Global/Local

The following headline popped up last week in my email alerts set for Eritrea, a tiny nation bordering the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa: “Eritrea Shuts Christian Students into Shipping Containers.”

Shipping containers? What on earth is happening in Eritrea?

I know Eritrea is small, but Georgia is small, too. In such small places we often glimpse our fates and futures. MORE »

HANGZHOU, CHINA—“Our President, Hu Jintao, said little, but did a lot,” reflected a Sichuan resident on the Chinese government’s actions in response to the earthquake that occurred on May 12 in the Sichuan province, 50 miles west northwest of the capital city of Chengdu. “Anders,” who requested I not use his real name, is a 25-year-old textile industry account executive in the city of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, where people in high-rise office buildings felt the tremors of the 8.0 earthquake. Hangzhou is 960 miles to the east of Chengdu. MORE »

In a recent meeting held in the Twin Cities titled ‘ Saving the Horn’ Seyoum Tesfaye, Atlanta based journalist and human rights activist eloquently presents the roots of the problems in the current Horn of African politics and solutions while more or less he directs most of his criticism toward his native country of Eritrea. Below is the full text of his speech. MORE »

BEIJING, CHINA—“Welcome to Beijing” has become a familiar phrase this week, heard all over China during the celebration of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. It is joyfully chanted by Chinese people in person, and on the airwaves in speech and in song. “Beijing huang yin nin,” “Beijing welcomes you.” MORE »