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Newsletter of the Baha’t International Community July-September 1999 Volume 11, Issue 2
In Australia, a women’s conference charts a path for the new millennium
The Earth Charter process offers a model for international consensus-building.
United Nations’ annual DPI/NGO conference offers a key venue for NGO networking.
Review: Groovin’ High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie — Alyn Shipton traces the rise of a musical world citizen.
“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” - Baha’u‘llah
In Uganda, community health workers effect long term changes
Focusing on hygiene and vaccination, a health project serving isolated Kumi and Soroti Districts has used overseas funding from Canada to help build a sustainable cadre of grassroots-level volunteers.
The use of deep wells instead of shallow ones has been promoted by the Uganda Baha’t health project.
ILLING, Kumi District, Uganda — For most people in this remote village some 360
kilometers northeast of Kampala, the long days and nights when their children easily grew sick and frequently died — all without a clear explanation — are not difficult to recall.
“When a child became sick, the community felt the child had been bewitched,” said William, a 61-year-old farmer, discussing how only a few years ago the village's children were easy prey for common diarrhea and other killer diseases of childhood, such as whooping cough, measles, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis and diphtheria.
But much has changed since many families here have adopted basic health and sanita- tion practices. Volunteer community health workers, trained and supported by the Uganda Baha'i Institute for Development (UBID), have helped significantly to raise immunization rates and increase the awareness of basic hygiene in some 30 villages in Kumi and Soroti Districts in eastern Uganda.
Although preprogram health data for these villages is scant — there were virtually no similar rural health projects serving them before the UBID program — regional health officials, UBID-trained health workers, and the local people themselves say that childhood death rates have fallen greatly and the overall quality of health has improved.
“The Baha'i project changed the behavior of the community,” said Nelson Omudu, co- ordinator of the Uganda National Expanded Program for Immunization (UNEPI) at Ngora Hospital in Ngora, Kumi District. “It did this several ways. Through the use of the latrine — now many people know the importance of the latrine. Immunization used to have a poor turn-up, but now many people bring their children. With malaria, now people know about the use of nets and the number of cases is reducing. And before, water sources were neglected. Now people know the importance of clean water.”
Uganda, continued on page 10
[Page 2]
x.
is published quarterly by the Office of Public Information of the Baha'i International Community, an international non-governmental organiza- tion which encompasses and represents the worldwide membership of the Baha'i Faith.
For more information on the stories in this newsletter, or any aspect of the Baha’t International Community and its work, please contact:
ONE COUNTRY
Baha't International Community - Suite 120 866 United Nations Plaza New York, New York 10017 USA.
E-mail: Lcountry@bic.org hutp:/www.onecountry.org
Executive Editor: ‘Ann Boyles
Editor: Brad Pokorny
Associate Editors:
Nancy Ackerman (Moscow) Christine Samandari-Hakim (Paris)
Kong Siew Huat (Macau) Guilda Walker (London)
Editorial Assistant: Veronica Shoffstall
Design; Mann & Mann
Subscription inquiries should be directed to the above address. All material is copyrighted by the Baha’ International Community and subject to all applicable international copyright laws. Stories from this newsletter may be republished by any organization provided that they are attributed as follows: “Reprinted from ONE COUNTRY, the newsletter of the Baha'i International Community.”
© 1999 by The Baha’t International Community
ISSN 1018-9300
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The Need for an International Force
Wie doubt, peacekeeping has been
one of the most important activities of the United Nations. Since 1948, the UN has launched some 50 peacekeeping mis- sions, sending blue-helmeted soldiers and observers to trouble spots around the world. While not every mission has been suc- cessful in stopping the violence it has sought to address, there is little question that UN peacekeeping has significantly acted to slow, stifle, or prevent war in many of the world’s most conflict-prone regions.
Yet the peacekeeping regime, forged as a practical response to the political deadlock in the UN Security Council during the Cold War, has severe limitations. All peacekeep- ing missions begin with the consent of all parties to a conflict, stopping short of the non-consensual military “enforcement” op- tion envisioned in the UN Charter.
As well, every peacekeeping mission to date has been an ad hoc affair, with military units begged and borrowed from UN mem- ber nations, a process that often takes from three to six months — during which an ex- ploding conflict can cost thousands of lives.
Recent world events suggest the time has come to reexamine the original vision of the UN’s founders and discuss the ways and means by which a ready international force might be assembled and made a credible instrument of international conscience.
The UN's founders understood that the collective and unified use of force might sometimes be necessary to maintain or re- store international peace. Chapter VII of the UN Charter states that the Security Council may take “action by air, sea, or land forces” and that “all members of the United Na- tions” should “make available” to the Secu- rity Council “armed forces, assistance, and facilities” for the “purpose of maintaining international peace and security.”
While the Charter stops short of explic- itly establishing a standing army for the UN, the clear implication is that the nations of the world, acting together, have the unques- tioned right and responsibility to “enforce” peace and security.
The concept of collective security was not new in 1945 when the UN was founded.
The Covenant of the League of Nations in- cluded provisions for the collective use of force and the concept was widely discussed at the turn of the century.
Indeed, one of the first explicit calls for the institution of collective security at the global level came in the mid-1800s from Baha’u’llah, who wrote to world leaders say- ing: “Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against an- other, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”
The worldwide Baha’i community has promoted this concept, supporting the ef- forts of the League of Nations and the United Nations in the view that only through col- lective security can a sustainable, universal peace be established.
In fits and starts, through various activi- ties ranging from peacekeeping to a hand- ful of actual “enforcement” actions (such as the Korean War and the Gulf War), the in- ternational community of nations has like- wise pursued the ideal of collective secu- rity, even if its execution has been less than perfect or universal.
Over the last decade, in issue areas such as environment, development and human rights, the world community of nations has proved itcan forge a global consensus when the needs are great and the principles are clear.
It is time, then, to discuss seriously the ways and means of increasing and institu- tionalizing the world’s capacity to use force when necessary to maintain peace and se- curity or protect the lives of innocent people from violence and the oft-resulting humani- tarian catastrophe.
There are a number of critical advantages offered by an international force that is ca- pable of quick, unified and meaningful ac- tion to maintain or reestablish peace.
« First and foremost is the increased ca- pacity for rapid deployment in a crisis situ- ation. The problem of slow deployment is widely recognized and the UN is currently working to bolster the readiness of peace- keeping forces by asking states to hold mili-
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 3]
tary units on a “standby” basis. But it would
be better yet to have a force that the UN
could call on immediately, without the time-
consuming hesitations that the use of na-
tional forces, even on a standby basis, en-
tails. In the future even the loss of a single
life because the international community did
not act quickly enough will be viewed as
unconscionable.
- The ability to deploy rapidly would
contribute greatly to such a force's credibil- ity. The mere existence of sucha force would in itself imply the readiness of the world community to intervene when necessary. Such a mechanism would surely give pause to the agents of aggression, whether a recal- citrant government, a violent rebel group, or an immoral militia.
- Over time, the existence of a credible
international force would serve to hasten the processes of general disarmament and pro- mote accompanying cuts in military spend- ing. The peoples of the world, feeling that their borders were safe from external aggres- sion, would need only national police forces — not national armies — for protection.
The disadvantages arising from the cre- ation of an international force lie primarily in the minds of those who dwell on the sorts of political problems that led to limitations of the peacekeeping regime in the first place — or those who cling to outmoded concepts of national sovereignty and security. In our age of interdependence, national security is synonymous with international security, and national interest is synonymous with global human development.
Further, the success of the peacekeep- ing regime is in many ways the best argu- ment for the establishment of an interna- tional force. The UN has proven, through its cautious and carefully negotiated deploy- ment of peacekeeping missions, that it has the capacity to handle with sensitivity the difficult political issues involved in the use of collective military force. Indeed, much of the groundwork for managing military units has been worked out in the peacekeeping regime and an international force could evolve gradually out of existing arrange- ments for peacekeeping.
Of course, the creation of such a force would need to be carefully thought out and negotiated. Such a force would need to be com- posed of individuals from as many nations as possible; it would need to be independent of national interests; and it would need to be fully funded to the extent that its missions are not
compromised for lack of money.
To be effective, such a force would need to be backed by a revitalized sense of politi- cal will, based on unity. Certain reforms of the UN, such as a restructured Security The om Council, would also add to the effectiveness "a en ere 8 : of such a force. As well, improved arrange- number of critical ments for peacemaking, social and economic advantages development, human rights education and offered by an’ other efforts to promote international co- international force operation must go hand-in-hand with any that is capable of reforms of the current global security re- need pee Be gime. Yet all trends point only towards a ae xunT : nd greater interdependence of nations and the meaningful action accompanying requirement for a greater to mai 1 or level of international institution building. Z
In the final analysis, the primary argu- ment for the creation of an international force is one of principle. For although in- ternational policies must be based in part on practical realities, they must also have a firm basis in moral principle.
The overarching principle of our age is the oneness of humanity; its logical corollary in the political realm is the principle of collec- tive security. And, in the same way, the logical corollary of collective security is that it must be served by a credible and capable instru- ment of will. That instrument, in our age of interdependence, is an international force ca- pable of enforcing the moral voice and legally construed will of the international commu- nity of nations. #
In Singapore, President Ong Teng Cheong hosted a reception on 3 June 1999 at his residence for members of the Inter-Religious Organization of Singapore. Representatives of the Baha'i Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism were present. President Cheong is standing front row center, with Selvam Satanam of the Singapore Baha'i community on his right, second from the left in the front.
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 4]
“This conference
will be
a turning
wards the
WC
In Australia, an International Women’s Conference charts new directions
RISBANE, Australia — Mapping a new
path for women in the coming millen- nium, an international women’s conference here focused on forging new partnerships among diverse sectors of society, taking prac- tical measures to promote the advancement of women, and making spiritual and moral values the key to consolidating gains
Organized by the Office for the Advance- ment of Women of the Baha'i community of Australia, the conference was titled “Part- nerships for the Next Millennium” and it drew a wide range of speakers and partici- pants from Australasia and beyond.
Held 16-18 September 1999, the confer- ence was attended by more than 450 women and men from at least 15 countries, making it one of the largest and most global women’s events ever held in Australia.
It was also among the most diverse of such gatherings; almost one-third of the participants were indigenous Australians, an inclusiveness that was a key goal and major feature of the conference. According to or- ganizers and participants, the variety of in- dividuals, groups and points of view at the gathering broke new ground here.
“This conference will be a turning point
Networking between various organizations was a key feature of the conference.
towards the next level of women’s develop- ment,” said Fiona Krautil, director of the Australian Affirmative Action Agency, who was a plenary speaker. Ms. Krautil noted that the conference was not just about diversity but about “valuing diversity,” saying the dis- tinctive qualities of women, particularly in relation to men, must be accepted and ap- preciated at all levels of society.
Forging new partnerships, as the Con- ference title implies, was a major theme, and accepting and valuing diversity underlies that process, said Ms. Krautil and others. In addresses by some 15 plenary speakers, as well as in 70 or so smaller scheduled work- shops and seminars, the advantages, pro- cesses and practicalities were outlined for the forming of partnerships between vari- ous sectors within the women’s movement — and with outside groupings of civil soci- ety and government.
The types of partnerships discussed in- cluded not only women-to-women and women-to-men, but also alliances with busi- nesses, government, and like-minded non- governmental organizations, as well as dif- ferent cultures and spiritual groups.
“Partnerships are critical for bringing about lasting and positive change,” said Katina Jones, chairperson of the Australian Baha’i Committee for Advancement of Women and managing director of EQUALS International Pty Ltd, an international train- ing and development company. “We are see- ing the increasing need, on a global scale, to form strategic partnerships with our col- leagues and counterparts. These partner- ships need to be developed in all areas of our lives, politically, socially, culturally, en- vironmentally, and on a business level.”
Practical points
Many of the speakers focused on the practical realities of forging partnerships.
Felicity Hill of the Women’ International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) suggested that the building of partnerships needs to begin among women. “We need to
4
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 5]
work in solidarity with each other,” said Ms.
Hill, who is director of the WILPF’s United
Nations Liaison Office in New York. “We
need to recognize our differences and real-
ize that there are economic and political
structures in our way that we need to work
together to break down.”
