Humanitarian Culture Quotes

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Only a loyal, determined struggle to destroy cultural aggression and bring out the truth, whatever it may be, is revolutionary and consonant with real progress; it is the only approach which opens on to the universal. Humanitarian declarations are not called for and add nothing to real progress.
Cheikh Anta Diop (The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality)
The concept of progress, i.e., an improvement or completion (in modern jargon, a rationalization) became dominant in the eighteenth century, in an age of humanitarian-moral belief. Accordingly, progress meant above all progress in culture, self-determination, and education: moral perfection. In an age of economic or technical thinking, it is self-evident that progress is economic or technical progress. To the extent that anyone is still interested in humanitarian-moral progress, it appears as a byproduct of economic progress. If a domain of thought becomes central, then the problems of other domains are solved in terms of the central domain - they are considered secondary problems, whose solution follows as a matter of course only if the problems of the central domain are solved.
Carl Schmitt (The Concept of the Political)
The debacle in Iraq has reinforced the realist dictum, disparaged by idealists in the 1990s, that the legacies of geography, history and culture really do set limits on what can be accomplished in any given place. But the experience in the Balkans reinforced an idealist dictum that is equally true: One should always work near the limits of what is possible rather than cynically give up on any place. In this decade idealists went too far; in the previous one, it was realists who did not go far enough.
Robert D. Kaplan
…food is capable of feeding far more than a rumbling stomach. Food is life; our well-being demands it. Food is art and magic; it evokes emotion and colors memory, and in skilled hands, meals become greater than the sum of their ingredients. Food is self-evident; plucked right from the ground or vine or sea, its power to delight is immediate. Food is discovery; finding an untried spice or cuisine is for me like uncovering a new element. Food is evolution; how we interpret it remains ever fluid. Food is humanitarian: sharing it bridges cultures, making friends of strangers pleasantly surprised to learn how much common ground they ultimately share.
Anthony Beal
Love is the supreme religion, love is the supreme law, love is the supreme science.
Abhijit Naskar (Sin Dios Sí Hay Divinidad: The Pastor Who Never Was)
The trouble with purging the school curriculum of religious knowledge is that ultimate questions cannot be answered without reference to religious beliefs or at least to philosophy. With religion expelled from the schools, a clear field was left for the entrance of the mode of belief called humanitarianism, or secular humanism--the latter a term employed by the cultural historian Christopher Dawson. During the past four decades and more, the place that religion used to hold in American schooling, always a rather modest and non-dogmatic place, has been filled by secular humanism. Its root principle is that human nature and society may be perfected without the operation of divine grace. . . . In his book A Common Faith (1934), [John] Dewey advocated his brand of humanism as a religion. "Here are all the elements for a religious faith that shall not be confined to sect, class, or race," he wrote. "Such a faith has always been implicitly the common faith of mankind. It remains to make it explicit and militant." Much more evidence exists to suggest that humanitarianism, or secular humanism, should be regarded in law as a religion, with respect to both establishment and free exercise in the First Amendment. It is this non-theistic religion, hostile to much of the established morality and many existing American institutions, that has come close to being established as a "civil religion" in American public schools.
Russell Kirk (Rights and Duties: Reflections on Our Conservative Constitution)
We are one human family.
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
Life is in every culture, but no one culture is the whole of life.
Abhijit Naskar (Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather)
I am no insect of the gutter that can be identified by the puny two directions, east and west - I am time - I am space - I am the very dimension of life, love and unity.
Abhijit Naskar (Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather)
Every country is my country - every culture is my culture - every history is my history.
Abhijit Naskar (Lives to Serve Before I Sleep)
The world must work unitedly on every humanitarian crisis of chaos, uncertainty and fear to preserve the human rights, integrity, freedoms and cultural heritage with utmost care and sensitivity.
Amit Ray (World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird)
If you wanna know about a culture, you can read about it in any language - but if you want to experience that culture like your own, you gotta do it as one of their own - through their own native language.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
English is my second language, My first language is love. Neuroscience is my second sense, My first sense is love. Theology is my second faith, My first faith is interfaith. Philosophy is my second nature, My first nature is to assimilate.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat)
The world needs a janitor, to clean its stains of barbarianism - the world needs a mechanic, to fix its broken conscience in the fog of socio-cultural conditioning - the world needs a plumber, to fix its internal plumbing that carries courage, compassion and acceptance. And mark you, it doesn't matter whatsoever, of what color your collar is, what matters above everything else, is that - are you responsible, and then, are you committed and courageous enough to act on that responsibility!
Abhijit Naskar (Lives to Serve Before I Sleep)
I belong to America, as much as I belong to Russia - I belong to England, as much as I belong to France - I belong to Bulgaria, as much as I belong to Turkey - I belong to India, as much as I belong to Pakistan, Bangladesh and so on. I belong to every nation on this planet. Every country is my country - every culture is my culture - every history is my history. One who sacrifices the self in the service of others, no longer sees any separation whatsoever between the self and the rest of the world - it all becomes one.
Abhijit Naskar (Lives to Serve Before I Sleep)
Founded in 1876, the Ethical Culture Society inculcated in its members a commitment to social action and humanitarianism: “Man must assume responsibility for the direction of his life and destiny.” Although an outgrowth of American Reform Judaism, Ethical Culture was itself a “non-religion,” perfectly suited to upper-middle-class German Jews, most of whom, like the Oppenheimers, were intent on assimilating into American society. Felix Adler and his coterie of talented teachers promoted this process and would have a powerful influence in the molding of Robert Oppenheimer’s psyche, both emotionally and intellectually.
Kai Bird (American Prometheus)
the Gita celebrates a life of action and engagement with the world. As such, it was compatible with Oppenheimer’s Ethical Culture upbringing; but there also were important differences. The Gita’s notions of karma, destiny and earthly duty would seem to be at odds with the humanitarianism of the Ethical Culture Society.
Kai Bird (American Prometheus)
The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. . . . The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.
Christopher Watkin (Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture)
Anybody with martial training and engineering skills can be a superhero, but that doesn’t make them a hero. Superhero culture is dangerous, for it facilitates a paradigm of secret identity. And consistent practice of such secrecy eventually ruins an individual's accountability. You don't see soldiers hiding their identity do you, no matter how much they've got to lose!
