monoculturalism
Statue of Liberty?
Whats wrong with the picture? I've been doing some thinking lately on how 'colonised' my mind (and picture of Jesus) is. Funny how we see us imposing (or even just sharing) our religion, worldview and dress code on the rest of the world as 'liberating' for them, yet if anyone were to tell us how to dress, think and vote, we would see it as highly oppressive and biased. (thanks for the pic Bron)
I have used this George Orwell quote often, and it is still true:
'All animals are equal, yet some are more equal than others'.
Here's one i read this week:
'Every viewpoint is just a view from a point'
~ Richard Rohr
One of the gifts i see the international students bringing to CTS is the ability to give the 'other side' of the picture. Most of my picture is very Western and colonised, but living in Africa with the life-giving tensions of the differing worlds has rubbed off on me.
Newsflash:
I'm still on the fence about Mugabe, but I saw a great example in the iafrica.com news today: China are hosting over 40 African heads of state to a HUGE Africa-China convention. Included among the list are controversial figures Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and Zimbabwean Presidebt Robert Mugabe. Responding to criticism, China's foreign ministry made no apologies for inviting them:
"Our principle when handling our relations with other countries is to never try to impose our social system, development mode, values and ideology upon other countries" ~ foreign ministry Liu Jianchao.
Is this the equality and 'non-judgmentalism Paul and Jesus mentioned, or helping precipitate human rights abuses? Whatever it was, it is a great quote, very different to others we hear!
Talking of multiculturalism, be sure to see the Elephant seals at the Georgia Aquarium. (thanks for the pic farmer Gwen)
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