As
they used to say on radio,
“There’s good news tonight!” The
news is that the Board of
Directors of the UNA-USA, has
approved a new alliance between
UNA-USA and the UN Foundation (UNF).
Jerry Berke and I have been
elected by your Board to be
delegates to a virtual
(electronic) Special National
Convention in October to vote on
whether to approve this new
alliance. I expect we and most,
if not all, of the delegates
from other chapters will approve
the alliance because we believe
it is an “alliance made in
heaven.”
Why?
Mainly because they have the
money ($1.5 billion) and we have
the grass roots chapters (130)
and members (12,000+) to carry
out our identical missions: to
educate America about the good
work that the UN does and about
the need for us to strengthen
our support for the UN. Frankly,
the UNA-USA has fallen into such
desperate financial straits that
this alliance is literally a
“life-saver”.
What
does this alliance actually mean
for our Chapter? Here are the
main features:
1.
We keep our name, “West Triangle
Chapter of the UNA.”
2.
We will get new tools to
advocate on behalf of the US-UN
relationship, raise funds for
local activities, recruit new
members and retain them.
3.
Most importantly, we will keep a
higher percentage of membership
dues for our chapter activities.
4.
We will continue to receive
action alerts on issues relating
to US-UN issues.
5.
The UNF and it’s affiliate, the
Better World Campaign (BWC),
will provide us with information
and publications related to UN
issues.
6.
The BWC will provide us with a
unique website designed
specifically for our programs.
7.
The UNA Council of Chapters and
Divisions (CCD) Steering
Committee (for which I am a
regional representative) will
continue to represent us and
work closely with the Executive
Director of the UNA
8.
The UNA office will have its own
staff and a budget sufficient to
develop and expand our work.
If you have any
questions you may send them to
me at
Epalmore@nc.rr.com
and I’ll try to answer them.
I’ll probably have more
information on our progress at
our September 22 Lunch & Learn.
See you then! -Pal
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Lunch and Learn
to Discuss Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is the primary
mandate of the United Nations.
It takes various forms, the most
well-known being the injection
of military and police forces
into a conflict area to separate
the warring parties while they
try to negotiate a peaceful end
to their conflict. Some 64
peacekeeping missions have been
deployed over the years and the
UN peacekeeping model has been
adopted by other international
security organizations.
One
of the best known UN
peacekeeping missions was
deployed in 1998 to the former
Yugoslavia to tamp down what has
become known as "the war in
Kosovo." Today, the war has
cooled, but it wasn’t easy.
Professor Robert Jenkins,
Director of UNC's Center for
Slavic, Eurasian and East
European Studies, whose
interests include international
organizations and
socio/political change, will
discuss what happened in:
"Conflict, Vision, and Capacity:
Evaluating Success among
International Organizations in
the former Yugoslavia."
The
meeting will take place on
September 22 between Noon-2 pm
at Carolina Meadows on
Whippoorwill Lane in Chapel
Hill. Reservations should be
made by check for $18.00 to "UNA-USA
West Triangle Chapter," sent to
Warren Glick, 83203 Jarvis,
Chapel Hill, NC 27517. The
deadline for reservations is
Friday, September 17.
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Lunch & Learn Changes
By
Barbara Berke
Welcome back to another
promising season of “Lunch &
Learns.” We’re again planning a
year of stimulating and
informative talks about the
United Nations and world affairs
by experts in their fields.
We’ve already programmed talks
on the UN, Africa, Global Aging
and China and we’re in the
process of negotiating for
others.
Regular attendees will notice
several changes in our meeting
announcements. After five years
of dedication, Barbara Rodbell
decided it was time to retire
from her, sometimes stressful,
job as reservation “taker.”
Fortunately, we had an immediate
volunteer to replace her. Warren
Glick, one of our newer members,
has agreed to fill this
important job. We very much
appreciate his willingness to
step up so quickly. A special
appeal to Carolina Meadows
residents who are accustomed
to using the in-house mail-box
at the Meadows to make their
reservation with Barbara: Since
Warren doesn’t live at the
Meadows, please allow at least a
day for your reservation form to
get from your post office to
him. Please try to keep to
the deadline announced in each
WTW and make life easier for all
of us.
You’ll also notice an increase
of $1.00 per person in the cost
of the luncheon. The Board took
this decision reluctantly, but
after four years of keeping the
price constant, an increase by
Carolina Meadows in the cost of
our meal, service fees and taxes
have made it necessary. That
being said Meadows has a new
chef and he’s come up with some
innovative and delicious
sounding menus for our season.
We look forward to another
stimulating and appetizing year
and hope to see y’all there.
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Education Outreach
By Jean and Tuck Green
Our
UNA Chapter is inactive during
the summers – there are no Board
meetings or any Lunch and
Learns. But several committees
keep on working, albeit less
intensely. That includes the
Education Outreach Committee.
