Saudi Arabia
Dear Sir,
I would like to inform you that I live in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah City. I'm 29 years old, Somalian citizen. I live with my family and I have one daughter (four years old) and one son (three months old). I work as assistant administration and personnel manager. My problem is that the rule of this country is very difficult. There is no school for our children, no medical, the price of the food is increasing day after day, the house rent is increasing, the salary is reducing. My daughter wants to go to school, my wife wants to go to school, myself I want to add my education, but how? It's not allowed for foreigners.... The rule of this country: you can't work/do other job, you can't go to other city, and the permission of staying in this country is under one citizen of this country (I mean Saudi Citizen). When he wants you to stay, you will stay and when he wants you to go, you go out of the country at any time even at midnight. He will knock your door with the police to take you and your family to the jail to send you to your country without any reason. Maybe you did not pay him. It doesn't matter how long you stayed even 20 years or 30 years. It's the same like you stay one day. You can't open your mouth, you can't complain, they will put you in jail. There is no human rights. I pray and request from God to save us. I don't know what to do.
So please would your government help me and my family.
Best regards,
Name Withheld
Passport Difficulties
Sweden
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a doctor of medicine and a specialist in psychiatry. I have been working in Rhodesia-Zimbabwe from 1973-1992. I have got two foster children in Zimbabwe and I have invited both to come to me in Sweden, as there is great difficulty in getting a passport in Zimbabwe. I have a very good friend in Zimbabwe and he has written that it would take 10 to 12 months to get a passport and even so there could be other difficulties, unforeseen, that would hinder them getting a passport. Generally speaking, Zimbabwe is an underdeveloped country with all sorts of restrictions, especially financial. Even if they are over 18 years, I call them foster children. There is nobody to support them now. From the girl I got a desperate letter where she says that every night she cries because of hunger. From 1992 I supported them through an insurance I had with a firm called Prudential. This stopped. My intention is to get them an education here in Sweden as the education facilities have deteriorated.
I have a form "World Service Authority" which I borrowed from a friend.
Yours sincerely,
Henni Palme
Help for a Family
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Dear Ingrid,
Greetings from Belgrade, Yugoslavia. My name is Randy Bell, and my wife and I are Baptist representatives working and living in Yugoslavia. I am writing to ask you about some information on how to help a family that we have come to know. They are gypsy and they have family in Australia and would like to leave Yugoslavia. They have a clean record but for reasons I do not understand cannot receive passports. They have tried for several years, as I understand. Anyway, I told them that I would...ask you to send us some information about obtaining a "world passport." ...We are starting from square one with this and need to know what to do in order to help this family.
We appreciate your consideration.
Sincerely,
Randy and Joan Bell
A Compelling Global Strategy
San Diego, California, U.S.A.
Dear Garry,
The PROBLEM: The 1997 Worldwatch Institute recently reported the health of our planet, "the world's population is spiraling and more than 1 million people cannot feed themselves." "Vast areas of forest have been stripped of trees and annual emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, the leading greenhouse gas, have climbed to all-time highs, altering the very composition of the atmosphere."
Eileen Clausen, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State overseeing environmental affairs, says Worldwatch's assessment of the world is "generally correct." Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, also stated that more than 100 nations are worse off today than 15 years ago.
How much more can people endure and the world absorb? Imagine flying in a 747 and seeing one rivet pop out (a species goes extinct)--you wouldn't worry much. Then another rivet pops (the ozone hole grows) and then another (megacities bring excess pollution). There is certainly a time when the next rivet popping out will cause the plane to crash--affecting the entire human family. How long do we continue our course before these emergencies force a change in our direction?
The SOLUTION: The GENI Initiative is a very compelling global strategy for peace and sustainable development.
...Garry, please continue to share this work with your friends, co-workers, political leaders and media. Your support makes this effort possible--and the planet needs it more than ever.
In partnership for the planet,
Peter Meisen, President
Global Energy Network International
(For information about GENI's program: http://www.geni.org.)
Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ)
Dear Garry,
Greetings to our favorite World Citizen!. I pass along Norm's [Kurland] best wishes in absentia, as he is on his way to Cameroon and then on to Paris, from where he'll return on March 13.
Thanks for sending the "Collated Statements of Importance" for the World Syntegrity Project. Attached are a few more to add to those statements pertaining to economics: the first is from the Syntegration in Toronto (which Norm and four other CESJ members attended in January 1996, I believe) and the second from the Old Man River City Syntegration (in which my husband, Rowland, and I participated two years ago.)
Norm also suggested I send you CESJ's draft "Preamble for a Constitution for World Government of World Citizens" and "Preamble to the Constitution for the Holy Land."
We think your suggestion for a Global Conference on World Economics is timely and sorely needed. Judging from the wide-ranging and sometimes contradictory principles emerging from the various Infosets, an important dialogue (hopefully leading to a general consensus) needs to be undertaken. I believe this dialogue (or debate) will focus on the relationship between property and the empowerment (sovereignty) of the human person. To frame it another way:
1) Should Article 17(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights be eliminated (as those seeking the abolition or truncation of private property might advocate)?
2) Should Article 17(1) be left as is deemed sufficient (as proponents of laissez-faire capitalism might contend)?
3) Should Article 17(1) be strengthened, along the lines of what George Mason called for in the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights? (No working constitution on earth states that every person has the right to the means of acquiring and possessing property as necessary foundation for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps the rights of property would not be so castigated if the right of property was truly universalized.
Best regards,
Dawn Brohawn, Dir. of Comm., CESJ
The College of William & Mary
Office of Student Affairs
W. Samuel Sadler, Vice President
Williamsburg, VA 23185
January 28, 1997
Mr. Frank Shatz
POB 1006
Williamsburg, VA 23187
Dear Frank:
As the new semester gets underway, I just wanted you to know that I have not forgotten our mutual interest in having Garry Davis come to campus this spring. Last week I met with the president of the Student Assembly who is pursuing the idea of bringing Mr. Davis as a speaker in conjunction with some of out student organization activity. When I have a better sense of how that is progressing, I will let you know. One of the ideas I know the students find intriguing would be to have Mr. Davis appear as part of a discussion about his concept of world citizenship and how that intersects with the traditional notion of nation-state loyalty.
I just wanted you to know the idea has not been forgotten or overlooked.
Cordially,
S. Samuel Sadler
(Printed with permission from S. Samuel Sadler.)