Abhijit Naskar (Karadeniz Chronicle: The Novel)
The reigning belief today is that closeness between persons is a moral good. The reigning aspiration today is to develop individual personality through experiences of closeness and warmth with others. The reigning myth today is that the evils of society can all be understood as evils of impersonality, alienation, and coldness. The sum of these three is an ideology of intimacy: social relationships of all kinds are real, believable, and authentic the closer they approach the inner psychological concerns of each person. This ideology transmutes political categories into psychological categories. This ideology of intimacy defines the humanitarian spirit of a society without gods: warmth is our god. The history of the rise and fall of public culture at the very least calls this humanitarian spirit into question. The belief in closeness between persons as a moral good is in fact the product of a profound dislocation which capitalism and secular belief produced in the last century. Because of this dislocation, people sought to find personal meanings in impersonal situations, in objects, and in the objective conditions of society itself. They could not find these meanings; as the world became psychomorphic, it became mystifying. They therefore sought to flee, and find in the private realms of life, especially in the family, some principle of order in the perception of personality. Thus the past built a hidden desire for stability in the overt desire for closeness between human beings. Even as we have revolted against the stern sexual rigidities of the Victorian family, we continue to burden close relations with others with these hidden desires for security, rest, and permanence. When the relations cannot bear these burdens, we conclude there is something wrong with the relationship, rather than with the unspoken expectations. Arriving at a feeling of closeness to others is thus often after a process of testing them; the relationship is both close and closed. If it changes, if it must change, there is a feeling of trust betrayed. Closeness burdened with the expectation of stability makes emotional communication—hard enough as it is—one step more difficult. Can intimacy on these terms really be a virtue?
Richard Sennett (The Fall of Public Man)
All our current media concerns have in French the suffix '-aire': identitaire (issues of identity), sanitaire (health concerns), securitaire ('law and order'), humanitaire (humanitarianism). The whole lot being publicitaire (promotional). There is in this suffix something which quite aptly characterizes our culture as funerarium of received ideas and single-track thinking.
Jean Baudrillard (Cool Memories IV, 1995-2000)
If Beirut was the supermarket of the left in the 1970s, where Marxists, communists, Egyptians, Iraqis, and all the Palestinian factions debated and theorized, published and drank in bars arguing over ideas and the fought in the streets, Peshawar was the supermarket of the Islamists in the 1980s without drinking: there the discussions were about Islamic law, fatwas, the war of the believers, the unity of the Muslim nation, and the humanitarian needs of Afghan refugees.
Kim Ghattas (Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East)
Later on in Culture and Society, Williams scores a few points by reprinting some absolutist sentences that, taken on their own, represent exaggerations or generalisations. It was a strength and weakness of Orwell’s polemical journalism that he would begin an essay with a bold and bald statement designed to arrest attention—a tactic that, as Williams rightly notices, he borrowed in part from GK Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw. No regular writer can re-read his own output of ephemera without encountering a few wince-making moments of this kind; Williams admits to ‘isolating’ them but has some fun all the same. The flat sentence ‘a humanitarian is always a hypocrite’ may contain a particle of truth—does in fact contain such a particle—but will not quite do on its own. Other passages of Orwell’s, on the failure of the Western socialist movement, read more convincingly now than they did when Williams was mocking them, but are somewhat sweeping for all that. And there are the famous outbursts of ill-temper against cranks and vegetarians and homosexuals, which do indeed disfigure the prose and (even though we still admire Pope and Swift for the heroic unfairness of their invective) probably deserve rebuke. However, Williams betrays his hidden bias even when addressing these relatively easy targets. He upbraids Orwell for the repeated use of the diminutive word ‘little’ as an insult (‘The typical Socialist ... a prim little man,’ ‘the typical little bowlerhatted sneak,’ etc.). Now, it is probable that we all overuse the term ‘little’ and its analogues. Williams does at one point—rather ‘loftily’ perhaps—reproach his New Left colleagues for being too ready to dismiss Orwell as ‘petit-bourgeois.’ But what about (I draw the example at random) Orwell’s disgust at the behaviour of the English crowd in the First World War, when ‘wretched little German bakers and hairdressers had their shops sacked by the mob’?
Christopher Hitchens
Fall’s message was that nations lose wars because of incomplete ground-level intelligence of the most profound cultural variety, making them unable to grasp the mentality of the people they are trying to help or change or conquer, a mentality accumulated from thousands of years of history in a specific landscape. The Americans would lose in Vietnam just as the French had lost, Fall predicted, because the Americans were given to abstractions that obscured the cultural reality on the ground in Vietnam.
Robert D. Kaplan (The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government's Greatest Humanitarian)
Where I live, being considered “good” has little to nothing to do with institutional religion. The social benchmarks for moral applause have more to do with whether one eats organic, rides his or her bike to work, and supports a humanitarian initiative in Africa. Things like these—even if good things that contribute to the flourishing of our world, in a manner similar to many traditional religious works—comprise our contemporary bars of righteousness by which one’s social capital is improved. In corporate culture, these bars may have more to do with how much money we’ve made or the size of our portfolio. In political culture, how much power we’ve attained or the heights up the ladder we’ve climbed. In popular culture, how much sex we’ve had or the number of Twitter followers who are interested in what we have to say. The cultural decline of institutional religion has simply meant the relocation, not the destruction, of social norms through which we pursue personal justification and social acceptance for our existence.
Joshua Ryan Butler (The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War)
We can view politics as an art form, since political action shapes human beings destiny to be an ambassador of goodwill and humanitarian activities. Alternatively, we can perceive politics as a crime because it can give vent to collective passions of hatred and barbarism. Americans must decide whether to muster our collective political powers to end warfare and curb corporate exploitation of natural resources or pursue nationalism and perpetuate barbarous ruination of the environment. The outcome of these decisive challenges will alter our national consciousness.
Kilroy J. Oldster (Dead Toad Scrolls)
Without the pathos of distance, the sort which grows out of the deeply rooted difference between the social classes, out of the constant gazing outward and downward of the ruling caste on the subjects and work implements, and out of their equally sustained practice of obedience and command, holding down and holding at a distance, that other more mysterious pathos would have no chance of growing at all, that longing for an ever new widening of distances inside the soul itself, the development of ever higher, rarer, more distant, more expansive, more comprehensive states, in short, simply the enhancement in the type 'man,' the constant 'self-conquest of man,' to cite a moral formula in a supra-moral sense. Of course, where the history of the origins of aristocratic society is concerned (and thus the precondition for that raising of the type 'man' —), We should not surrender to humanitarian illusions: truth is hard. So without further consideration, let's admit to ourselves how up to this point every higher culture on earth has started! People with a still natural nature, barbarians in every dreadful sense of the word, predatory men still in possession of an unbroken power of the will and a desire for power, threw themselves on weaker, more civilized, more peaceful, perhaps trading or cattle-raising races, or on old, worn cultures, in which at that very moment the final forces of life were flaring up in a dazzling fireworks display of spirit and corruption. At the start the noble caste has always been the barbarian caste: its superiority has lain not primarily in physical might but in psychical power — it has been a matter of more COMPLETE human beings (which at every level also means 'more complete beasts').
Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)
As President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere became known internationally for his lofty goals and humanitarian statements that caused him to be called "the conscience of Africa." At home, he tried to impose his vision of an egalitarian, socialist society by authoritarian methods. By government edict, a majority of Tanzania's population was grouped into villages, whether they wanted to be or not.231 As with so many other communal agricultural schemes in various nations and eras, those in Tanzania led to people's doing as little work as possible on the communal crop and as much as possible on their own individual plots.
Thomas Sowell (Conquests and Cultures: An International History)
Such are the incalculable effects of that negative passion of indifference, that hysterical and speculative resurrection of the other. Racism, for example. Logically, it should have declined with the advance of Enlightenment and democracy. Yet the more hybrid our cultures become, and the more the theoretical and genetic bases of racism crumble away, the stronger it grows. But this is because we are dealing here with a mental object, an artificial construct, based on an erosion of the singularity of cultures and entry into the fetishistic system of difference. So long as there is otherness, strangeness and the (possibly violent) dual relation -- as we see in anthropological accounts up to the eighteenth century and into the colonial phase -- there is no racism properly so-called. Once that `natural' relation is lost, we enter into a phobic relationship with an artificial other, idealized by hatred. And because it is an ideal other, this relationship is an exponential one: nothing can stop it, since the whole trend of our culture is towards a fanatically pursued differential construction, a perpetual extrapolation of the same from the other. Autistic culture by dint of fake altruism. All forms of sexist, racist, ethnic or cultural discrimination arise out of the same profound disaffection and out of a collective mourning, a mourning for a dead otherness, set against a background of general indifference -- a logical product of our marvellous planet-wide conviviality. The same indifference can give rise to exactly opposite behaviour. Racism is desperately seeking the other in the form of an evil to be combated. The humanitarian seeks the other just as desperately in the form of victims to aid. Idealization plays for better or for worse. The scapegoat is no longer the person you hound, but the one whose lot you lament. But he is still a scapegoat. And it is still the same person.
Jean Baudrillard (The Perfect Crime)
Letter to My Soldiers I am only the beginning - the beginning of a new kind of humans - humans who belong to not one culture, but many cultures - humans who speak not one language, but many languages - humans who study scriptures and science with equal enthusiasm, yet pledge allegiance to neither, and know how to use both in the benefit of humanity - humans who aim for neither belief nor disbelief, but warmth and understanding - humans who are more concerned with the real hard problem of inhumanity, than the outdated hard problem of consciousness - humans who sacrifice their life treating the real hard question of hate, rather than the mythical hard question of god. I am only the beginning - the first spark, if you may - the best are yet to come.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
Outside The Museum (The Sonnet) Enough with, patria o muerte*! Enough with, god save the queen! Enough with, heil hitler! Enough with, o say can you see! Bronze age beings yell about national glory, Stone age beings yell about religious glory. Electric beings got no time for such make-believe, On their shoulders walks the present of humanity. There is no earth till all roots combine, Till we crave for each other all roots are chains. Museums add perspective on the direction of life, But to spend a life in museum is life lost in vain. Enough with vande mataram**, it's time for vasudhaiva kutumbakam***. To hell with nation, culture and tradition, civilization awaits outside the museum. (*homeland or death, *hail the motherland, ***world is family)
Abhijit Naskar (Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans)
What the science in this book ultimately teaches is that there is no meaning. There’s no answer to “Why?” beyond “This happened because of what came just before, which happened because of what came just before that.” There is nothing but an empty, indifferent universe in which, occasionally, atoms come together temporarily to form things we each call Me. A whole field of psychology explores terror management theory, trying to make sense of the hodgepodge of coping mechanisms we resort to when facing the inevitability and unpredictability of death. As we know, those responses cover the range of humans at our best and worst—becoming closer to your intimates, identifying more with your cultural values (whether humanitarian or fascist in nature), making the world a better place, deciding to live well as the best revenge. And by now, in our age of existential crisis, the terror we feel when shadowed by death has a kid sibling in our terror when shadowed by meaninglessness. Shadowed by our being biological machines wobbling on top of turtles that go all the way down. We are not captains of our ships; our ships never had captains.[2] Fuck. That really blows.
Robert M. Sapolsky (Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will)
Although the US State Department has not officially designated the MB [Muslin Brotherhood] as a terrorist organization, Egypt did so in 2013; and in 2015, a British government review “concluded that membership of or links to it should be considered a possible indicator of extremism.” However, in 2003 the FBI uncovered the MB’s multifaceted plan to dominate America through immigration, intimidation, education, community centers, mosques, political legitimacy, and establishing ‘interfaith dialogue’ centers in our universities and colleges. A document confiscated by the FBI outlines a twelve-point strategy to establish an Islamic government on earth that is brought about by a flexible, long-term ‘cultural invasion’ of the West. Their own plans teach us that ‘the intrusion of Islam will erupt in multiple locations using mulciple means’. But near the top of this strategy is immigration. To be more specific, the first major point in their strategy states; ‘To expand the Muslin presence by birth rate, immigration and refusal to assimilate.’ This strategy transformed Indonesia from a Buddhist and Hindu country to the largest Muslin-dominated country in the world. As Europe has discovered, open borders for refugees may be viewed as a compassionate response to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, but it has long-term risks and consequences.
Erwin W. Lutzer (The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be a Light in the Darkness)
out of their equally sustained practice of obedience and command, holding down and holding at a distance, that other more mysterious pathos would have no chance of growing at all, that longing for an ever new widening of distances inside the soul itself, the development of ever higher, rarer, more distant, more expansive, more comprehensive states, in short, simply the enhancement in the type 'man,' the constant 'self-conquest of man,' to cite a moral formula in a supra-moral sense. Of course, where the history of the origins of aristocratic society is concerned (and thus the precondition for that raising of the type 'man' —), we should not surrender to humanitarian illusions: truth is hard. So without further consideration, let's admit to ourselves how up to this point every higher culture on earth has started! People with a still natural nature, barbarians in every dreadful sense of the word, predatory men still in possession of an unbroken power of the will and a desire for power, threw themselves on weaker, more civilized, more peaceful, perhaps trading or cattle-raising races, or on old, worn cultures, in which at that very moment the final forces of life were flaring up in a dazzling fireworks display of spirit and corruption. At the start the noble caste has always been the barbarian caste: its superiority has lain not primarily in physical might but in psychical power — it has been a matter of more COMPLETE human beings (which at every level also means 'more complete beasts').
Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)
The pacifist-humanitarian idea may indeed become an excellent one when the most superior type of manhood will have succeeded in subjugating the world to such an extent that this type is then sole master of the earth. This idea could have an injurious effect only in the measure in which its application became difficult and finally impossible. So, first of all, the fight, and then pacifism. If it were otherwise, it would mean that mankind has already passed the zenith of its development, and accordingly, the end would not be the supremacy of some moral ideal, but degeneration into barbarism and consequent chaos. People may laugh at this statement, but our planet moved through space for millions of years, uninhabited by men, and at some future date may easily begin to do so again, if men should forget that wherever they have reached a superior level of existence, it was not as a result of following the ideas of crazy visionaries but by acknowledging and rigorously observing the iron laws of Nature. What reduces one race to starvation stimulates another to harder work. All the great civilisations of the past became decadent because the originally creative race died out, as a result of contamination of the blood. The most profound cause of such a decline is to be found in the fact that the people ignored the principle that all culture depends on men, and not the reverse. In other words, in order to preserve a certain culture, the type of manhood that creates such a culture must be preserved, but such a preservation goes hand in hand with the inexorable law that it is the strongest and the best who must triumph and that they have the right to endure. He who would live must fight. He who does not wish to fight in this world, where permanent struggle is the law of life, has not the right to exist. Such a saying may sound hard, but, after all, that is how the matter really stands. Yet far harder is the lot of him who believes that he can overcome Nature, and thus in reality insults her. Distress, misery, and disease, are her rejoinders. Whoever ignores or despises the laws of race really deprives himself of the happiness to which he believes he can attain, for he places an obstacle in the victorious path of the superior race and, by so doing, he interferes with a prerequisite condition of, all human progress. Loaded with the burden of human sentiment, he falls back to the level of a helpless animal. It would be futile to attempt to discuss the question as to what race or races were the original champions of human culture and were thereby the real founders of all that we understand by the word ‘humanity.’ It is much simpler to deal with this question in so far as it relates to the present time. Here the answer is simple and clear. Every manifestation of human culture, every product of art, science and technical skill, which we see before our eyes to-day, is almost, exclusively the product of the Aryan creative power. All that we admire in the world to-day, its science and its art, its technical developments and discoveries, are the products of the creative activities of a few peoples, and it may be true that their first beginnings must be attributed to one race. The existence of civilisation is wholly dependent on such peoples. Should they perish, all that makes this earth beautiful will descend with them into the grave. He is the Prometheus of mankind, from whose shining brow the divine spark of genius has at all times flashed forth, always kindling anew that fire which, in the form of knowledge, illuminated the dark night by drawing aside the veil of mystery and thus showing man how to rise and become master over all the other beings on the earth. Should he be forced to disappear, a profound darkness will descend on the earth; within a few thousand years human culture will vanish and the world will become a desert.
Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
Another dangerous neoliberal word circulating everywhere that is worth zooming in on is the word ‘resilience’. On the surface, I think many people won’t object to the idea that it is good and beneficial for us to be resilient to withstand the difficulties and challenges of life. As a person who lived through the atrocities of wars and sanctions in Iraq, I’ve learnt that life is not about being happy or sad, not about laughing or crying, leaving or staying. Life is about endurance. Since most feelings, moods, and states of being are fleeting, endurance, for me, is the common denominator that helps me go through the darkest and most beautiful moments of life knowing that they are fleeing. In that sense, I believe it is good for us to master the art of resilience and endurance. Yet, how should we think about the meaning of ‘resilience’ when used by ruling classes that push for wars and occupations, and that contribute to producing millions of deaths and refugees to profit from plundering the planet? What does it mean when these same warmongers fund humanitarian organizations asking them to go to war-torn countries to teach people the value of ‘resilience’? What happens to the meaning of ‘resilience’ when they create frighteningly precarious economic structures, uncertain employment, and lay off people without accountability? All this while also asking us to be ‘resilient’… As such, we must not let the word ‘resilience’ circulate or get planted in the heads of our youth uncritically. Instead, we should raise questions about what it really means. Does it mean the same thing for a poor young man or woman from Ghana, Ecuador, Afghanistan vs a privileged member from the upper management of a U.S. corporation? Resilience towards what? What is the root of the challenges for which we are expected to be resilient? Does our resilience solve the cause or the root of the problem or does it maintain the status quo while we wait for the next disaster? Are individuals always to blame if their resilience doesn’t yield any results, or should we equally examine the social contract and the entire structure in which individuals live that might be designed in such a way that one’s resilience may not prevail no matter how much perseverance and sacrifice one demonstrates? There is no doubt that resilience, according to its neoliberal corporate meaning, is used in a way that places the sole responsibility of failure on the shoulders of individuals rather than equally holding accountable the structure in which these individuals exist, and the precarious circumstances that require work and commitment way beyond individual capabilities and resources. I find it more effective not to simply aspire to be resilient, but to distinguish between situations in which individual resilience can do, and those for which the depth, awareness, and work of an entire community or society is needed for any real and sustainable change to occur. But none of this can happen if we don’t first agree upon what each of us mean when we say ‘resilience,’ and if we have different definitions of what it means, then we should ask: how shall we merge and reconcile our definitions of the word so that we complement not undermine what we do individually and collectively as people. Resilience should not become a synonym for surrender. It is great to be resilient when facing a flood or an earthquake, but that is not the same when having to endure wars and economic crises caused by the ruling class and warmongers. [From “On the Great Resignation” published on CounterPunch on February 24, 2023]
Louis Yako
The twanging of life Thirteenth part : The essence of the beauty is unity in variety We are only able to contempt and treat people in a bad way, when we forget that the other person belongs to us and to the society as well as we too, when we only forget that in the form of doing the action, there is a strong relationship between the subject and the object so avarice, violence, egoism, sadness and looking at others as pawns of market's chess to get money arise from losing their unity, from forgetting their spirit of cooperation and collaboration and then starting perceiving others in terms of their individual differences. A humanitarian action that isn't intended to be done can make a huge storm of humanity, a single word can give people the feeling of unity, just like every time when a person passes by you and you say for him "السلام عليكم" both of you start to feel like there is a candle within both of you turning into clemency, the more love, the more mercy and the more salaam you show on your face the more light is reflected form that candle, you should start thinking that, greeting the people is proclamations of peace, every time you say "السلام عليكم" to a stranger your heart admits over and over again that we are all united, what I am trying to say is, in your heart's deepest place where the onus of your ego are fallen to pieces and the enigma of your soul is infiltrated, you find the awareness isn't different in any way from what all others may find, the mutuality of Sudanese people is appeared as the sun in the morning but only when our own humanness is surpassed our own dishumanness by accepting that we are all one in the fact that we are all made of diversified differences. We are all equal in the fact that our own society is made by different tribes, we are all the same in the fact that we will never have the same colour, life, thinking, dreams, feelings and luxury, we are united by the reality that Sudan is able to combine all colours, all cultures, all tribes and all of us in the fact that every one believes his tribe and culture are distinguished and individual, we are compatible in the reality that we are all recaptured to this country by the same history, the same conditions of living and the longest river in the world that all of them together give us a light to shine the darkness that covers the sky to allow for us to walk as one hand in the right direction, we don't share the colours but we share the blood, we aren't equal in existence of happiness but we drink River Nile's water that keeps us alive, we are different in existence of tribes but we share the same air that is blended by our breath, so I am you as much as I am me and you are me as much as I am you. Finally swingeing internal ructions and overmuch narcissism of a society devastate the tissue of its unity, not the differences of that society, Lord Robin said that unity begins at home within family is the strength to survive and win the fight of life.
