Safe Democracy Foundation - Safe Democracy

Finding alternatives to violence

Daniel Bavly writes on the changing face of War in the 21st century, and how, after two world wars, the menace of terrorism has arisen as a new threat to peace. In Bavly’s opinion, insufficient coordination, poor planning, cumbersome bureaucracies, and increasing citizen disillusionment are weakening militaries. As war changes, the military must also change, and society must seek new diplomatic alternatives to fighting violence with violence. A century and a half after the statement that War is Hell, Bavly writes, society may finally be beginning to believe it.

The immorality of denying the Holocaust

Bernardo Kliksberg explains that the recent international conference, held in Teheran, to ridicule the Holocaust should not be considered as merely one more anti-semitic and racist act, but as the murder, for the second time, of the six million Jewish children, women, men, elderly, artisans, tailors, farmers, and workers who died in Nazi extermination camps. In Kliksberg’s opinion, by denying the existence of the Holocaust, Iran is paving the way for genocide and racism of all kinds to be carried out with impunity. If the Holocaust can be denied, why not also negate Rwanda, Darfur, and the countless other brutal massacres that have blemished human history? Now, more than ever, Kliksberg writes, the free men and women of the world must rescue memory, and stand up in defiance of hatred, racism, and genocide.

Micro-credit to fight poverty

Bernardo Kliksberg explains how Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Muhammad Yunus, founded the Grameen Bank and created a system of micro-credit in Bangladesh designed to bring hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty. Yunus, a brilliant economist with a bright future as an academic and consultant, decided to leave his comfortable life behind him in favor of mobilizing cooperation among the poor of his country. In Kliksberg’s opinion, the time has come to apply Yunus’ successful formula to fight poverty throughout Latin America.

Reflections from the investigation of the AMIA bombing

Alberto Nisman explains how since the international warrant for the arrest of several ex- officials of the Iranian government for their connection in the 1994 terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Argentina, two realizations can help in the fight against terrorism. The first is the fact that, despite the difficulties of condemning a complex crime that took place years ago, the main objective, to be pursued ceaselessly, is the fight against impunity. And the second is the recognition that in order to fight terrorism, an efficient strategy must be created to facilitate the prevention and punishment of terrorism without encroaching on the rights and liberties of citizens around the world.

New membership and Afghanistan have taken over the agenda

Alberto Priego sums up the significance of the recent Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Latvia, in one phrase: NATO’s door remains open. Priego explains that the issue of new members into the organization –such as Georgia, Ukraine, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia– played an important role at the meeting in Riga, on an equal plain with discussion of the ongoing turmoil in Afghanistan. Also discussed were the possibility of Global Partnership with countries like Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan, as well as the War in Iraq, international terrorism, and relations between NATO and the EU.

Public enfranchisement, or political maneuvering?