidential decree of 1977 that had created the Kekoldi reservation, a territory that extends across 14,820 acres. The Bribri people were only able to settle on 1,500 acres of the territory at first, due in part to lawsuits against the executive order. Those lawsuits were then overturned in 1997 and 2001, which technically gave the Bribri the right to those disputed territories but no formal actions were taken to affect the transfers.

In an August press statement prior to the ruling Chaverri Barrantes explained that, “In those 34 years the indigenous people have fought against invasions with few positive results. They are in possession of 3,705 acres but their territory is 14,820 acres. That is to say that there are 11,115 acres of their territory of which they do not currently occupy, and this must be a subject of study.”

Chaverri Barrantes also explained that there are other legal challenges to the original executive order that have not been resolved, and that the transfer process will be delayed until these challenges are settled.

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March 20, 2012

Acapulco, Mexico Rocked by 7.4 Earthquake

Filed under: Environment,News Alerts,Travel,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , — ICTMN Staff @ 8:30 pm

The tourist hotspot Acapulco, Mexico was shaken Tuesday by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit Guerrero state and was later followed by a 5.1 aftershock according to an Associated Press story via CBS News.

The epicenter, 15 miles from the city of Ometepec, shook Oaxaca along with Guerrero and governors of both states reported on their twitter accounts that there were no major reports of damage according to AP.

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March 21, 2012

Annual International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Is Today

Filed under: Canada,Politics,Racism,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Gale Courey Toensing @ 7:10 pm

“If a phantom has at some time traveled this earth, it is racism. I understand this as a phenomenon that is supported by the belief of superiority in the face of difference, in the belief that one’s own culture possesses values superior to those of other cultures. It has not been stated often enough that racism has historically been a banner to justify the enterprises of expansion, conquest, colonization and domination and has walked hand in hand with intolerance, injustice and violence.” – Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Guatemalan Indigenous Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, at the Sixth Lascasianas Symposium in Mexico, 1996.

Rigoberta Menchu Tum’s eloquent words on the history and ongoing effects of racism resonant each year on March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The United Nations’ General Assembly proclaimed March 21 as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1966, six years after that day in 1960 when police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against that country’s apartheid ‘pass laws” in Sharpeville, South Africa. The ironically named “pass laws” forced black South Africa to carry identification documents at all times and prohibited black Africans to leave a bantustan without them.

Since 1966, South Africa’s apartheid systems have been dismantled and racist laws and practices have been rescinded both in South Africa and many other countries. The International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination has gone a long way toward highlighting – and banishing – racial discrimination in all its various expressions, but racism remains embedded in countries worldwide. Although the United States has ratified the Convention, it expressed reservations about its implementation: “The Constitution of the United States contains provisions for the protection of individual rights, such as the right of free speech, and nothing in the Convention shall be deemed to require or to authorize legislation or other action by the United States of America incompatible with the provisions of the Constitution of the United States of America.”

The theme of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is “Racism and Conflict,” linking the fact that racism and discrimination are often tied to deadly conflict. “Racism and racial discrimination have been used as weapons to engender fear and hatred. In extreme cases, ruthless leaders instigate prejudice to incite genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message commemorating the day. “Racism undermines peace, security, justice and social progress. It is a violation of human rights that tears at individuals and rips apart the social fabric.”

In her statement marking the Day, Navi Pillay, the U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights, cited a survey showing that 55 percent of violent conflicts between 2007 and 2009 had violations of minority rights or ethnic tensions at their core. “The relationship between racism and conflict is a deep-rooted, well-established one,” she said.

One of the major barriers to eliminating racism is that the earliest warnings of prejudice and discord are so often ignored, and it is only when the later, more sinister signs begin to emerge that the State and the international community react.

“On this International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I call on States to heed the early warnings of prejudice, stereotypes, ignorance and xenophobia. I call on them to address, urgently, the marginalization and exclusion of individuals belonging to certain communities from political and economic decision-making. I call for a process of consultation and constant dialogue with all sectors of society, a redoubling of efforts to ensure that access to jobs, to land, to political and economic rights is not contingent on one’s color, ethnic, national or racial background, and that development projects do not disproportionately disadvantage a particular community,” Pillay said. She said these are not new obligations on the part of states, but are longstanding universally agreed human rights commitments.

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October 26, 2011

Better Test Scores for Indigenous Students in Mexico

Filed under: Education,News Alerts,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Rick Kearns @ 1:30 pm

Indigenous elementary school students in Mexico have improved their test scores in Math and Spanish again this year according to results from a national comprehensive exam, and these advances mark the sixth consecutive year of better grades for indigenous children.

According to the 2011 National Evaluation of Academic Achievement (Enlace), indigenous girls and boys at the elementary levels registered an advance of six percentage points in the categories of Excellent and Good in mathematics since 2010. From 2006 to 2011, the total increase was 16.9 percentage points in the higher categories, along with a decrease of 19.4 percentage points of indigenous students in the categories of Basic and Insufficient.

These elementary school age children also scored higher in Spanish in 2011 with an increase of 3.7 percentage points from 2010 in the Excellent and Good categories. Similar to the overall advances in math, the students increased their total scores by 13.6 percentage points between 2006 and 2011, with a decrease of 18.7 percentage points in the Basic and Insufficient levels in that same time period.

These improvements, according to Rosalinda Morales Garza, the Director of Indigenous Education in Mexico (DGEI), are directly linked to a change in national education policy and a strategy involving the professionalization of teachers who work with indigenous students.

In a press statement issued on October 10, Morales Garza asserted that the improved scores come from a “public policy oriented towards results with a strengthening of teaching methods, of an integral strategy of professionalization of indigenous educators, that has brought an academic mobilization connected to the Indigenous Education Professionals Network (IEPN), that also reasserted the culture of responsibility for improving their performance in the classroom, with innovative practices…”

The statement also noted that “…the efforts at professionalization and formation continue, coordinated by the DGEI’s technical teams at more than 100 events annually.”

Part of the professionalization effort, according to DGEI publications, involves participatory seminars for educators, and courses designed by specialists in indigenous education that are offered to teachers of indigenous children and adolescents. Close to 20,000 teachers have taken these courses yearly since 2008.

According to information provided by Beatriz Martinez, an Education Media Consultant for the DGEI, the teachers who participate in the seminars and other programs, learn about the customs, practices and experiences of the Indigenous Peoples in Mexico. The DGEI team has also designed a series of Indigenous Language courses, where students in 120 schools can learn the Maya, Totonaco, Nahuatl or Nahnu language that includes a variety of textbooks in the respective language.

Following these efforts is a bilingual, Spanish as a second language program for very young children, where the students begin to learn to read and write in their native language as well as learning Spanish as a second language as part of the same program. So far, the DGEI data shows that there are now 59,000 indigenous bilingual teachers working in schools in Mexico.

These indigenous programs are aimed at the 1.3 million elementary school age indigenous children and the 850,000 adolescents who are presently enrolled in any of the 23,000 indigenous schools in Mexico. One of the recent projects of the DGEI is also to include the indigenous children of migrant farm workers in the country, where it is estimated that 40 percent of all migrant farm workers are indigenous.

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March 16, 2012

Claiming Intellectual Property a Tough Debate for Indigenous Peoples

Filed under: Politics,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Linda Daniels @ 7:30 pm

Indigenous intellectual property has over the years provoked a fierce debate between governments, first nation peoples and corporates about who should benefit most from the spoils of commercialized indigenous knowledge systems. As yet, the debate shows no signs of abating with a workable resolution for all.

Indigenous Peoples across the world have raised this issue again and again in several declarations that state a clear commitment to promote and protect indigenous knowledge systems from misappropriation and misuse.

Indigenous Peoples put forward the argument, amongst other key points, that knowledge of the use of certain plants for example have been developed over several generations and ask why should only the present generation benefit, they also question why some governments or corporates are reaping all the rewards of indigenous knowledge through patented products when the knowledge was born from the communities of Indigenous Peoples.

The difficulty in answering these questions, according to law experts, is that indigenous knowledge systems do not have a clearly devised timeline to the origin or source of the knowledge.

It still proves very difficult for proponents of indigenous intellectual property to trump corporates wanting to capitalize on indigenous knowledge systems, more especially within a western legal framework.

Apart from this legal hurdle, a second obstacle for some Indigenous Peoples is getting recognition of the concept of an indigenous knowledge system since they themselves are not recognized as Indigenous Peoples by their governments.

In South Africa, the trustee of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) and the national Khoi San council Cecil le Fleur explains that the first nation peoples are referred to as traditional leaders and as such they cannot access the rights afforded them under the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which in article 11, addresses the rights of Indigenous Peoples to maintain and to further their own cultural practices and traditions, specifically their cultural and intellectual property.

One of South Africa’s most well known indigenous herbs exported abroad, is the famously soothing Rooibos tea, known commercially as red bush tea.

Cecil le Fleur explained that while Khoi and San people’s would like to see the recognition afforded them with regards to their knowledge systems he underscores the point that those knowledge systems, such as the broad use of indigenous herbs and plants, is for everyone.

“I don’t think we must have the attitude of owning the plant. It is to at least give recognition to people who used the plant for centuries. If they (corporates) make a lot of money from that plant and don’t plough back into first nation communities, then that is not fair. In a globalized world no-one can claim ownership of a plant nor land,” explained le Fleur.

Gino Cocchiaro is a lawyer with Natural Justice, a non-profit organization whose work is defined as the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity through the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

He said that the argument for intellectual property rights being attached to Indigenous Peoples knowledge systems is not straightforward.

“With commonly held knowledge there may be difficulty in seeing through a successful patent claim. You can’t put an Intellectual Property claim over knowledge that is collectively held. How do you protect knowledge?”

Cocchiaro said that the challenge now was to come up with a new legal framework to support and protect Indigenous knowledge systems.

Indigenous Peoples argue that Patents are limited in scope and do not recognize the fact that indigenous knowledge is collectively owned. Patents are commercially driven and have time frames that are not practical to indigenous knowledge systems.

Apart from these shortcomings, Indigenous Peoples can rarely afford to hire patent lawyers to fight on their behalf.

But there is another view on the issue of indigenous intellectual property rights that states that the issue will always remain on the margins, given the dominant system of knowledge production that mainly takes place in universities.

Historian Shamil Jeppe explains: “ Maybe it (indigenous knowledge systems) is impossible to recover under capitalism. It will always be a minority add-on.”

Jeppe asked: “When does something become indigenous? 50 years ago, 300 years ago? There’s nothing original that didn’t come from a seed elsewhere.”

As the debate rages on, it is clear that Indigenous Peoples are integral to the discussion. Given the history of persecution of Indigenous Peoples under colonialism, the fight to include Indigenous Peoples voices in the protection of indigenous knowledge systems is important and necessary to inform the way forward.

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January 19, 2012

CNN Special ‘Narco Wars’ Focuses on Central America as the Murder Capital of the World

Filed under: News Alerts,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — ICTMN Staff @ 4:56 pm

Mexico may be known for it’s drug trafficking and cartels, but in Central America there are countries known for their murder rates. Welcome to the most violent region on earth according to an October article at CNN.com.

Specifically, Honduras which is the current murder capital of the world according to a graph by The Washington Post.

On January 22, CNN will be airing a special report titled “Narco Wars,” that was filmed on the streets of Honduras and Guatemala, two countries that have a higher per-capita murder rate than Mexico in 2010, along with El Salvador, Belize and Panama – All Central America countries.

The special report focuses on these two countries because they have become the cocaine corridor for the United States where the majority of murders are connected to drugs and go unsolved.

The special will be premiering at 8 p.m. on CNN Presents.

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September 5, 2012

Costa Rica Earthquake Kills Two, Rattles Central America

Filed under: Environment,News Alerts,World News — Tags: , , , , — ICTMN Staff @ 10:29 pm

A tsunami warning that was issued in the wake of a 7.6-magnitude Costa Rica earthquake that struck early Wednesday has been canceled.

Two people died in the September 5 quake, which occurred at 8:42 a.m. and was centered in the beach town of Cangrejal. One person died of a heart attack and another, a construction worker, died when a wall collapsed on him, BBC News reported. The epicenter was 87 miles west of San Jose, the Central American country’s capital, the Associated Press quoted the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as saying. It was 25 miles underground.

The quake was felt as far away as Nicaragua and Panama, which border Costa Rica to the north and south, respectively. Some homes near the epicenter were knocked down, and landslides blocked some roads, local officials told the AP. Originally it was classified as a 7.9 magnitude, but the USGS revised it downward soon after.

Seismic activity is common in the zone of Wednesday’s temblor, the AP said, as the Cocos tectonic plate is pushing underneath the Caribbean plate.

“All along the Pacific coast of Central America, you can expect fairly big earthquakes,” USGS seismologist Daniel McNamara told AP, adding that the epicenter’s depth is what saved it from being worse. “If it was a shallower event, it would be a significantly higher hazard.”

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October 10, 2011

Culinary Tour Explores Food, Culture and Health of Guam’s Indigenous Peoples

Filed under: Health & Wellness,News Alerts,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — ICTMN Staff @ 6:58 pm

On October 1, renowned American Indian chefs Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater (Navajo) joined four of Guam’s premier chefs on the island in the Pacific Ocean to prepare a gala dinner, “Eat Your Heritage Tour.”

The five-course meal explored “the importance of environmental sustainability and its relationship to cultural preservation,” according to Kimberlee Kihleng, Ph.D., the executive director of the nonprofit Guam Humanities Council, the sponsor of the tour. The council provides resources and support for the indigenous people of Guam.

“The goal of the project is to encourage the locals to explore the important connections between food, health, culture and the environment,” said Monaeka Flores, marketing and programs coordinator for the Guam Humanities Council. “It is sadly true that diabetes and other diseases are typically higher among native communities,” she continued in an interview with guampdn.com.

The grand occasion attracted some 200 supporters at the Hyatt Regency Guam in Tumon. The tour also aimed to “help with the training of a new generation of chefs,” Dr. Kihleng told the Marianas Variety.

The prominent Guam chefs who collaborated in the kitchen with Frank and Whitewater to prepare a dinner with techniques and ingredients from the desert southwest and the island of Guam included: Josef Budde from the Hyatt Regency, Peter Duenas from Meskla Chamorro Fusion, Paul Kerner from Guam Community College, and Geoffrey Perez from Proa Restaurant.

“Guests can expect to navigate through a culinary voyage of sustainable foods that were available to early Chamorros and still remain to all of us today,” said Perez before the event to guampdn.com. Perez has been cooking professionally for 19 years.

“Food is sustenance. It has such cultural significance. It’s also about the environment, the land. It all comes together around food,” said Frank, an award-winning author (she published the James Beard Award-winning book Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, in August 2002), Native foods historian and a photographer who has spent more than 18 years documenting foods and lifestyles of American Indian tribes from the Southwest. Frank and Whitewater own and operate the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Red Mesa Cuisine, a catering company dedicated to keeping traditional American Indian cuisine and culinary techniques alive.

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Dalai Lama Interview on Tolerance

Filed under: News Alerts,World News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Anne Stiens @ 8:12 pm

It was one of those few perfect sunshine days when you can smell the summer, flowers, trees and grass, and feel the warm touch of sunlight on your skin with temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius as you expect in India, when His Holiness The XIV Dalai Lama met friends and Tibetans in the park of the Villa Goetzfried in Wiesbaden in Germany.

The introduction was a moving performance by a charming Tibetan woman named Dechen Shak-Dagsay, who is a famous mantra-vocalist from Tibet. Her songs and graceful appearance in original Tibetan dress moved the hearts of the visitors and transported their emotions from Germany to far away Tibet.

