Wed, 30 Apr 2008

Helping Africa from the bottom up

By Bernhard Steiner

STUTTGART (NNA) – Africa is one of the losers of globalisation: millions of people, including four million children, starve to death each year. Its share of world trade has shrunk from 7.4 to two percent, life expectancy lags 20 years behind Europe and up to 50 percent of the population cannot read or write.

These were the figures quoted by Wilhelm Neurohr, one of the co-founders of the Avenir association, at an event in Stuttgart, which included a talk entitled “Can Africa still be saved?”, to introduce a project which the association supports in Togo.

Events like the recent EU “Africa summit” did not do much to change a great deal with regard to these shocking statistics, Neurohr said. They were more about preserving own trade and raw material interest with which the earnings and existential foundations of the rural population on the African continent were being destroyed. The real problems were not being tackled.

It was not the monetary transfers so euphemistically called “development aid” going into the coffers of corrupt dictators which led to real progress for the poverty-stricken general population – of whom 120,000 people sought their salvation in Europe each year – but the small, sustainable projects based on partnership and supported by personal initiative which aimed to help people to help themselves. It was in this context that the Togo project of the civil society initiative Avenir had to be seen.

Dodji Kpaleté from Togo, founder and project manager of the initiative, then reported about the current situation of the project. Dodji, who previously worked in a textile enterprise and a brewery as an accountant, some years ago bought a piece of land in Adétikopé north of the capital Lomé. Circumstances led to a meeting with Mechthild Gruner–Neurohr, and with other friends in Germany they founded the Avenir association.

The objectives of the association are to support organic agriculture and thus healthy nutrition as well as initiating German-Togolese social and cultural projects, above all for the rural village population.

In 2001, the association started to develop a socio-cultural project on the then three hectares of land: a pineapple farm, a fruit plantation (oranges, lemons, grapefruit), an organic vegetable garden and animal rearing (pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits).

The project has in the meantime expanded to ten hectares and the first pineapple harvest and exports to Europe of dried pineapple were a success. Working together with a company called Setrapal, the dried pineapples were exported for sale in European organic shops. Fruit not destined for export is sold in local markets.

Since the village had not until then had a functioning school, it was possible with the aid of donations and the first income from sales to build a kindergarten for almost 40 children from the surrounding villages and to train and provide financial support for a kindergarten teacher.

Then a school was build in which 20 children in classes 1 and 2 have been taught by an experienced teacher since 2006. Furthermore, a new house has also been built on the land to provide accommodation for the people working on the pineapple plantation and their families.

First profits are also coming in from a cafe which the Gnemissoum women’s group is running in Lomé. A loan from the GLS Bank helped to finance the cafe. The money from the cafe also goes towards the initiative, the plan being to finance an aids project once the loan has been repaid and to create the basis for a micro-credit fund.

The initiative builds on the active collaboration of the village people, particularly the women who play a vital role in such projects in Africa. The hope is that similar projects can be realised on the basis of local initiative with support from Germany.

In the most recent development, attempts are currently underway to improve the pump system with the help of solar cells – but most of the money for that is still lacking. Also still at the planning stage is a medical centre for the surrounding villages.

The Avenir association currently has 30 members who are always pleased, of course, to receive additional support for their work.

End/nna/bst/cva

Link: www.avenir-togo.de/index.htm

Item: 080430-01EN Date: 30 April 2008

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Sun, 27 Apr 2008

Walter Kugler appointed professor of social sculpture at Oxford Brookes University

OXFORD/DORNACH (NNA) - The director of the Rudolf Steiner Archive, Walter Kugler, has been appointed the Iona Stichting Professor of Social Sculpture at Oxford Brookes University.

According to the Rudolf Steiner Newsletter, his new appointment will enable Kugler to develop his work in the field of social sculpture and play a much more active role in the Social Sculpture Research Unit at Oxford Brookes.

“In addition to his ongoing research activities relating to the field of social sculpture, Walter Kugler will now, in his role as Professor of Social Sculpture at Oxford Brookes, be working alongside Shelley Sacks, co-supervising PhD students in the above areas and contributing to the Masters in Social Sculpture,” the university’s website said.

After his studies in music, history, philosophy, education and political science, Kugler taught at the University of Cologne, the Free Waldorf School Kassel and other institutes and in his role as director of the Rudolf Steiner Archive has been involved in editing the complete edition of Rudolf Steiner’s works.

He has also curated many major exhibitions worldwide.

