"With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
Watch the historic speech here online.
On January 8, 2008, the Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building, DM Dassanayake was killed when his convoy was hit by a powerful roadside bomb blast, allegedly planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near the capital, Colombo. The killing follows the murder of LTTE's Political wing chief S.P. Tamilselvam and the Intelligence wing chief "Colonel" Charles by the Sri Lankan security forces. On New Year's Day, a Tamil Parliamentarian Thiagarajah Maleswaran was assassinated inside a Hindu temple in Colombo. These deaths bring Sri Lanka's escalating conflict into sharp focus. Sri Lankan Special Task Force
Marlon Santi, the new president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), was elected by consensus on January 12 in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, and granted this first interview before the rest of the Governing Council was elected. Marlon Santi
"I will join with the people who have the same problems, especially in the Amazon, in the highlands, and on the coast, since the problems are same and we have to walk together. I am not a leader who sits at a desk. I am a leader who will be out in the field, fighting for the people."
In early April 1969, I found myself in a surreal situation, after which I was never the same. I was in a small village (name unknown), accompanied by a South Vietnamese lieutenant named Bao. Educated in the United States, Bao spoke English fluently, and knew the area well. I was standing no more than 3 feet from the mangled body of a young Vietnamese woman who it appeared had been struggling to protect her children as the village came under fire. Both of her arms remained clutched around her three small children. The village had been bombed just minutes before our arrival by U.S.-trained and equipped South Vietnamese pilots. Vietnamese Prisoners
Kampala, Uganda - A somber aura hangs over the compound at Teresa Ntamalengero's home in central Uganda. The men are chatting in hushed voices, the women are huddled up on a bench, and the children stand quietly holding the bicycle rims they use as toys. Inside her mud and wattle house measuring six-by-four meters, Teresa is helping her daughter Janet to sit up with the help of two neighbors. Teresa is 63. Her daughter, Janet Nakyanzi, is 28 but has lost so much weight she looks more like a child. They are both HIV-positive and they need antiretroviral drugs.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019