Omer Mohamed
Take a glass of water, now tell me, is it Christian water, or Jewish water, or Islamic water or Atheist water. It's just water. A human ought to be like that water, whose purpose is to quench the thirst of humans, not of any specific religion, culture or gender, but all humans.
Abhijit Naskar (Ain't Enough to Look Human)
Here are the ominous parallels. Our universities are strongholds of German philosophy disseminating every key idea of the post-Kantian axis, down by now to old-world racism and romanticist technology-hatred. Our culture is modernism worn-out but recycled, with heavy infusions of such Weimarian blends as astrology and Marx, or Freud and Dada, or “humanitarianism” and horror-worship, along with five decades of corruption built on this kind of base. Our youth activists, those reared on the latest viewpoints at the best universities, are the pre-Hitler youth movement resurrected (this time mostly on the political left and addicted to drugs). Our political parties are the Weimar coalition over again, offering the same pressure-group pragmatism, and the same kind of contradiction between their Enlightenment antecedents and their statist commitments. The liberals, more anti-ideological than the moderate German left, have given up even talking about long-range plans and demand more controls as a matter of routine, on a purely ad hoc basis. The conservatives, much less confident than the nationalist German right, are conniving at this routine and apologizing for the remnants of their own tradition, capitalism (because of its clash with the altruist ethics)—while demanding government intervention in or control over the realms of morality, religion, sex, literature, education, science. Each of these groups, observing the authoritarian element in the other, accuses it of Fascist tendencies; the charge is true on both sides. Each group, like its Weimar counterpart, is contributing to the same result: the atmosphere of chronic crisis, and the kinds of controls, inherent in an advanced mixed economy. The result of this result, as in Germany, is the growth of national bewilderment or despair, and of the governmental apparatus necessary for dictatorship. In America, the idea of public ownership of the means of production is a dead issue. Our intellectual and political leaders are content to retain the forms of private property, with public control over its use and disposal. This means: in regard to economic issues, the country’s leadership is working to achieve not the communist version of dictatorship, but the Nazi version. Throughout its history, in every important cultural and political area, the United States, thanks to its distinctive base, always lagged behind the destructive trends of Germany and of the rest of the modern world. We are catching up now. We are still the freest country on earth. There is no totalitarian (or even openly socialist) party of any size here, no avowed candidate for the office of Führer, no economic or political catastrophe sufficient to make such a party or man possible—so far—and few zealots of collectivism left to urge an ever faster pursuit of national suicide. We are drifting to the future, not moving purposefully. But we are drifting as Germany moved, in the same direction, for the same kind of reason.
Leonard Peikoff (The Ominous Parallels)
All through history every culture on earth has produced its distinct literature - American literature, British literature, Latino Literature, Arabic literature, Turkish literature, European literature, Bengali literature and so on. I am none of these, because I am all of these - Naskar is the amalgamation of all of world's cultures. Naskar is the first epitome of integrated Earth literature - where there is no inferior, no superior - no greater, no lesser. Soulfulness of Rumiland, heartfulness of Martíland, correctiveness of MLKland, sweetness of Tagoreland - merge them all in the fire of love, and lo emerges Naskarland - merge them all in the fire of love, and lo emerges lightland.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
I am not a person, prison or path, for I am vicdan, I'm saadet, my friend, I am the spirit of unification. Call the sun as you like, it still brightens the world, In the domain of realization, to label is desecration.
Abhijit Naskar (Ingan Impossible: Handbook of Hatebusting)
In becoming inclusive we become human.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
A promise was once made, He asked me to unify the world. Ever since, I have been on duty, My life isn't mine but of the world. If I fail, you cross off one human. If I succeed, you witness civilization.
Abhijit Naskar (Mukemmel Musalman: Kafir Biraz, Peygamber Biraz)
AI can translate info, not inkling, AI can translate facts, not poetry. Till a tongue transcends lips to soul, Translations are but soulless forgery.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
Each language leaves a distinct mental imprint, Inaccessible by the fanciest of translator. Translation gives a glimpse into the head, Language is highway to the soul of a culture.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
AI can translate info, not inkling, AI can translate facts, not poetry. Till a tongue transcends lips to soul, Translations are but soulless forgery. Each language leaves a distinct mental imprint, Inaccessible by the fanciest of translator. Translation gives a glimpse into the head, Language is highway to the soul of a culture.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
Flashlights there are plenty, Sun there is but one. Rushmores there are plenty, Everest there is but one. Rushmore leers as a criminal monument, While Everest stands as a gentle giant. Arrogance goes together with brutality, While valor and virtue go hand in hand.
Abhijit Naskar (Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science (Caretaker Diaries))
I have but one law - I don't exist. I don't have a homeland, I don't have a native tongue, I don't have an origin culture - for you are my home, your tongue is my tongue, your culture is my culture.
Abhijit Naskar (Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion)
My life is testament to the dream of united earth.
Abhijit Naskar (Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn)
Naskar doesn't write for the white or colored, for the believer or nonbeliever, for the capitalist or socialist - Naskar only writes for the human - because Naskar is human - a whole human.
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth (Inclusivity Diaries))
Reformer holds no allegiance to ideology, Reformer holds no allegiance to culture. Reformer doesn't have such primitive luxury, Reformer's sight draws the humanitarian picture.
Abhijit Naskar (Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World)
We need patriotism, yes we do, but not the one practiced by our ancestors. We need a civilized patriotism, one that is devoid of all sectarianism and cultural supremacy. We gotta be patriotic towards humanity, not nationality - we gotta be patriotic for justice and equality, not supremacy - we gotta be patriotic for inclusion, not the exclusive sustenance of our own dignity at the expense of the dignity of others. We need a patriotism where there is no us and them - we need a patriotism where there is no lord and laymen - we need a patriotism where there is no savior and subject - we need a patriotism where our savior is our sense of virtue - we need a patriotism where our queen is our accountability - we need a patriotism where our constitution and gospel are our own conscience. I am loyal to no state, no palace, no vatican - my loyalty is to the elevation of the fallen, my loyalty is to invigoration of the discriminated - thus speaks the civilized patriot - thus speaks the real life human being.
Abhijit Naskar (Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race)
They ask me, why do you speak for so many cultures, when you are not born in those cultures? So I asked the sun, why do you share your light with earth, when you are not born of earth? The sun told me, o ye of little mind, don't you know, light is not mine to give! Light is the intrinsic right of life, I am merely accessory to the motive.
Abhijit Naskar (Iman Insaniyat, Mazhab Muhabbat: Pani, Agua, Water, It's All One)
It's not enough to be a national hero of one nation, You gotta be a national hero of all nations. That day I shall call you a human of earth, When you are the gateway to world illumination.
Abhijit Naskar (Iman Insaniyat, Mazhab Muhabbat: Pani, Agua, Water, It's All One)
Quit the contraction, start the construction, Set out as sailors in the course of unity. Quit the paralysis, start the osmosis, Disinfect the world with your fearless electricity.