END/nna/cva

Item: 080427-02EN Date: 27 April 2008

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Eliant releases 2,000 balloons in advance of Eliant World Day

DORNACH (NNA) – On the same principle as the homing pigeon or the message in the bottle, the Eliant campaign in its latest action released 2,000 balloons from the Goetheanum terrace at the end of last March with a return postcard attached. The campaign aims to collect one million signatures by the end of the year to influence policy-making in the European Union.

And before long, the first postcard did indeed return home. One Vincenzo Alberti (name changed to preserve his privacy) found one of the balloons with a postcard attached during a morning walk eight kilometres from Lugano on the other side of Switzerland.

“He looked at the Eliant website, saw what the action was about and signed,” Heike Sommer from Eliant said in a press release. “In doing so, he joined the campaign being carried out by citizens around the world to give a proper legal basis for the many different anthroposophical cultural impulses in Europe which, in the end, benefit people throughout the world,” the statement added.

The release of the white cloud of balloons in Dornach came ahead of a major event planned to take place on 7 June in collaboration with the Youth Section at the Goetheanum. On World Eliant Day activists will seek to collect signatures “in the streets of every larger city in Europe and in the world”. According to the organisers, each major city or area will have a coordinator.

The aim is to establish a “ripple effect” via youth networks and on the Internet, using platforms such as Facebook and StudiVz.

“”We hope the project will inspire many people to get actively involved,” the organisers said.

Eliant has so far collected over 354,000 signatures.

END/nna/cva

Link: www.eliant.eu, www.eliantaction.com

Item: 080427-01EN Date: 27 April 2008

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Mon, 17 Mar 2008

Grain shortage forces Demeter to allow non-bio-dynamic organic varieties

By Michæl Olbrich-Majer

DARMSTADT (NNA) – A shortage of bio-dynamically grown grain due to the bad harvest last year has forced the bio-dynamic certification organisation Demeter to permit corn from other controlled organic production to be added to certain Demeter products.

The use of such grain must, however, be stated on the packaging. This exceptional measure has been introduced for a limited period until sufficient Demeter grain is available again. Producers wishing to use non-bio-dynamic organic grain must apply to Demeter in Darmstadt to do so.

This measure does not represent a change in the Demeter Association’s guidelines and reflects the fact that neither in Germany nor in any other part of the world is there sufficient Demeter grain on the market to safeguard production of one hundred percent Demeter bread or muesli until the next harvest.

As a consequence, the organisation’s supervisory board introduced this emergency measure because it was feared that if such products were no longer available in the shops it would be extremely difficult to get them back on the shelves again once the situation was normalised. The result would be a shrinking market for Demeter farmers and manufacturers. The Association cannot afford to take such a risk.

The shortage of grain resulting from last year’s bad harvest exacerbates a situation in which there is a general shortage of farms converting to bio-dynamic production. In contrast to many other organic products, Demeter does not normally allow the partial use organic goods.

The decision to make such an exception has been subject to some criticism but has the unanimous support of all the Demeter management bodies, including the certification council, the board, the supervisory board and Demeter International.

This is not the first time that such a measure has had to be taken and it has been possible previously in individual cases to add up to thirty percent ordinary organic products to Demeter goods if such a move served to develop a market for a specific product and it was clear that there would be a move to one hundred percent bio-dynamic ingredients.

The reason for this is that agricultural output cannot simply be raised from one day to the next in the way that the production of industrial goods, for example, can be increased.

The Demeter Association is currently undertaking a series of measures to prevent such shortages from happening in future. Thus all Demeter manufacturers have been encouraged to conclude long-term contracts with their suppliers to safeguard the supply of raw materials. An intensive campaign to persuade more farmers to convert to bio-dynamic cultivation is another attempt to satisfy the growing demand.

It is not thought that many products will be affected by this exceptional measure.

END/nna/cva

Michæl Olbrich-Majer is the editor of the bio-dynamic journal Lebendige Erde

Item: 080317-01EN Date: 17 Marc h 2008

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Fri, 14 Mar 2008

Eighteen new professorships for Witten-Herdecke University

WITTEN-HERDECKE (NNA) – Germany’s first private university, Witten-Herdecke, is to create an additional 18 professorships by the end of next year, including nine in the faculty of medicine and five in the economics faculty.

This represents one of the largest expansions in the history of the university, the institution said in a press release.

There will also be an increase in student fees.

