Reneva Fourie on “The Challenge of National Unity and Social Cohesion”

The topic was particularly of relevance given the real challenges that states experience trying to balance the demands of globalisation while trying to maintain national unity and social cohesion. Globalisation has heightened the inter-dependence of states and its sub-ordination to supra-national organisations. Contrasting this solidifying globalisation is the responsibility of states to address the needs of citizens.

 This responsibility is exacerbated by the increased demands of organised constituencies, including those with separatist tendencies, as people coalesce around commonalities due to among others:

Ms.Reneva Fourie, member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party delivered a lecture on South Africa's experience in negotiations,the ups and downs that the country faced and the hard work that it took from all sides to be willing to accept the other.

She says "We hated each other" yet in the heart of their hearts and through a lesson learned the hard way and paid for by blood and tears South Africans managed to bury the hatchet and look forward to a new start.

The lecture covered many points that Syriatimes will shed light on .It started with a question: Why did Ms.Fourie develop an interest in this particular field?

This was her answer:

I developed an interest in this topic when I, after having served as the head of the office of South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance, was appointed as Secretary General of the African Ministerial Conference on Decentralization and Local Development (AMCOD), based in Cameroon.

History is written through documentation and Syria’s history always rich in culture and human feats has sadly passed through a bloody ten year period. Shortly in 2011 Syria witnessed an assault on its sovereignty and its human values. The events that span this ten year period of time bring to light foremost the heroism of the Syrian Arab Army and the resistance of Syrians.

Dmitry Sablin head of the Russian Parliamentary group for relations with Syria and Maxim Grigoriev director of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy in Moscow have both written a book under the title “Crimes of the U.S Headed International Coalition Against Syria”.

In this book they document the suffering of the civilian population at the hands of the American led coalition.

Bangladesh is a country located in south Asia sharing borders with India,Myanmar and Bay of Bengal. In 1971 it became the independent country of Bangladesh, with its capital Dhaka.   It is home to the world's largest river delta, which is formed by the Brahmaputra and the Ganges river. It is famous for its roaming Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans, a mangrove and swampland in the delta and the  longest natural uninterrupted sea beach in Asia (Cox's Bazar beach), which is 150 km long.

"When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.

An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Where there is love there is life."

Mahatma Gandhi

Who was this man whom some liken to prophets?Who was this man who was able to introduce to a violent and bloodthirsty world the notion of non-violent resistance?

He is Mahatma Gandhi born on October 2^nd, 1869.