Bringing the World to
Portland’s Doorstep
On June 12th
the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana – new residents in
the Dolfinger Building at 2500 Montgomery St. – hosted a group of six
representatives from Greece, The Philippines, Saudi a Arabia, Liberia, India,
and The Kyrgyz Republic who were here to study and share ideas about how to
bring progressive social and economic justice to countries with staggering divisions
between the “haves” and “have nots” as well as relatively modern emergence of
women into the government and economy of their respective countries. The President of the Board of Directors of
the Council, Adel Elmaghraby, began with a description of the work of the
Council and its decision to move its office into the Portland community.
Mr. Elmaghraby explained that the Council is a
non-profit whose purpose is to “bring Louisville to the world and bring the
world to Louisville.” This purpose is accomplished through three major programs
which include:
·
A speaker’s program that brings speakers from
all over the world to discuss issues that are shared concerns across the world.
·
The Council also hosts visitors from other
countries and plans appropriate events while the visitors are here. The
discussion held on June 12th was one of these events.
·
The third component is an education program
designed to teach youth about diversity to promote understanding and the
building of more peaceful communities, including the world community.
The person administering these
programs from the office at the Dolfinger Building is Mckenzie Nalley. The Council also has a presence on social
media. You may connect with the Council at Facebook.com/WorldKentucky,
Twitter.com/WorldAffairsKy, Instagram.com/WorldKentucky, and
LinkedIn.com/company/world-affairs-council of kentucky-and-southern-indiana.
The Board of
Directors of the Council decided to move their office into the Portland Neighborhood
because not only is there concern about building world relationships, the
Council realizes that there is much to do to build peace and understanding at
home. One obstacle to effective communication in Louisville is the division
between the haves and have nots symbolized by what is called the Ninth St.
Divide. Fear and stereotyping keep
residents from more affluent neighborhoods away from the West End. Having an
office of operations in Portland results in people crossing this divide and
coming into the neighborhood to meet residents as individuals much like themselves. After the introduction, Mckenzie Nalley
invited the six guests to speak about what was happening in their country and
what they hoped to learn in Louisville.
The representative from Saudi a Arabia
spoke first and said the major problem in her country was religious polarization
that isolated people in communities that were either Shiite or Sunni
Muslim. The Shia minority felt isolated
and segregated from the majority Sunni which controls the government and economy
there. She said that part of her work
with government agencies was to reach out and visit both communities and try to
start a dialogue between the two. She also indicated that although women were
gaining more freedoms to travel and drive, there were complex issues within the
government and its patriarchal system that needed to be addressed in order to
allow females to initiate getting driver’s licenses, etc. on their own with
male assistance.
Liberia
is not only a democracy, but, according to the spokesperson for this country, “we
are fortunate to have a female President who supports proactive laws to bring
sex offenders to justice. “ The President, with the help of the United Nations,
has created a special law school that deals only with sex offenses and
coordinates with the police to investigate offenses before they reach the court.
By doing this, the prosecutors can streamline the way cases are handled to
provide speedier resolutions and justice.
One of the newer republics established
is the country of Kyrgyz in Central Asia. Kyrgyz became a Republic in 1991
after the breakup of the old Soviet Union. It is one of 15 new republics in
Central Asia and has a patriarchal foundation.
From 1917 until 1991, the country was under the control of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republic and the Communist Party and the only model the people
living there now have for government is the socialist, totalitarian government
operated by the Communist Party and autocrats such as Stalin. In addition,
freedom of religion was not allowed during that time and the only model of
religion that exists is that of Islam which has a patriarchal system. Therefore, the liberals wanting to establish a
free republic are hampered by the conservatives wanting to reestablish a patriarchal system and Sunni Islam as the
nation’s one and only religion. How to integrate the practice of Islam within the
context of a secular government has been difficult for Kyrgyz.
One example given was the custom of
kidnapping brides. If a man decides he wants to marry a certain woman, he can
“kidnap” her and marry her without her or her parent’s consent. How to
eradicate this custom is difficult since the new republic is supposed to be
neutral in regard to religious practices. In addition, the President is the
number one decision maker. The system of checks and balances from an equally
powerful Parliament does not exist at this time. How to govern to bring
democracy to the elderly, poor, women and children is still a big
question. There is still a very
powerful, centralized government and little local control. Informal leaders
are developing in the community and the United Nations is also providing funds
and support for social programs.
Gender discrimination is also a problem
in The Philippines. Political activism
has resulted in laws to implement change, but those in control have a firm grip
on their power and pushy activists can be quickly excluded. Greenpeace had its
license revoked in the Philippines and fear of being targeted keeps activists
at bay. Both representatives from India and Greece agreed that laws could only
be made at the national level. Once a law was passed, however, it made it
easier to implement on a local level and change was happening but at a slower
rate than desired. All the
representatives agreed that they would like to hear more about the process of
lawmaking in the United States and how the world’s oldest self-governing
democracy worked which was to be the focus of the rest of their time here. A big thank you to the Council of World
Affairs for Kentucky and Southern Indiana for bringing this dialogue to the
Portland Neighborhood.
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