Two of the chairs will be in the new Institute for Corporate Governance. As the first university institute of its kind, it will undertake research into how the management and supervision of companies can be improved, including issues related to efficiency, culture and ethics.

The global responsibility of companies and international trade relations will also be studied.

The new posts will be financed through state and private funding as well as student fees. Currently the latter contribute seven percent to university finances, but the aim is to raise that share to 25 percent.

A number of models are being investigated, including repayment of fees once students have finished their courses in accordance with their financial means. Grants will still be available.

The innovative elements in Witten-Herdecke’s medical course, with the doctor-patient relationship a high priority, have enjoyed high regard despite a critical report about aspects of the course from the German Science Council in 2005. Restructuring measures by the university resolved those issues.

Last year, Witten-Herdecke medical students came top in the standard final state medical examinations in Germany. The economics faculty was also among the leaders in rankings in various magazines.

END/nna/ung/cva

Item: 080314-02EN Date: 14 March 2008

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New GLS Bank credit card to support humanitarian projects

NUREMBERG (NNA) – The German ecological GLS Bank has launched a new credit card the use of which will automatically support the international children’s charity Terre des Hommes and the German association for the protection of nature Bund Naturschutz.

The card was presented at this year’s BioFach in Nuremberg, the largest organic products trade fair in the world.

GLS Bank will make a donation to the beneficiary organisations from its commission on the turnover on the credit card and there will be no additional charges to users other than would accrue in any case.

The Bank said that the Terre des Hommes MasterCard will support projects all over the world which provide help for girls who would otherwise have no future. Thus it will provide financial support for school projects in India and Burkina Faso, for example.

The BUND Wildcard would help to support research into wild cat habitats in western and central Germany and the planting of trees and bushes to improve their habitats and those of other similar animals.

Both Terre des Hommes and BUND hope that the cooperation with the GLS Bank will lead to a rise in membership numbers and donations.

END/nna/ung/cva

Link: www.gls.de/unsere-angebote/girokonto/kreditkarten/terre-des-hommes-mastercard.html Item: 080314-01EN Date: 14 March 2008

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Sun, 09 Mar 2008

Living the Christmas Conference drops legal actions against General Anthroposophical Society

DORNACH (NNA) – The members of the Living the Christmas Conference grouping, who were expelled from the General Anthroposophical Society (GAS) at its annual general meeting in March last year on the grounds that their constant negative campaigning against the GAS had begun to sap the society’s strength, have dropped their legal action to have their membership reinstated.

The plaintiffs also withdrew their challenge to the resolution adopted by the AGM which declared membership of Living the Christmas Conference to be incompatible with membership of the GAS.

A third action, an appeal by the group against a ruling of the Dorneck-Thierstein district court which had rejected the group’s challenge of the legitimacy of the resolutions adopted at the GAS extraordinary general meeting in April 2006, was also abandoned.

In this third action the group had wanted to make the GAS executive council personally liable for the 800,000 Swiss franc court costs associated with the successful legal challenge mounted by Living the Christmas Conference with regard to the dispute over the existence of the Anthroposophical Society re-founded by Rudolf Steiner at Christmas 1923 and its fusion with the present GAS.

This means that all the legal proceedings initiated by Living the Christmas Conference and its members against the GAS have been dropped.

“The withdrawal of the appeal and the three lawsuits means that these proceedings have been discontinued. As a result there are no further issues with regard to the legality of the AGM resolutions of 2006. The same applies to the resolution of 31 March 2007 and the expulsion of the 44 Living the Christmas Conference members from the Anthroposophical Society,” the GAS said in a press release on Sunday.

Before finally abandoning its cases, Living the Christmas Conference had offered the GAS a settlement in which both parties would pay their own legal costs and divide court costs equally between one another, an offer which was rejected by the GAS. The court and the plaintiffs had been informed of the reasons in detail, the GAS said.

The appeal and district courts will now have to decide on how costs are divided, but the GAS said in its press release that according to the procedural code a plaintiff who withdraws from a case has to bear most of the costs.

Commenting in a statement on the Living the Christmas Conference website on their decision to give up their action, the expelled members said that a key factor had been that the financial risk of continuing had become too great.

“By abandoning the recourse to legal proceedings and with our current path of self-questioning and searching we combine the hope that perhaps it might become possible again in the future to work together with the members of the General Anthropsophical Society,” the statement added in conclusion.

END/nna/cva

Item: 080309-02EN Date: 9 March 2008

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