Summer 2010
Early in the summer we met with
faculty members at Orange County
High School and Immaculata
Catholic School in Durham to
help them establish Model UN
Clubs. We’ve also talked with
faculty and students at North
Carolina Central University in
hopes of rejuvenating the Model
UN Club there. We gathered the
new officers of the three Model
UN Clubs in the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro School District to
plan for next year’s activities
(see below).
Later in the summer we set up a
display and handed out a variety
of teaching resources to forty
five educators attending
World View’s week long
Global Education Leaders’
Program. World View,
based at UNC-CH, offers
symposia, conferences and study
abroad opportunities to the
state’s K-12 educators. To date,
about 14,000 educators have
participated in these programs.
Plans for the coming year
Model UN:
We
expect that both UNC and Duke
will offer Model UN Conferences
for high school students as they
have in the past.
Several new high school Model UN
Clubs are in the development
stage. Currently there are five
high school Model UN clubs in
the four school districts we
serve.
An
informal Model UN conference
will be held in November at the
Carolina Center for Educational
Excellence in Chapel Hill. The
Center’s Director, Dr. Björn
Hennings, serves on both our
Chapter’s Board and this
committee. This conference is
intended to prepare students who
have never participated in a
Model UN Conference to hone
their skills at research, debate
and negotiation.
A
middle school Model UN
conference will be held in the
spring for the four Chapel
Hill-Carrboro middle schools.
This will be the second time
this conference, which has the
effect of expanding the exposure
of Chapel Hill students to the
United Nations, will be offered.
It will be co-sponsored by our
Chapter, the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro School District
and the School of Education at
UNC-CH. The Carolina Center for
Educational Excellence will be
the host facility.
United Nations Contest for High
School Students:
This
will be the seventh annual
Contest our Chapter has
sponsored. Announcements will be
sent out in early October to
school district social studies
coordinators and Model UN Club
Presidents and advisors. We will
also speak about the Contest
before each of the MUN Clubs.
This year, the contest will be
expanded to include all high
school students in the four
school districts we serve.
Contest winners will summarize
their projects during our April
Lunch and Learn meeting, at
which time they will receive
their cash prizes, U.N. pins,
and certificates of achievement.
Distribution of Information
about the UN and UNA:
As
part of our effort to facilitate
teaching about the United
Nations in the schools, we shall
distribute teaching resources at
the spring, fall, and summer
seminars/symposia sponsored by
World View on the UNC campus.
In
cooperation with the Wake County
UNA Chapter, we shall also again
distribute material about the UN
and UNA at the annual
International Fair held in
Raleigh in October.
If you would like
to support this Committee’s
work, please check off
“Education Outreach” on the
Lunch and Learn Registration
form and send your donation in
together with your Lunch fee.
Suggestions? Please contact us
at
cgreen17@nc.rr.com.
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Magicians Without Borders
Entertain and Educate
By
Phil Willmarth
At
our April Lunch and Learn
meeting, Tom Verner and Janet
Fredericks (Verner) presented an
unusual program, explaining
their services to humanity under
the auspices of the United
Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR). Tom is a
professor of psychology at
Burlington College in Vermont.
Janet is an artist and teacher
and they both take a leave of
absence for six months of the
year, going without income and
paying their own international
travel expenses, to do this work
they so much believe in. Tom
explained that he and Janet
started Magicians without
Borders (a not-for-profit
corporation) nine years ago as
an important and meaningful way
to bring wonder and
entertainment to the "forgotten
people" in refugee camps and
orphanages.
UNHCR leads and coordinates
international action to protect
refugees and displaced people
worldwide. Its purpose is to
safeguard the rights and
well-being of refugees and
ensure that everyone can have
the right to seek asylum and
find safe refuge in another
State with options to return
home, integrate locally, or
resettle in a third country. For
more than five decades, the
agency has helped tens of
millions of people restart their
lives. Today, a staff of some
6,600 people in more than 110
countries continues to help
about 34 million persons.
Following brief introductory
remarks, a short DVD made in a
refugee camp, showed Tom
performing magic and Janet mime
and a bit of magic to the clear
delight of children and adults
alike. Their laughter and gasps
of amazement gave ample
testimony to why the Verners
love what they do in spite of
the obvious sacrifices required.
The laughing, awe-struck,
smiling faces of the refugees
reminded us of how beautiful
happy people are.
Tom
explained that regardless of
age, nationality, religion, race
or sex of their audience,
magic's appeal, comprehension
and impact are universal and
reactions of amazement, laughter
and wonder are immediate. He
proceeded to demonstrate several
magic effects, including one,
assisted by a somewhat
apprehensive lady member of the
audience, harmlessly penetrating
a balloon with a long needle
while she was holding it.
Following requests from the
audience, Janet (transformed
into her role of Le Fleur)
demonstrated several of the
kinds of miming she uses,
including the borrowing of a
purse from a somewhat reluctant
member to perform a vignette in
which first the purse became
"stuck" in space and then too
heavy for either her or Tom to
lift, although a young audience
member lifted it with virtually
no effort.