Abhijit Naskar (Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown)
I don't write on multiculturalism, I am multiculturalism. The only nationalism I care about, is tribalism ending multinationalism. Either you'll know me as a national hero of every nation, or you won't know me at all. So long as a single human calls me foreigner, I'll conclude, I've achieved nothing at all.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
I am Multiculturalism (The Sonnet) I don't write on multiculturalism, I am multiculturalism. The only nationalism I care about, is tribalism ending multinationalism. I can't do it no more - I can't! One little language is enough no more! I gotta be the Himalayas in every language, I gotta be the Himalayas in every culture. Either you'll know me as a national hero of every nation, or you won't know me at all. So long as a single human calls me foreigner, I'll conclude, I've achieved nothing at all.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
The name's Naskar, and if you think your pathetic little labels of faith, nation and culture can define even a syllable of it, you've got another thing coming.
Abhijit Naskar (Gente Mente Adelante: Prejudice Conquered is World Conquered)
Discard anything that makes you narrow, discard anything that separates you from people, discard anything that impairs your growth. Discard traditions that make you narrow, discard scriptures that make you narrow, discard heritage that makes you narrow, discard culture that makes you narrow, discard constitutions, policies and governments that make you narrow. Expansion is the watchword of life, nay, expansion is life, narrowness is death.
Abhijit Naskar (Generation Corazon: Nationalism is Terrorism)
Giants in Jeans Sonnet 52 Humanhood isn't him, her or them, Humanhood requires realization beyond sex. Pronouns may be a step in the right direction, But they are not passport for arrogance and disrespect. The purpose is to erase hate from society, And we ain't gonna do that by passing judgment. If we want there to be equity and acceptance, We must learn to trample first our own arrogance. Rebelling for the sake of rebelling achieves nothing, Arrogance only produces just another bitter creature. In trying to fight against prejudice and oppression, Be cautious that you don't end up as the new oppressor. Revolution is the foundation of civilization's evolution, But it must be rooted in gentleness, not cancellation.
Abhijit Naskar (Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth)
To me everyone is equal, until they feel the urge to offer advise based on some stroneage tradition. That moment, I stop considering them as equal humans, and start treating them as adolescent children. Whenever you feel the audacity to advise a reformer, ask yourself this - what exactly have you done for the society that makes you qualified to judge a reformer? I sacrificed my youth for the world. What have you done? I put off starting a family for the world. What have you done? I obliterated my national and cultural identity for the world. What have you done? Till you've abolished the last trace of active bigotry, intolerance and fanatical fantasies from your mind, don't you dare touch my work. Everybody can quote Naskar, not everybody can accompany Naskar.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
Some dreams are too big for a town, Some dreams are too big for a city. My dream was too big for one country, So I stood up and engulfed humanity.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
Failing to be American (The Sonnet) I've tried to rekindle the American sentiment of my early days of writing, but in vain. Once you wake up to the vastness of the world, it is impossible to revert to the tribal lane. I broke into the world scene as a westerner but, Naskar the American writer exists no longer. Today Naskar is but an Earth philosopher, There is only Naskar the Earth reformer. In the early years when I wrote on America, I used to write as an American writer. Today when I write on any nation, I write as an Earth writer. The whole world is my diary, I am the world's destiny. Try as they might to maintain prejudice, I am the line between humanity and nationality.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
Once you wake up to the vastness of the world, it is impossible to revert to the tribal lane.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
Call me poet, scientist or humanitarian, Naskar is the spirit of world integration.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets (Sonnet Centuries))
My legacy does not represent the achievement of any one culture, my legacy represents the capacity of the entire humankind.
Abhijit Naskar (World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets)
You may live in your gutter of cultural exclusivity all you want, but don't drag me there. I am a human being. You know what it means? It means I have not one but many cultures - all the cultures. I have not one tongue, but many tongues - all the tongues. I have not one religion, but many religions - all the religions. I have not one country, but many countries - all the countries. I am a human being, my home is planet earth, and all her children my family.
Abhijit Naskar (Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers)
If I Must Die (The Sonnet) I have no desire to die as just, Another writer like that bard fella. If I must die as a writer, I will die as, The first multi-cultural writer en historia. I have no desire to die as just, Another founder of a sect or nation. If I must die as something, I'll die as, One of the founders of human unification. I have no desire to die as just another, Coldhearted scientist or pompous philosopher. If I must die as a scientist and philosopher, I'll die as the one who made love truth's driver. But above all that, I have no desire to die, period. Cowards die, whereas I, am already martyred.
Abhijit Naskar (Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers)
I have no desire to die as just another writer like that bard fella. If I must die as a writer, I will die as the first multi-cultural writer in history.
Abhijit Naskar (Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers)
Milkyway Messiah (The Sonnet) Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata, Cada vez que los oprimidos claman esperanza, Siyasi hayvanlar ne zaman gelip nefret satarsa, Whenever morons 'n their yes men ruin armonia, Jab jab some jhandus rashtrabadka jhanda lehraye, När kärleken till lyx väger tyngre än socialt ansvar, Immer wenn das herz von gier überwältigt wird, When humility is trampled by megalomaniacal desire, Sempre que a bondade é dominada pelo intelecto, Quando la compassione è sopraffatta dall'indifferenza, Kapag tinanggap ang pagiging makasarili bilang batas, Whenever accountability is deemed as misdemeanor, Embracing affliction, from the dust 'n dirt of soil 'n street, You the Milkyway Messiah is to rise as the sentient shield.
Abhijit Naskar (Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers)
In culture be without walls, in courage be endless, in compassion be senseless, in character be borderless.
Abhijit Naskar (Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier)
Service is my culture and my nationality.
Abhijit Naskar (Generation Corazon: Nationalism is Terrorism)
Be advaita (dvaita means dual, prefix 'a' means not), be nondual, be unified down to the last molecule of your anatomy. Become unification incarnate, so that even your silence turns into a potent expression of oneness.
Abhijit Naskar (Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers)
Wanna learn about modern United States - don't study me, study MLK. Wanna learn about modern Latin America - don't study me, study José Martí. Wanna learn about modern India - don't study me, study Narendranath Datta. But if you wanna learn about modern humankind, beyond borders and cultures - then you may grab my hand - not so I could give you knowledge or comfort, but so I could set you on fire.
Abhijit Naskar (Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers)
Sectarianism kills people, racial profiling kills people, nationalism kills people, religious supremacy kills people, cultural exclusivity kills people, history has shown that again and again and again.
Abhijit Naskar (The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work)
The Being is The Bridge (The Sonnet) I came to life at Dakshineswar, At Kapadokya I got my sight. I found my might at Shaolin, At Liberty Island I came to light. In Pernik I bathed in love, By the Volga I tasted sapience. Lika taught me the role of innovation, Sudbury gave me the sail of science. Streets of Calcutta showed me suffering, Streets of Chicago reminded, I'm the answer. It's not the place but people who hold magic, Revolution rose when all of them came together. You won't know me as the father of a nation. You'll know me as the maker of amalgamation.