Adrienne Ward, Westpac Banking Corporation’s Queensland Manager for its Women in Business program, emphasized the need to develop strategic alliances and partners if women are to climb the corpo- rate ranks. She told of Westpac’s efforts to encourage women in the male-dominated banking industry through its use of a spe- cial mentoring program and said that mentoring can be a key means of develop- ing new partners and alliances.
Dale Spender, an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, spoke of the need for women to become conversant with com- puters and information technology. “To ob- tain a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources, everyone, not just a privi- leged few, must be a digital citizen in a glo- bal village,” said Dr. Spender. “While women have the qualities to succeed in this infor- mation age and while we are in the best po- sition ever to develop our talents and to share an equal place in the public and pri- vate world, we still have to be vigilant, for ourselves and for the global community.”
The conference itself, by virtue of its scope of participants and its organization, encouraged networking among women’s groups, community groups, and among business and spiritual groups. Information booths set up by organizations such as AUSTCARE, Women’s InfoLink and the In- ternational Women’s Development Agency, furthered the networking process.
“Due to the conference | have made new partnerships with people in the justice field, women’s interstate services, in private prac- tice and other government areas,” said Cheryl Hastie, a participant.
In addition to Australia, participants and speakers came from Canada, Fiji, France, Japan, Macedonia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Vanuatu. Speakers included women in senior govern- ment appointments, well-known feminists, authors and prominent representatives from non-governmental organizations.
The conference also sought to prepare women for next year’s “Beijing plus Five”
deliberations at the United Nations in New York. A plan to send three young women from Australasia to the New York meeting, scheduled for June 2000, was announced.
Aboriginal Reconciliation
As noted, the conference also saw a high level of participation by Aboriginal women — and, indeed, it focused as a major theme on the process of national reconciliation with Australia’s indigenous people.
“This conference was the first time that indigenous women felt truly equal,” said Grace Smallwood, an indigenous health rights ac- tivist. “In this conference they have not been treated as tokens, but welcomed as full par- ticipants in every session and listened to.”
For decades, Australia’s indigenous people have faced discrimination and more — hundreds if not thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes for education, at great cost to their culture and heritage. Recently, a process of national reconciliation has been launched, which aims to improve relations between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider community.
Indigenous Australian issues were fea- tured throughout the conference duration. Aboriginal speakers were featured in two plenary sessions and at least five workshops addressed such issues as law and spiritual- ity, education and women’s business from an indigenous point of view.
An Aboriginal dance group, Jagera Jargum, performed in the opening ceremony.
“This conference was the first time — that indigenous — women felt truly — equal. In this 3 conference they have not been treated as tokens, but w 1ec full participants in ry session and ie al ~ Grace Smallwood
Evelyn Scott, second from left, chairperson of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, made an impromptu appearance at the conference. Shown, left to right, are: Fiona McDonald, chair, Australian Baha’ community; Scott; Linda Shallcross, of the Australian Baha'i Office for the Advancement of Women (ABOAW); Jackie Huggins, member of the National Reconciliation Council; Linda Myers of ABOAW,; and Pat Levy of ABOAW.
“I hope that women take away the knowledge that we are unique people and have existed in this country for 60,000 years,” said Jackie Huggins, a member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconcili- ation. “We are the first Australians and rep- resent just 2% of the Australian population. We can’t do it by ourselves. Indigenous Aus- tralians need to form partnerships with women’s groups, with faith groups and com- munity groups that can assist us and join us in the true spirit of reconciliation.”
Ms. Huggins said she believed the spirit of reconciliation was manifested at the con- ference. With this spirit, she said, “we can communicate, respect, acknowledge and trust each other as individuals,” adding that if everyone appreciated this spirit, “then we wouldn't have the hatred, violence and dis- crimination that goes with being a member of a minority group.”
In addition to featuring speeches and workshops on reconciliation, conference participants were offered the chance to ex- press commitment to a “Draft Document for Reconciliation” — which essentially pledges an end to discrimination and a beginning of respect for each other's cultures.
Because of these efforts, Evelyn Scott, chairperson of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, who made an impromptu appearance at the conference, said she felt that the conference “was an important vehicle to communicate the in- digenous agenda not only to Australian women, but to people attending from all
areas of the world.”
Many participants said they felt moved by the segments on indigenous issues. Glenys Charlton, herself indigenous, said it was a unique experience to feel valued and to be considered an integral part of such an event. “This conference allows indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders to be heard,” she said.
Spiritual energy
Many participants said the conference was also distinctive for its emphasis on spiri- tual and moral values as they relate to women’s issues. For example, more than a dozen of the speeches and workshops ex- plicitly listed spirituality, ethics or religion in their titles. Further, other topics focused on education and communication, rather than political activism, suggesting new strat- egies for women to consolidate the gains that have been made in the acknowledgment of their rights worldwide.
“The conference had a strong spiritual, practical base,” said June Perkins, an indig- enous community development officer for the Australian Baha’i community. “I learned that a lot of spiritual energy is generated when women come together.”
Ann Hinton, who gave a workshop en- titled “Developing Women’s unique capaci- ties — a spiritual quest,” said she found the conference quite different from other women's events in that it showed how “the demand for change and justice and the in- tellectual approach can be tempered with love and spiritual values.”
In her closing address, Lyn Lane, direc- tor of the Australian Baha’i Office for the Advancement of Women, said the achieve- ment of full equality between women and men is a prerequisite for world peace. The conference, she said, had been designed to promote equality by sharing new concepts, fostering new partnerships, and promoting the process of reconciliation with Australia’s indigenous people.
“These outcomes are based on a new mindset, a new way of looking at issues; a new approach and a renewed commitment to the advancement of the world’s women,” said Ms. Lane. “The last three days have pre- sented many personal and collective oppor- tunities to connect across boundaries so that the common threads — that we can all work on together — can be woven into the big- ger picture.” 3
— Reported by Marie Chittleborough
[Page 7]
TExES
Earth Charter process offers a model for global consensus building
AN JOSE, Costa Rica — Working out of
an international secretariat based in this lush tropical country, the Earth Council is coordinating what may well be the most ex- tensive document drafting project ever un- dertaken by civil society.