In
conversation at our table before
the presentation, Tom told us
that after their visits to
refugee camps, a UNHCR official
told him, "We take care of their
bodies and physical needs, you
service their spirits." One
refugee told Tom, "While we have
often laughed as individuals,
today we laughed as a group."
Not needing to be mentioned was
that this shared experience
would give them relief from
their very restricted existence
and much to talk, dream about,
and hope for.
After a brief questions and
answers period, Tom briefly
explained that his and Janet's
travel expenses to and from the
countries and their living
expenses were paid for by
tax-exempt donations or by
themselves and asked for
contributions. A number of
Chapter members came forward
with donations, the most
touching of which was from a
holocaust survivor who knew from
personal experience loneliness
and despair, and who apologized
for not being able to give more.
To learn more about Magicians
without Borders or to make a
donation, go to
www.magicianswithoutborders.com
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Remembering the Korean War
Across South Korea’s
Generational Divide
By Amanda Conklin, West Triangle
Chapter Outreach Intern
This
summer, during the
60thanniversary of the Korean
War, I was studying abroad in
South Korea. That war tested the
young United Nations’ unity and
political power for the first
time as the body voted on June
27, 1950 to send forces to
support South Korea. During the
war, 37,000 Americans died and
8,000 are still missing. Sixteen
thousand United Nations forces
and 50,000 South Korean soldiers
died. The war was unpopular in
the US, and the soldiers who
fought in it had to wait many
years to be properly honored.
However, a Communist takeover of
South Korea was stopped, and
South Korea survived as a
democratic Republic (even if
only in name, until the late
1980s). The UN also passed its
first real test as an
organization for collective
world security.
Today, the UN remains actively
involved in securing South
Korea’s shared border with the
North. I visited the UN
Panmunjom Compound at the DMZ
and was able to hear South
Koreans’ perceptions of the US
and the UN. I found that, in
general, Koreans, especially the
older generation, are
appreciative of the assistance
and continued involvement of the
US and the UN on the peninsula.
I had an old woman tell me that
she loved the US, and I felt
that Americans were the most
respected foreigners in Korea.
However, the younger generation
is more ambivalent and even
critical of US involvement in
the country, citing economic
influences and bad decisions
made by the US during the war
and before the South’s
democratic transition. The youth
are also ambivalent about
reunification of the peninsula,
never having seen a unified
Korea and concerned more with
everyday politics. As the
population continues to age and
young leaders come onto the
political scene, I expect that
South Korea will reevaluate its
historic relationship with the
US, and the issue of
reunification will be placed on
the back burner.
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MDG+10 Summit to Take Place in
September
From
September 20-22, 192 national
leaders and some 23
international organizations will
come together at UN Headquarters
for the “MDG+10 Summit” to
review progress made on
implementing the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) since
the General Assembly approved
the historic program in
September 2000 at the largest
meeting of global leaders ever
held.
The
MDGs constitute an action plan
for the achievement of eight
critical development objectives
that all nations identified as
critical to improving the lives
of the poorest people around the
world They cover the fields of
poverty and hunger, universal
education, gender equality,
maternal and child health,
HIV-AIDS, environmental
sustainability and the
establishment of global
partnerships to address all of
them.
But progress has
been slow and uneven. In the
words of Sha Zukang, UN
Under-Secretary General for
Economic and Social Affairs,
“Some goals are on target. For
instance, enrolment in primary
education has risen from 83 per
cent in 2000 to 88 percent in
2007 [and] child mortality is
decreasing steadily. High growth
rates achieved by the least
developed countries in recent
years had raised hopes for
significant reductions in
poverty in these countries.”
However, “the current global
downturn risks reversing some of
the positive trends. It is
estimated that 55 to 90 million
more people will fall below the
poverty line.” Therefore, with
only five years to go to meet
the targets, Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon has called the world
leader’s together to galvanize
support for the MDGs and chart a
course for future accelerated
action.
The effort is a large and
concerted one involving not only
the United Nations, but also its
member governments and the
non-governmental organization
sector. Among others, UNA-USA
has dedicated this year’s UN Day
observance on October 24 to
advocating and pushing for both
achieving the MDGs and for US
leadership in the effort. Thus,
its national theme this year
will be “Engaging America
in the Millennium Development
Goals!”
and it will carry out a number
of initiatives to that end. The
United States is also involved -
a critical element in any
undertaking involving the United
Nations- and President Obama has
already said that he will
support such an effort. The West
Triangle Chapter is also
considering ways it might become
involved.
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Follow UNA-USA’s
Interdependent on line
UNA-USA’s longstanding excellent
in-house magazine, The
Interdependent, has
transitted from the print media
to become an on line
publication. It’s available to
all UNA-USA members at
http://theinterdependent.com.
It’s a comprehensive monthly
review of current developments
and features about the United
Nations. Edited by a veteran
respected journalist and expert
on the United Nations, former
New York Times correspondent
Barbara Crossette, it’s a
must-read for anyone interested
in the world body to which we
show our support by our
membership in UNA-USA. Try it,
you’ll like it!
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