Rene Wadlow, Author at Toward Freedom

Ven. Maha Ghosananda: Walking for Peace in Cambodia

Rene Wadlow March 26, 2007 Rene Wadlow

The Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a learned Cambodian monk, died in early March 2007 near the temple where he was living in Leverett, Massachusetts. Maha Ghosananda, who had a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from India, was a key person in the revival of the Buddhist Sangha in Cambodia after the Pol Pot years (1975-1979). In 1992, Maha Ghosananda revived the tradition of the Dhammayietra - a country-wide pilgrimage as a symbol of peace and reconciliation among a still-divided population.

Russell Davenport: World Citizen, Political Strategist

Rene Wadlow February 28, 2007 Rene Wadlow

With the US presidential campaign preliminaries beginning in the Democratic and Republican parties, it is useful to recall one of the most innovative of campaign strategists, Russell Davenport, the spirit behind those chanting "We want Willkie" at the 1940 Republican convention in Philadelphia.

Citizens of the Earth

Rene Wadlow February 12, 2007 Rene Wadlow

In a mixture of the titles of the "Citizens of the World" and the "Friends of the Earth" - the representatives of 40 governments speaking as the "Citizens of the Earth" called on February 2, 2007 for an improved UN system of ecological governance.

L’Abbé Pierre: Voice of the Voiceless

Rene Wadlow January 29, 2007 Rene Wadlow

L'Abbé Pierre, champion of the homeless and world citizen, died on January 22nd, 2007 in Paris at 94 years old. He was born in 1912, named Henri Groues, brought up in Lyon in a bourgeois family and educated in Catholic schools. His father was active in helping the poor directly and in Catholic social efforts. As a 15-year old student on his way to Rome for Easter with his school, they stopped at Assisi, where Henri had a mystical experience alone on the mountain side and was ever afterwards influenced by the image of Francis of Assisi helping the poor.

Citizen Pierre Mendes France

Rene Wadlow January 15, 2007 Rene Wadlow

January 11th marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Mendes France (1907-1982), a man held in high esteem by the founding editor of Toward Freedom , Bill Lloyd, and Homer Jack who was an early writer for TF and whose TF study on the Bandong Conference was an important contribution to raising awareness of the growing Asian-African movement of decolonization.(1)

What Transition for Turkmenistan?

Rene Wadlow January 2, 2007 Rene Wadlow

The death of the President-for-Life of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, on 21 December 2006, the shortest day of the year, has again proved that all humans are mortal, and that death is the great equalizer. The Turkmenbashi, "Father of all Turkmen" had set the stage for his own immortality, having written down from heavenly sources a two-volume book The Ruknama (The Book of the Soul) on the model of the Koran which was dictated to but not written by the Prophet Muhammad.