Since 1995, the Council, among others, has spearheaded the effort to draft an Earth Charter — a statement of ethical principles similar to the UN Declaration on Human Rights that its authors hope will guide the conduct of people and nations towards each other and the earth in order to ensure peace, equity and a sustainable future.
Last April, the Council unveiled an up- dated draft, known as the Benchmark Draft Il, and it is currently soliciting comments on it. The plan is to prepare another draft, based on comments received by early next year. That draft will also be widely distrib- uted for more feedback. The hope is that by 2002 a final version can be presented to the UN General Assembly for possible endorse- ment as an international declaration.
By creating a document that has been thoroughly reviewed and endorsed by as many groups and sectors of civil society as possible, organizers hope that government policy makers will, in the end, find it im- possible to ignore.
“The major difference between the Earth Charter process and other such international documents is that this has been a really broad participatory process,” said Mirian Vilela, who is coordinator of the Earth Char- ter Project for the Council. “We want to as- sure cultural diversity in the result, not only to have a rich document in the end, but to have people's involvement in terms of a feel- ing of commitment and ownership.”
As other non-governmental organiza- tions consider how to achieve consensus on a variety of international issues, the process used by the drafters of the Earth Charter offers an exceptional example of how to so- licit and incorporate ideas and information from civil society groups and prominent in- dividuals worldwide.
Ms. Vilela said that groups of NGOs have established national Earth Charter commit- tees in 40 countries, and that ad hoc groups are working on the Charter in 23 more. In all, she said, hundreds if not thousands of organizations have considered and com- mented on the Charter, as have thousands of individuals.
The drafting committee is a loose aggre- gation of some 40 individuals in 20 coun- tries who review the comments and deter- mine whether and how to incorporate them into the final draft, said Steven C. Rockefeller, chair of the Earth Charter draft- ing Committee.
“There are several things that allow this,” said Mr. Rockefeller, explaining how world- wide input is gathered and considered. “One is that with e-mail and the internet, we can all communicate with each other in extraor- dinary new ways, and we can intensify the process of participatory decision making. We are also travelling all over the world,
“going to conferences and such, so as to make
this as inclusive as possible.”
Mr. Rockefeller said the effort to include as many groups as possible has paid off in helping to arrive at a draft that is acceptable to as many people as possible. For example, he said, the drafters have long sought the input of indigenous groups. In consulting with groups representing the Inuit people of the far northern regions, they learned of their objections to a line in the draft Char- ter that spoke of the need to “treat all be- ings with compassion.”
“The Inuit people, in the circumpolar north, are wholly dependent on animals for food — they don’t have any agriculture,” said Mr. Rockefeller. “And they objected to the term “compassion” with reference to animals, saying that they didn’t think you could hunt animals with ‘compassion.’ They also feared that animal rights groups would use the language to force them to abandon traditional hunting practices.”
After long consultation with the Inuit —
Earth Charter, continued on page 14
Logo of the Earth Council. For more information on the Earth Charter, go to http:// www.eearthcharter.org
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 8]
Shown left to right, at a panel discussion on “Culture and Communications Technology: Empowerment and Marginalization,” are Carl Murrell, chair of the conference planning committee; Meraash Mahajuodeen, senior producer, Young Asia Television; Peter Arnett, chief correspondent, ForeignT V.com; and Victoria Jones, a US television host.
ee cvit socic 7 y
Annual UN DPI Conference becoming an important venue for NGO networking
NITED NATIONS — Despite the dis-
ruptions globalization causes, it can po- tentially provide great benefits to all human- ity — and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a critical role in ensuring that such positive outcomes are reached.
That was one of the main themes voiced by high-level speakers, ranging from Jordan's Queen Noor to former Costa Rican Presi- dent Oscar Arias, at the 52nd annual con- ference for non-governmental organizations at the United Nations in September, which examined the topic of globalization and its impact — good and bad — on the world
“The emergence of non-governmental organizations as a major international actor is one of the most important developments of the past half-century,” said President Arias, who is now head of an NGO, the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress.
“In the new millennium, non-governmen- tal organizations will have to lead the way in the quest to advance ... security, democ- racy and peace.”
Bringing together some 1,700 repre- sentatives of NGOs from 15-17 Septem- ber 1999, the conference also offered a glimpse of the ongoing and evolving re- lationship between civil society and the United Nations.
Held each year by the UN’s Department of Public Information (DPI), the conference aims mainly to educate representatives about UN activities and points of view. But it has
also become an important place for network- ing among NGOs themselves.
“More and more NGOs are coming to this conference, which indicates a growing interest in the work of the UN — and it also indicates that more and more NGOs want to meet other NGOs and network,” said Helene Hoedl, an information officer for the UN’s Department of Public Information.
Ms. Hoedl said preregistration for the con- ference had risen by roughly one-third in the last three years, from 2245 to more than 3000 (with actual attendance this year at around 1,700). “I believe it is now the largest NGO venue on a regular basis,” she said.
In addition to plenary sessions featuring well-known figures in international affairs, the event has for the last three years offered midday workshop sessions sponsored en- tirely by NGOs. Their topics ranged from the Hague Appeal for Peace to the role of ethics in societal transformation:
These sessions have rapidly grown in popularity, said Carl Murrell, who chaired the conference's Planning Committee this year. “This year, for example, we were con- tacted by some UN agencies, who wanted to host some of these dialogues,” said Mr. Murrell, alternate UN representative of the United States Baha'i community. “But we said, ‘No, we want them for NGOs.’ So the word is out about the impact of these work- shops, and people really see them as an op- portunity for dialogue among NGOs and to build networks.”
NGOs and Globalization
The main speakers focused on the new possibilities — and responsibilities — that globalization has given to NGOs.
“Globalization has become the essence of modem life,” said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan inan opening address. “It must become second nature in our thinking. But as we have seen, this is not an easy task. Many experi- ence globalization not as an agent of progress, but as a disruptive force, almost hurricane- like in its ability to destroy lives, jobs and tra- ditions in the blink of an eye.”
Globalization, continued on page 14
8
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 9]
NAT
ONS
US Baha'i community urges strong support for the United Nations — including full US funding
NITED NATIONS — Among the thousands of NGO
representatives at this year’s UN DPI/NGO confer- ence were 16 Baha'is from local communities in the United States of America.