Afterwards he arrives. The Dalai Lama welcomes everybody and sits down on a small podium in front of us. There is no distance or aloofness between the Holy Man and the people. You feel his warmth and friendliness directly.

He starts his speech by underlining our own responsibility for our world: “We are the same human beings and share this small blue planet.” Therefore he demands that we forget all differences between religions and nations, find the roots of violence and also decrease the gulf between the poor and the rich. “There is no me and they,” the Dalai Lama said, “the whole world is me.”

In connection with his speech I got the chance for a unique interview with the Dalai Lama about his main ideas: to promote tolerance, learn from different religions and establish close contacts. As The Human Codes of Tolerance and Respect is the most important project of the World Security Network Foundation, I asked him about his experience and proposals.

How can we promote tolerance and respect towards other religions and ethnic minorities, Your Holiness?

I always mention that the concept of one single truth and one religion is itself a contradiction.

But on the level of the individual it is very relevant and can be very helpful. You should keep a single-pointed faith for yourself.

In the reality of different communities and religions with so many people the concept of only one religion is irrelevant.

In reality we have different religions and a concept of one truth seems irrelevant to me.

From the personal point of view everything is relative and one truth for a single person is relevant.

But when you have many people with different values and backgrounds this concept is not convincing as there are many truths and religions – and this is good so.

What can we all as simple human beings do?

We must develop close contacts with others and their traditions.

In India for over 1000 years – besides the home-grown religions – all major religions were established there as well and lived together. Generally they lived together in harmony and friendship for a long time.

One researcher found a Muslim village with a population of 2,000 with only three Hindu families there. But the Hindus had no fear and everybody was very friendly. That is India. Sometimes there are problems as in all populations. That can happen and is understandable.

Basically a spiritual sense of brothers and sisters existed. India kept 1,000 years of religious harmony – why not in other areas in the word?

What can we learn from others?

The more close contacts we have on the personal level the deeper is the understanding and mutual respect. You need close contacts to learn about the values of other religions from each other like Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu or Buddhists.

The deep understanding of their values develops a basis of mutual respect.

We Buddhists are eager to learn more about mutual respect and the practice of tolerance and compassion.

Some Christian friends have implemented these things already in their religion.

Thus we develop a spiritual brother-and-sisterhood.

When will the situation in Tibet change for the better?

When Mahatma Gandhi and other great leaders started their work nobody gave them any guarantee of success. But they were very determined and full of will-power whatever the obstacles were.

When my Indian friends started their freedom-fight no one knew when freedom

would come – they were determined as well and advised me to follow it.

Nobody knows when things will change but you must keep your determination – that is important.

What impressed me most is that you cannot find intensive missionary thoughts in the Dalai Lama’s speech to conquer people for his Buddhist belief. He is a general missionary for humanity and the good cause of peaceful coexistence, integrating all major religions into global codes of tolerance. For him there is no right or wrong religion.

He stated: “All major religious traditions carry basically the same message: that is love, compassion and forgiveness; the important thing is that they should be part of our daily lives. We can’t say that all religions are the same, different religions have different views and fundamental differences. But it does not matter, as all religions are meant to help in bringing about a better world with better and happier human beings. On this level, I think that through different philosophical explanations and approaches, all religions have the same goal and the same potential.”

For him moral action means not to interfere in the people’s desire for happiness and joy. Everybody must also consider the interests of others. Sensitivity is needed to take care of other people.

He teaches that: “Good fortune arises from spiritual qualities like love or tolerance which make us more happy.”

Also, I like The Dalai Lama’s other ideas:

  • “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
  • “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
  • “If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.”
  • “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
  • “In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”
  • “It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.”
  • “It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.”
  • “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”
  • “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness and my philosophy is kindness. This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple.”
  • “Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of universal responsibility, not only nation-to-nation and human-to-human, but also human to other forms of life.”
  • “With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.”

The Dalai Lama grounds humanity in all of us, in our kindness and responsibility as human beings.

Anne Stiens is Vice President Media of the independent global www.worldsecuritynetwork.com, the largest social media in foreign affairs.

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