Abhijit Naskar (Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier)
In Work Be Restless (The Sonnet) In work, be restless, In love, be limitless, In care, be oceandeep, In service, be selfless. In virtue, be skywide, In justice, be incorruptible, In integrity, be unbending, In honor, be uncompromisable. In culture, be without walls, In courage, be endless, In compassion, be senseless, In character, be borderless. Life's too grand to be wasted in gutter. Expand your heart and you'll rise higher.
Abhijit Naskar (Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier)
Honor He Wrote Sonnet 39 The more I write the more I realize, The inane limitations of language. Never be a stickler for terminology, It only impedes your humanness. If anything, try to set humanity free, From the bounds of words 'n speech. Let the world know who you are, But without being a linguistic leech. Behavior alone defines a person, Make behavior your background. Neither culture, nor geography, It's only in action that identity is found. Unfold your today beyond your yesterday, Or else, there'll be no tomorrow, only decay.
Abhijit Naskar (Honor He Wrote: 100 Sonnets For Humans Not Vegetables)
Only a multicultural polyglot, who has wiped out borders from heart, rising above both intellect and faith, can sense the immenseness of my work.
Abhijit Naskar (Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets)
I don't have any one native culture, for I am native to every culture. I am a native to the whole world, I am a native to neighborhood earth.
Abhijit Naskar (World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets)
My roots are grounded in humanity, not in one culture or nation. Cosmos courses through my corpuscles, My life is a call to expansion.
Abhijit Naskar (Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn (Caretaker Diaries))
Any ape can boast about their culture, I'll die roaring for every culture on earth, except my own.
Abhijit Naskar (World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets)
Music is my MDMA, Cultures, my cocaine. Languages are my LSD, People are my heaven.
Abhijit Naskar (Abigitano: El Divino Refugiado (Spanish Edition))
In the United States, the story of DST is rather ridiculous, influenced by that especially American blend of wartime morality and blatant commercial interest. In the surprisingly hilarious book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, Michael Downing writes that soon after the United States adopted DST in March 1918, “the lofty humanitarian goals of Daylight Saving—to get working girls safely home before dark, to reunite dads and moms with the kids before shadows fell on the backyard garden, to safeguard the physical and mental health of industrial workers by increasing their daily opportunity for sports and recreation—also resembled an innovative strategy for boosting retail sales.
Jenny Odell (Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond Productivity Culture)
Your culture is my culture is world culture.
Abhijit Naskar (Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion)
Naskar is the outcome of such churning. When all cultures come together, Naskar is born. Call it Naskar, call it Human - all the same, It all represents the undivided spirit of dawn.
Abhijit Naskar (Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World)
Historians often debate whether women have more rights and capabilities in religious or secular, Catholic or Protestant, capitalist or communist, or militaristic or humanitarian states. Such debates assume that the oppression of women is incidental to another aspect of culture. All early states deprived women of their status as human beings and of the rights men possessed. Religious states like India used religion to justify this constriction; China's guiding secular philosophy, Confucianism, constricted women as much as India's religious laws.
Marilyn French (From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1)
Question: Have you ever considered winning an award? Naskar: Not really - I am a misfit - not quite mainstream enough for any of the fields. Besides, I am here to bridge cultures, not win awards.
Abhijit Naskar (Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch)
I am the bridge - between everything - science, poetry, philosophy - everything.
Abhijit Naskar (Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch)
Nationalization of Naskar is desecration of Naskar.
Abhijit Naskar (Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch)
North, South, East, West, Abandon all primitive divide. Your culture is my culture, Together alone shall we thrive!
Abhijit Naskar (Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth (Inclusivity Diaries))
Apes cannot cancel the Everest (Sonnet 1550) Unleash yourself as love testament, Be the answer to archaic derangement. Stand undaunted despite cancelment, Apes cannot cancel Mount Everest. Unleash your spine, Unfurl your fervor. Awake to humankind, your eternal harbor. Anchor yourself in rights, Rituals can take a back seat. Rights decreed by jungle rituals, are no parameters of civil spirit. Either you succumb to the world, or expand so vast that the world succumbs to you. Dare past time with your dream defiant, fabric of reality will unfold through you.
Abhijit Naskar (World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets)
Apes cannot cancel the Everest.
Abhijit Naskar (World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets)
To transcend culture is the beginning of culture.
Abhijit Naskar (The Humanitarian Dictator)
Finding the Best Immigration Lawyer in Sydney: Services offered Navigating the complex landscape of immigration law can be daunting, especially in a city as diverse and bustling as Sydney. The right immigration lawyer can be an invaluable asset by providing essential advice and support. Here is a closer look at the services offered by the best immigration lawyers in Sydney and how they can help you during your immigration journey. Help with visa application One of the primary services provided by immigration attorneys is assistance with visa applications. There are different visa categories in Australia, including: Skilled Worker Visa: For individuals with specific skills that are in demand in Australia. Family visas: For reunification of family members, including partner, child and parent visas. Student visa: For those who want to study in Australia. Visitor visas: For short-term visits for tourism or business. The best immigration lawyers will help clients determine the most appropriate visa category, prepare the necessary documentation, and ensure correct and timely submission of applications. Legal advice and representation Immigration law can be complex, with ever-changing rules and regulations. An experienced immigration attorney provides legal advice customized to your situation. They can clarify complex legal jargon, outline your rights and responsibilities, and discuss the potential risks and benefits of different immigration options. If your application is refused or if you face visa cancellation, an experienced lawyer will represent you in appeals or judicial reviews. Their experience in handling such cases can greatly increase your chances of a favorable outcome. Preparation for interviews Many visa applications require interviews with immigration authorities. The best immigration attorneys will prepare you for these interviews by conducting mock interviews and advising you on how to effectively present your case. They will help you understand the types of questions that may come up and how to confidently answer them, ensuring that you are well prepared for the day. Compliance and Legal Obligations Once you have obtained a visa, it is essential to meet its conditions. Immigration attorneys provide advice on your responsibilities as a visa holder and help you understand what it takes to avoid violations that could jeopardize your immigration status. This includes understanding employment rights, study requirements and reporting obligations. Applications for permanent residence and citizenship For many immigrants, the ultimate goal is to achieve permanent residency and eventually citizenship. Immigration attorneys can help you with permanent residency applications, guide you through the points test and ensure that you meet all the necessary requirements. In addition, if you want to apply for Australian citizenship, an immigration lawyer can help you understand the eligibility criteria, prepare your application and deal with any issues. They can also help you prepare for your citizenship test and ensure you are ready to demonstrate your knowledge of Australian history, culture and values. Help with special cases Some immigration situations are more complicated than others. The best immigration lawyers are equipped to handle special cases, including: Refugee and Humanitarian Visas: For those seeking asylum in Australia due to persecution or significant risk in their home country. Employer-sponsored visas: We help businesses sponsor foreign workers and ensure compliance with labor laws. Health and Character Issues: Addressing issues that may arise from health screenings or character evaluations, helps clients prepare necessary documentation and appeals. Consulting services for businesses If you are a business looking to hire talent from overseas, an immigration attorney can provide essential services. They can h
immigration lawyer sydney
My existence is testament to assimilation, proof of the wonders beyond exclusivity.