Their presence at the event represents part of a strong effort within the Baha'i community of the United States to support the United Nations and its mission of promoting international peace and security.
Since 1947, the American Baha'i community has been accredited as a non-governmental organization by DPI (De- partment of Public Information). Further, as a national community, it has over the years been involved in numer- ous UN-related projects, from the organizing of local UN Day observances to lobbying in the United States Senate for ratification of major UN human rights conventions.
“The Baha’t teachings explicitly call for the establish- ment of a world federal system to uphold and maintain world peace,” said Jeffery Huffines, the United States Baha'i representative to the United Nations. “And the United Na- tions, imperfect though it may be, is the single most im- portant international peace organization in the world.”
Most recently, the Baha’i community of the United States has participated in a major campaign to urge the American Congress to pay its back dues to the UN. Ac- cording to the UN, the United States owes the organiza- tion US$1.6 billion in assessed contributions.
There are some 130,000 Baha’is in the United States, living in more than 7,100 localities in all 50 states. Over the last three years, individuals and groups of American Baha'is have been engaged in writing letters to their Con- gressional representatives — and in some cases holding meetings with them — to urge payment of UN dues.
“Our goal is to encourage the United States to be a leader in the whole international system,” said Kit Cosby, director of the Washington-based Office of External Af- fairs for the American Baha'i community. “We believe that the United States has a legal and moral obligation, not only to live up to its promise to fund the United Nations, but also to be a leader in human rights and other areas required to build the kind of international institutions that are needed for a true global civilization to emerge.”
Since 1994, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the US and Amnesty International USA have co-chaired a Washington-based working group of more than 100 national- level organizations urging the US ratification of the Conven- tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In the past, the US Baha'i com- munity, working with other US NGOs, has been successful in efforts to urge United States legislators to ratify other UN-
negotiated treaties such as the Genocide Convention, the Convention Against Torture, the Covenant on Civil and Po- litical Rights, and the Race Convention.
These efforts have been mirrored at the local level throughout the US, where Baha'is have long been at the forefront in local observances of events like UN Day, Hu- man Rights Day and International Women’s Day.
Last year, for example, Baha'i communities in the United States were among the main organizers of the 52 state-level “town hall” meetings that were held in com- memoration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Dec- laration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The willingness of individual Baha’is in the United States to support the UN is exemplified by the fact that the 16 Baha’is who attended the DPI Conference on glo- balization paid their own way for the trip to New York.
“I wanted an update on global trends that I can share with colleagues and friends,” said Rolando Maddela, a physician from Grand Prairie, Texas. “I've been interested in the UN since the first grade, when our teacher talked about its important role. And as a public health profes- sional, | am aware of the work of the World Health Orga- nization and other UN agencies.”
Mark Griffin, an engineer from Oxford, Massachusetts, has been active in the campaign to urge support for the UN. He has asked friends to write letters to their Congressional representatives in support of the UN.
“The UN has an appeal in itself, and I wanted to ‘get a flavor’ of what it was all about,” said Mr. Griffin. “The current importance of the United Nations is that it pro- vides much of an institutional framework for when the world is ready for a world governing body.” %
Some of the Bahd’is who attended the 1999 UN DPI/NGO. Conference gathered for an informal group photograph.
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 10]
Hand-washing stations, set
up near latrines, are among
the sanitation measures that
have been promoted by
community health workers
in the Uganda Baha'i health
project.
“ss SESS
Community health workers in Uganda
Uganda, continued from page one
More than a health education success story, perhaps the real lesson of the Baha'i project lies in its record of sustainability. Started in 1986 by the Baha’i community of Uganda on a very small scale, the program received a huge boost in 1993 when the Canadian Public Health Association helped to fund a three-year project to expand the training of community health volunteers and establish village health committees.
By the time the Canadian-sponsored funding ended in 1996, some 71 commu- nity health workers had been trained and about 65 were actively operating in their home communities. The project has contin- ued its training process, offering courses to 20 more volunteers over the last three years, and managed to support sustained activity by some 53 community workers — despite a two-thirds reduction in its budget since the end of Canadian funding.
Further, a relatively high percentage of those trained have been women, reflecting hard-fought success at overcoming the tra- ditional reluctance to allow women to work at such tasks.
Encouraging sustainability was the aim
of the Canadian Public Health Association — and remains a major goal for UBID.
“Ym delighted to hear what has been going on,” said Dr. Edward Ragan, who di- rected the CPHA International Immuniza- tion Program during the mid-1990s, discuss- ing the ongoing activity in the UBID health project. “It is in keeping with what we tried to do [with our funding], which was not necessarily just immunize children nor sim- ply train people medically, but to create a context for sustainability, which is the way development will be done in the future.”
“A lot that happens within the Baha’ community is because it has a strong spiri- tual base to it, and you don’t find the same strong degree of fervor in other groups, and that is a plus point,” Dr. Ragan added.
Reaching the underserved
The UBID health program operates in isolated rural areas of two districts in east- ern Uganda. In both Kumi and Soroti Dis- tricts, the terrain is mostly flat grassland interrupted sporadically by forests and iso- lated swamps and served by few paved roads.
The people in the area are Itesos. They
are mostly farmers growing cassava, ground-
nuts, millet and cotton on small plots
[Page 11]
ploughed by oxen and weeded by hand.
They raise chickens, turkeys and cows.
Homes, made mainly from mud bricks with
thatch roofs, are scattered over a wide area.
“The strength of the Baha’i project in Kumi and Soroti was that it was willing to go down to the most underserved areas of the districts and try to make the much needed health services available,” said Fred Ssengooba, a lecturer at Makerere University’s Institute of Public Health, who has examined the project. “There is a seri- ous shortage of trained health providers ... in distant rural areas.”
The project's approach has been simple: to train local volunteers to be community health workers (CHWs) and community vaccinators (CVs) who could teach their fellow villagers the basics of home hygiene and sanitation and administer vaccinations against major childhood diseases
Since 1993, the program has trained 76 community health workers and another 14 higher-level local health education special- ists, known as trainers, who work with the community health workers. It has done this for less than US $100,000 in overseas assis- tance, a bargain price for international de- velopment programs.
Along the way, the program has struggled with a number of obstacles, from the dis- trust of villagers over the safety of vaccina- tion to the traditional reluctance of women to “work” outside their homes. There have been internal challenges, as well, as the Ugandan Baha'i community sought to improve its own admin- istrative capacity to operate such a program.
But the results were a “tremen- dous success” when measured against the project's initial goals, according to an evaluation done in 1996 by Narathius Asingwire, acting head of the Social Work and Social Administration Department of Makerere University of Kampala. According to Mr. Asingwire’s report, written in col- laboration with Dr. Ssengooba, the UBID health program:
- More than met its goal of in-
creasing immunization coverage by six percent among children under the age of five, achieving instead an increase of 28 percent.
+ Registered “good success” in promoting community health care
practices “as evidenced by high latrine cov- erage, plate racks, garbage pits and sanita- tion practices.”
- Achieved a retention rate for its vol-
unteers of more than 90 percent, offering a “clear testimony that manpower trained can make the project survive for a long time.”
“What I found unique with the Baha’ health project was the element of keeping the volunteer staff on board without burn- ing-out,” said Mr. Asingwire in a recent in- terview. “In most projects, volunteers with time tend to burn-out due to lack of incen- tives, such as remuneration.
“This, however, needs to be appreciated in the context of the Baha'i principles and values which in a way greatly promote that sense of unselfishness, where the followers can work voluntarily for the common good of the community,” added Mr. Asingwire.
Indeed, program managers agree that the project's record of success, both in relation to short term health improvements and longer term sustainability, stems largely from the project’s distinctive emphasis on volunteerism and community service, which emerges from the spiritual ideals that un- derlie the project's conception.
“The principle of service to others as the highest good and the concept of ‘work as worship,’ along with the equality of women and men, which are all Baha’i principles, are incorporated completely in our training and our field work,” said Vinita Walkup-Gilbert,
Shown at left are members of the Baha’t local Spiritual Assembly of the village of Kalapata. Here, as in other villages, these local Baha’t governing councils have been involved in the UBID health program, providing a grassroots-level administrative connection to village life.
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 12]
who was coordinator of the UBID health project from 1993 through 1997 and who still serves as a consultant. “We feel the emphasis on these principles makes a sig- nificant difference in what happens on the ground. Itis reflected in the time our people volunteer and in the way they treat the people they serve.”
Connecting with the community
Community members say the project has indeed saved many young lives. “Commu- nities were not aware of why their children were dying,” said Ketula Arinyi, a 45-year- old mother of 10 who is now a community health worker in Tilling.
And there was reluctance, at first, to the measures proposed by the UBID-trained workers. Some mothers, for example, be- lieved that vaccinations would harm, not help, their children and they hid them dur- ing immunization campaigns. The key to stemming those fears lay in the selection and use of volunteers from each community.
“When the program started, an anti-gov- ernment politician said this was a program of the government to reduce the popula- tion,” said Mr. Ebetu, the 61-year-old Till- ing farmer quoted earlier. He noted that al- though he had a child who died of measles long before the project, he was still wary. “Because if the program was free, we ques- tioned it. It may be to kill our children.”
But, said Mr. Ebetu, once it became clear that the program was community- based and was drawing its volunteers from each village, the attitudes changed. “The condition for the selection of the commu- nity health workers was that they had to
The village health committee in Kalapata. Margaret Okoboi, a CHW, is on the right.
be living in the place where they would work, be married and be accepted by the community. When we heard this, the right thing, we said ‘yes.””
Patrick Okanya, a community health worker in Kalapata added: “We would show the difference between our children, who were immunized, and their children who were not. We used ourselves as an example.”
Explained Alfred Okello, who is cur- rently coordinator of the project: “Each com- munity health worker has the goal to raise awareness of the people about the preven- tion of diseases. We use charts on basic health messages with different problems fac- ing the community such as the effects of drinking unclean water.”
Encouraging women volunteers
The Ugandan Baha’i community, as well as its Canadian funding partners, felt it was very important that there be a balance be- tween women and men in the program. Of the total volunteers trained so far, 50 are men and 41 are women.
Much effort was put into recruiting women volunteers into the program and keeping them active in the communities.
“One of the things we did was to en- courage women to come to the training with their babies and with baby sitters,” said Ms. Gilbert. “This made it possible for many women to take part who other- wise would not have been able to. It made a lot more problems for us — such as hav- ing ten babies crying at once — but it was the only way we could ensure more women were involved.”
Another issue was the objection of hus- bands. “At the beginning, my husband was doubting, thinking ‘maybe they want to grab my wife away,” said Margaret Okoboi, a UBID-trained community health worker from Kalapata. “But now the changes made in the family have made him very happy,” she added, referring to their use of latrines and drying racks, and access to clean water.
To help overcome such worries, project managers visited husbands early on in the project. “We tried to sensitize the whole community when we went in to select a volunteer worker,” said Ms. Gilbert. “We talked about the whole concept of the equal- ity of women and the great value of women as community health workers.”
The training given to each volunteer in- cluded information on immunization, the prevention and treatment of diarrhea and
12
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 13]
worms, rehydration therapy, malaria preven-
tion, nutrition, child health care, pregnancy
health, child spacing, first aid and house-
hold sanitation. The training is distinctive
for its follow-up, with refresher courses of-
fered after three to four months of monitor-
ing in the field
The project also exemplifies the impor- tance of partnership in international develop- ment efforts. The partnership underlying the Uganda project is multilayered: the Canadian Baha’ community played a key role as a liai- son between the CPHA and the Baha'i com- munity of Uganda, through its Canadian Baha’ International Development Service (CBIDS) Money was also contributed by the Baha'i In- ternational Community.
“Strengthening institutional capacity was a background theme throughout the entire endeavor,” said Andy Tamas, secretary of CBIDS executive committee. “All parties, including ourselves, experienced that as the years and activities went by.” Canada’s fund- ing for the Uganda project, which was part ofa CAN$30 million campaign to strengthen primary health care and immunization, originated with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). CIDA con- tracted the Canadian Public Health Associa- tion to design and manage the campaign, which worked with 29 partner agencies to support 60 projects in 28 countries.
Certainly, the overseas partnership did much to strengthen the capacity of the Ugan- dan Baha’ community to carry on. “When the project began there was no full-time per- son to look after it,” said Brian Burriston, the current director. “There was no reliable administrator or management available. And now since UBID exists it allows other op- portunities to be explored.”
According to Mr. Burriston of UBID, the majority of the volunteer workers trained during the last six years remain actively in- volved in health education and care in their communities. “In 1998, 53 were filing re- ports at least every other month,” said Mr. Burriston. “And community health workers are notorious for not sending in reports even when they are working. And what is signifi- cant, I think, is that at least one-third of that number have been working for five years without pay.”
Such activity is in evidence in many of the villages where the program has operated. In Kalapata, for example, every household has a latrine except where the household is built on hard rock. Almost all houses have
drying racks for dishes. No one uses water from shallow wells for anything but brick making. Most use water from deeper drilled “boreholes”; others use home wells which have been cleaned of debris and fenced. Most of the children are now vaccinated against basic diseases.
Likewise in Tilling. “Most households now have a proper pit latrine, a drying rack for dishes and eating utensils, a clean source of drinking and cooking water, and swept grounds around their houses,” said Stephen Opedun, secretary of the local council which serves Tilling. “Perhaps most significantly, nearly 100% of the children in Tilling are fully immunized against the six killer diseases.”
Referring to the moral education com- ponent of the training given to CHWs, Mr. Opedun added: “People are realizing that the moral values promoted by the program are a good thing.”
Mr. Burriston says that much credit for the improvements in hygiene should be shared with the Government, which has re- cently been making an effort to increase the use of pit latrines. “A cholera epidemic in the country has focused attention on sani- tation and produced a positive result in terms of improved sanitation in schools and homes,” he said.
But the people here openly attribute such improvements to the adoption of the hy- giene and health messages presented by the local community health workers trained by UBID. Said Ginatio Tukei, a farmer in Kalapata: “Now people in other places are demanding for the project to be extended into their villages.” %
— With reporting by Steve Worth
To supervise community health volunteers, project managers use a motorcycle and bicycles. Shown above is Alfred Okello, the project’s coordinator, with the project's motorcycle.
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
13
[Page 14]
“An alliance
between
governments,
NGOs, local firms,
and multinational
corporations can
foster cooperation
in the
developmental
proce:
Earth Charter a model for global consensus building
Charter, continued from page 7
and other indigenous groups — the draft- ing committee has come up with new lan- guage, said Mr. Rockefeller. “We took out the word ‘compassion’ and put in the phrase ‘treat all living beings with respect and con- sideration’ — and they were willing to ac- cept that,” he said. The new wording will
appear in the next draft, due in early 2000. -
Part of the process of inclusion has been a simple matter of taking the time to con- tact and listen to as many voices as possible. As a concept, the Earth Charter was first proposed in 1987 by the Brundtland Com- mission, and, for a time, it appeared as if governments might approve an Earth Char- ter at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in
1992. When governments could not achieve consensus on a Charter, NGOs decided to continue the drafting process under the co- ordination of the Earth Council.
Throughout the decade-long process, the Baha'i International Community has been an active international partner, giving input, hosting and participating in meetings to so- licit comments, and serving on various Earth Charter committees.
“The Earth Charter is perhaps the best expression of the principles for sustainable development ever produced in a succinct document,” said Peter Adriance, a Baha’i rep- resentative active in the Earth Charter USA Network. “The Charter upholds Baha’u'llah’s pivotal principle of the oneness of humankind. Given increasing circulation and attention in the years ahead, it should serve as an impor- tant guide toward living sustainably on Earth in the 21st century and beyond.” #*
UN DPI/NGO conference a venue for NGO networking Globalization, continued from page 8
Grappling with such force, Mr. Annan said, requires help from NGOs. “Governments need non-governmental partners,” he said. “The private sector, as vital and dynamic as it is, cannot by itself give global markets a human. face or reach the millions on the margins.”
Queen Noor said that while globaliza- tion has raised the fortunes of many, it has also left others behind. “It is time to place the human face at the center of the global- ization debate and frame comprehensive ap- proaches to the threats to human security posed by marginalization, poverty and hu- man rights abuses,” she said. “Globalization holds the potential for unprecedented ben-
efits, but these benefits, to be fully realized, have to be shared equitably.”
To do that, she said, will require a new partnership between business, governments and NGOs. “An alliance between govern- ments, NGOs, local firms, and multinational corporations can foster cooperation in the developmental process and promote human welfare everywhere.”
UN Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Mark Malloch Brown said that globalization is causing a dramatic power shift in the international system. “It is nota straightforward shift, from the strong to the weak,” said Mr. Brown. “It is more between different kinds of institutions, from public to private, from profit to non-profit, from nation states to other organizations of people, to NGOs, to community organiza- tions, to global organizations of people.” 3
U.S. Baha’i Leader Appointed to Presidential Commission on Religious Freedom
WASHINGTON — Firuz Kazemzadeh, a long-serving leader in the Baha'i community of the United States of America, has been appointed by United States President Will- iam Clinton to serve on the Commission on International Religious Freedom,
Dr. Kazemzadeh, a professor emeritus of history at Yale University, was one of three Clinton appointees to the nine-member Com- mission, which was established by the Inter- national Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
Passing it with unanimous approval, Con-
gress signed the Act into law on 27 October 1998. The Commission, which is advisory in nature, will issue an annual report to the US Secretary of State and the President, provid- ing recommendations for US policy responses to international religious freedom violations.
Dr. Kazemzadeh has served on the Na- tional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States for 35 years and is currently its Secretary for External Affairs. His appointment to the Commission was announced by the White House in May 1999. 3
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ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
[Page 15]
Review: Groovin’ High
Review, continued from back page
Music was in his blood and he taught himself the trumpet. In the mid-1930s he moved north to Philadelphia and later to New York, where he quickly established himself as a competent young player with a distinctive style. He worked with a number of well-known black bands, including the famed big band of Cab Calloway. Mr. Gillespie's tenure with Mr. Calloway ended when he pulled a knife on the leader and stabbed him in the leg. According to Mr. Shipton, Mr. Calloway had falsely accused Mr. Gillespie of lobbing a spitball at him during a performance — something that was not entirely out of character, inasmuch as Mr. Gillespie was well-known for his high jinks and practical jokes, which was part of the reason for his nickname “Dizzy.”
