Connecting to the superstition of many in the Burmese/Myanmar army that contact with a woman’s undergarments would rob them of power, women around the world from Myanmar launched a human rights campaign sending panties to Myanmar embassies to symbolically strip the military dictatorship of power and legitimacy. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/burmese-women-campaign-human-rights-panties-peace-2007
Transforming Initiatives
BLINDFOLDED MUSLIMS OPEN FOR HUGS
Here are many examples of Muslims taking transforming initiatives to shatter stereotypes and open some basic human interaction. The context for some of these actions has been profound, such as in Paris after a major terrorist attack: Blindfolded Muslim in Toronto: In New York: In Stockholm In France following 2015 Paris terrorist attack: This project… Read more »
VETERANS FROM TWO SIDES IN VIETNAM LEAD IN RECONCILIATION
Soldiers who fought so ferociously and bitterly against each other in Vietnam have been leading reconciliation efforts—a powerful story! http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/world/asia/war-veterans-lead-the-way-in-reconciling-former-enemies.html
FREE HUGS PROJECT
Love seeing transforming initiatives! This is a symbolic action–not a “mere” symbol, but a symbol that confronts and offers an alternative vision. We also need substantive change to address the issues of racism, alienation, poverty, etc., to give on-going substance to the heart-cries expressed in these symbols. Such change takes organizing and action with the… Read more »
A FARMER WHO HELPED VICTIMS OF PREJUDICE & FEAR
Another story of an ordinary person standing against the flow in extraordinary times to do the right thing that the President and the vast majority of other citizens weren’t doing. I had two friends who were Japanese-Americans interned during the war. This man and his wife resisted in the way they knew how with dignity… Read more »