Abhijit Naskar (The Humanitarian Dictator)
The evils of envy and hatred masquerading as humanitarian idealism had darkened his life from its outset, stamping him as a man quick to search for the reality behind the expression of fine sentiments.
Theodore Dalrymple (Our Culture, What's Left Of It)
In the past, the states best able to manage events beyond their borders have been those best able to avoid the temptation to overreach. Great powers remain great in large measure because they posses wisdom to temper active involvement in foreign interventions - to remain within the limits of a national strategy that balances ambition with military resources. The first principle of the strategic art states simply that the greatest weight of resources be devoted to safeguarding the most vital interests of the state. If a vital interest is threatened, the survival of the state is threatened. Generally, the most vital interest of a liberal democracy include, first and foremost, preservation of the territorial integrity of the state. The example of the attacks on New York and Washington should send a message to those of similar ambitions that the surest way to focus the wrath of the American people against them would be to strike this country within its borders again. The second strategic priority is the protection of the national economic welfare by ensuring free and open access to markets for vital materials and finished goods. Other important but less vital interests should be defended by the threat of force only as military resources permit. Outside the limits of U.S. territory, the strategic problem defining the geographic limits of U.S. vital interests becomes complex. While the United States may have some interests in every corner of the world, there are certain regions where its strategic interests, both economic and cultural, are concentrated and potentially threatened. These vital strategic "centers of gravity" encompass in the first instance those geographic areas essential to maintaining access to open markets and sources of raw material, principally oil. Fortunately, many of these economically vital centers are secure from serious threat. But a few happen to be located astride regions that have witnessed generations of cultural and ethnic strife. Four regions overshadow all others in being both vital to continued domestic prosperity and continually under the threat of state-supported violence. These regions are defined generally by an arc of territories along the periphery of Eurasia: Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and north East Asia. For the past several centuries, these regions have been the areanas of the world's most serious and intractable conflicts. Points of collision begin with the intersection of Western and Eastern Christianity and continue southward to mark Islam's incursion into southeastern Europe in the Balkans. The cultural divide countries without interruption across the Levant in an unbroken line of unrest and warring states from the crescent of the Middle East to the subcontinent of South Asia. The fault-line concludes with the divide between China and all the traditional cultural competitors along its land and sea borders. Other countries outside the periphery of Eurasia might, in extreme cases, demand the presence of U.S. forces for peacekeeping or humanitarian operations. But it is unlikely that in the years to come the United States will risk a major conflict that will involve the calculated commitment of forces in a shooting war in regions outside this "periphery of Eurasia," which circumscribes and defines America's global security.
Robert H. Scales
Even before the first Soviet tanks crossed into Afghanistan in 1979, a movement of Islamists had sprung up nationwide in opposition to the Communist state. They were, at first, city-bound intellectuals, university students and professors with limited countryside appeal. But under unrelenting Soviet brutality they began to forge alliances with rural tribal leaders and clerics. The resulting Islamist insurgents—the mujahedeen—became proxies in a Cold War battle, with the Soviet Union on one side and the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia on the other. As the Soviets propped up the Afghan government, the CIA and other intelligence agencies funneled millions of dollars in aid to the mujahedeen, along with crate after crate of weaponry. In the process, traditional hierarchies came radically undone. When the Communists killed hundreds of tribal leaders and landlords, young men of more humble backgrounds used CIA money and arms to form a new warrior elite in their place. In the West, we would call such men “warlords.” In Afghanistan they are usually labeled “commanders.” Whatever the term, they represented a phenomenon previously unknown in Afghan history. Now, each valley and district had its own mujahedeen commanders, all fighting to free the country from Soviet rule but ultimately subservient to the CIA’s guns and money. The war revolutionized the very core of rural culture. With Afghan schools destroyed, millions of boys were instead educated across the border in Pakistani madrassas, or religious seminaries, where they were fed an extreme, violence-laden version of Islam. Looking to keep the war fueled, Washington—where the prevailing ethos was to bleed the Russians until the last Afghan—financed textbooks for schoolchildren in refugee camps festooned with illustrations of Kalashnikovs, swords, and overturned tanks. One edition declared: Jihad is a kind of war that Muslims fight in the name of God to free Muslims.… If infidels invade, jihad is the obligation of every Muslim. An American text designed to teach children Farsi: Tey [is for] Tofang (rifle); Javed obtains rifles for the mujahedeen Jeem [is for] Jihad; Jihad is an obligation. My mom went to the jihad. The cult of martyrdom, the veneration of jihad, the casting of music and cinema as sinful—once heard only from the pulpits of a few zealots—now became the common vocabulary of resistance nationwide. The US-backed mujahedeen branded those supporting the Communist government, or even simply refusing to pick sides, as “infidels,” and justified the killing of civilians by labeling them apostates. They waged assassination campaigns against professors and civil servants, bombed movie theaters, and kidnapped humanitarian workers. They sabotaged basic infrastructure and even razed schools and clinics. With foreign backing, the Afghan resistance eventually proved too much for the Russians. The last Soviet troops withdrew in 1989, leaving a battered nation, a tottering government that was Communist in name only, and a countryside in the sway of the commanders. For three long years following the withdrawal, the CIA kept the weapons and money flowing to the mujahedeen, while working to block any peace deal between them and the Soviet-funded government. The CIA and Pakistan’s spy agency pushed the rebels to shell Afghan cities still under government control, including a major assault on the eastern city of Jalalabad that flattened whole neighborhoods. As long as Soviet patronage continued though, the government withstood the onslaught. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991, however, Moscow and Washington agreed to cease all aid to their respective proxies. Within months, the Afghan government crumbled. The question of who would fill the vacuum, who would build a new state, has not been fully resolved to this day.
Anand Gopal
In my consulting practice, I am astounded by the number of global executives who have developed or are developing business in emerging markets and lack even a rudimentary knowledge of, or interest in, frames that are historical, cultural, humanitarian, social, military, and political in nature. Not only do these business leaders not seek out these frames, they often dismiss such frames as being irrelevant, superfluous, and time consuming. Including diverse data, points of view, and perspectives in a strategic dialogue is essential to maintaining a competitive strategic edge. The implication of these missing frames is the emergence of blind spots, and their impact on long-term business strategy is the writing on the wall.
Julia Sloan (Learning to Think Strategically)