In the 1940s, during late-night jam ses- sions with Mr. Parker, Mr. Gillespie worked out the new musical ideas that were to be- come known as bebop and which revolu- tionized the whole sound of jazz. Mr. Shipton believes that Mr. Gillespie's contri- butions to bebop have been underestimated.
“By being the one who organized the principal ideas of the beboppers into an in- tellectual framework, Dizzy was the key fig- ure who allowed the music to progress be- yond a small and restricted circle of after- hours enthusiasts,” Mr. Shipton writes. “This was a major element in his life, and virtually everyone to whom I spoke stressed Dizzy’s exceptional generosity with his time in explaining and exploring musical ideas. Modern jazz might have happened without Dizzy, but it would not have had so clearly articulated a set of harmonic and rhythmic precepts, nor so dramatic a set of recorded examples of these being put into practice.”
Throughout the book, Mr. Shipton of- fers up a careful analysis of Mr. Gillespie's recordings and considerable history and de- tail about the other musicians who worked with Mr. Gillespie. Inasmuch as Mr. Gillespie played with virtually all of the jazz “greats” of the 1940s through the 1990s, the book thus does double duty as a basic in- troduction to the history, life-styles and per- sonalities of jazz during its formative years.
As he aged, Mr. Gillespie’s contributions to jazz turned more to the social and politi- cal realm. In the 1950s, he was sent on a series of world tours by the US State De- partment, part of a project to showcase
American culture. He proved himself an able ambassador, speaking up not only for jazz and America, but for humanity in general.
At an “invitation-only” concert in a from eee swank club in Turkey, Mr. Gillespie noticed platform of his a “gang of ragamuffins outside the wall, peer- United Nation ing in,” writes Mr. Shipton. Before he started Orchestra, with its playing, Mr. Gillespie asked that the young pathbreaking people be allowed in. “Man, we're here to fusion of musical play for all the people,” said Mr. Gillespie.
In the late 1980s, when Mr. Gillespie was S#¥/les from North, in his seventies, he established his “United Central, and Nation Orchestra.” It featured a roster of South America musicians from all over the Americas, prov- and the ing that jazz had truly become an interna- Caribbean, he had tional musical style. ae
Concludes Mr. Shipton: “By far Dizzy’s eels eae greatest achievement in his final years was commitment to to bury forever the image of the hothead, the principles of quick to draw his knife and stand his cor- unity, peace, and ner, and to suppress his childhood mean brotherhood of streak once and for all. From the ideal plat- which he spoke so form of his United Nation Orchestra, with paar Shia eee
its pathbreaking fusion of musical styles from North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, he had demonstrated his commitment to the principles of unity, peace, and brotherhood of which he spoke so often. He ended his autobiography with the wish that he would be remembered as a humanitarian. It is the greatest tribute to him to say that his wish came true.” 3¢
PLOMAC Y
In Cameroon, during the Summit of the African Heads of State on Conservation and Management of the Central African Forest, a high-level reception was organized jointly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cameroon and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWE) on 15 March 1999. Pictured above, left to right, are: Ephrame Inoni, assistant secretary-general to the President of Cameroon; Guilda Walker, representative of the Baha’t International Community; and Naah Ondoua Sylvestre, Cameroon's Minister for Environment and Forestry.
ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999
15
[Page 16]
Boo K
La A Ed
From hothead to world citizen
oO: the last century and a half, jazz has evolved from the folk songs of Africans living enslaved in America to a major world musical form, played and appreciated in nearly every nation on the planet.
One of the major figures in this evolu- tion was John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, whose harmonic and rhythmic innovations in the 1940s helped transform the musical lan- guage of jazz into a modernistic expression that captivated audiences worldwide
With Groovin’ High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie, British jazz reviewer Alyn Shipton has written the first major biography of Mr. Gillespie since his death in 1993. Carefully researched, the book peels back much of the mythology and considerable misinformation that has shrouded important elements of Mr. Gillespie’s story — while at the same time reemphasizing and confirming his contribu- tions to the development of jazz and its rec- ognition as a major art form.
Among other things, Mr. Shipton shows that Mr, Gillespie's position in the creation of “bebop” — an original form of jazz that featured fast, complex and asymmetrical melody lines coupled with offbeat rhythms — in many respects outstrips that of saxo- phonist Charlie Parker, who many jazz his- torians have previously credited as the ma- jor force in that innovation.
Mr. Shipton also outlines Mr. Gillespie's role as the jazz world’s ambassador to the world at large. Spreading the message through numerous world-girdling tours, Mr. Gillespie’s joyful but hip demeanor, easy- going humor, and style-setting black beret, horn-rimmed spectacles and goatee came to personify the modern jazz musician.
On another level, Groovin’ High charts the changes in Mr. Gillespie's personal life, as he transformed from a knife-carrying roughneck in his youth to a genuine world citizen whose support for social causes like racial integration ultimately became synony- mous with his identity. That transformation, according to Mr. Shipton, was in part ef- fected by Mr. Gillespie’s mid-life conversion to and strong practice of the Baha’ Faith
Mr. Shipton writes that after Dizzy be- came a Baha’ in the late 1960s, “even though
his mean streak would still surface from time to time, those who knew him through the latter part of his life noticed changes. Au- thor Nat Hentoff, for example, wrote: ‘I knew Dizzy for some forty years, and he did evolve into a spiritual person. That’s a phrase 1 almost never use, because many of the people who call themselves spiritual would kill for their faith. But Dizzy reached an in- ner strength and discipline that total paci- fists call “soul force.” He always had a vivid presence.... He made people feel good, and he was the sound of surprise, even when his horn was in its case.’ “
Mr. Gillespie’s origins certainly did not presage a life of peace. Born in Cheraw,
aT ALIN SHIPTON
South Carolina, on 21 October 1917, Mr. Gillespie had a rough childhood. His strict father — a bricklayer and Saturday night musician — often whipped him, and the young Mr. Gillespie was correspondingly pugnacious. “I used to fight anybody, big, small, white or colored,” Mr. Gillespie once said. “I was just a devil, a strong devil.” Review, continued on page 15
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ONE COUNTRY / July-September 1999 �
