“The globalization construct of divide and conquer is still alive and well,” the ambassador stated. “Benin and other small, dependent colonies in Africa and its people were forever defeated and dominated because of the Berlin Conference,” Dr. Chihombori-Quao said.”
Clearly, the foundational and overarching concern and commitment of Kawaida is life—human and other life and all that is related to the respect, preservation, protection, development and flourishing of it. And likewise, it is concerned with and opposed to all that would threaten, diminish, abuse or destroy life. But to talk of human life and make it real is to talk of actual people. For history and current reality have shown that an oppressor can claim respect for life as a universal abstract, but hate, enslave, dispossess, terrorize and murder, singularly and in mass, actual living humans of various kinds and cultures.
Bernard LaFayette Jr., whose memoir “In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma” was released in paperback earlier this year, has been awarded the 2016 Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace.