Wednesday, November 18, 2015

French President Hollande invokes the unity of all cultures at UNESCO LeadersForum

November 18, 2015

Paris, 17 November On his first address to the international community since the deadly terrorist attacks that struck Paris on 13 November, the President of France, Francis Hollande, declared his commitment to freedom, human creativity and intercultural dialogue.>

The French President made his address at the Leaders forum, which on 16 and 17 November brought together Heads of State and Government from all over the world in the context of the 38th session of UNESCOⳠGeneral Conference, presided by Stanley Mutumba Simataa.

The afternoon session of the Leaders’ Forum, organized on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of UNESCO, also featured addresses by the President of the Republic of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

The French President, welcomed to UNESCO by the OrganizationⳠDirector-General, Irina Bokova, was accompanied by the French Minister for the Economy and Finance, Michel Sapin, and the Minister for Culture, Fleur Pellerin, and the Secretary of State in Charge of Development and the Francophonie, Annick Girardin. The French President declared: ㉠wished to be present at the General Conference because you stand for the unity of all cultures of the world. [坠And what better place to affirm the need to hold fast than here, at UNESCO, an institution which was born of a Utopia to unite the whole of humanity through science, education and culture and which found a welcoming home in Paris.伯span>

President Hollande paid tribute to UNESCOⳠcrucial role in protecting cultural heritage and cultural diversity. 㙥s, UNESCO is the moral conscience of humanity. What underpinned its foundation was the promotion of the diversity of cultures, a diversity based on the idea that culture links people to their history and to their territory; a diversity anchored in the recognition of the equal dignity of cultures, as every people has a special message to bring to the world; a diversity which rejects uniformity and promotes pluralism of opinion and belief; a diversity which makes education a driver of universal emancipation.伯span>

The French President went on to highlight the importance of UNESCOⳊConvention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, as it marks its 10th anniversary.

He also spoke of a plan of action France intends to implement following the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Syria, and called for the creation of an international fund to support cultural properties in danger.

Earlier in the afternoon, in a message read by United States Ambassador Crystal Nix-Hines, Permanent Delegate of the U.S. to UNESCO, U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute to the victims of the attacks in Paris and thanked UNESCO for its 㵮wavering commitment to building peace and tolerance around the world.䠈e encouraged the Organization to pursue its mandate in global citizenship education and reiterated his determination to fight violent extremism, which led to the organization of the Leaders⠓ummit on Countering Violent Extremism during the United Nations General Assembly in September this year.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, the President of Malta, also addressed the Leaders⠆orum this afternoon, stressing the key role of culture and intercultural dialogue in endowing the young generation with the tools needed to respond to violence and to the rejection of others. She also highlighted the pertinence of UNESCOⳠmandate, 70 years after its creation. 㼯span>UNESCO remains critical in facilitating networks of solidarity between different communities at national, regional and global levels and in providing a carefully considered understanding of the challenges faced by humanity.伯span>

Echoing this declaration, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan invited the international community to bolster its support for the Organization. ㍯re time and resources should be invested into the spread of a culture of peace. UNESCO has the appropriate mandate, genuine experience, and rich assets such as education, culture, sport, communication and science to serve as one of the most effective and shortest ways to prevent conflicts.伯span>

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B-roll of President HollandeⳠspeech is available for download.

Press contact: George Papagiannis +33(0)1 45 68 51 40

November 18, 2015

India register third consecutive win in 8th Junior Men’s Asia Cup

Kuantan, Malaysia, 17th November, 2015: The Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team sealed their quarterfinal berth today with a solid win over China. The Indian colts who registered their third consecutive win in the 8th Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, Malaysia registered a confident win of 4-1 agaisnt China in their last group encounter. Manpreet (Jr.) fired two goals for India through Penalty Corner conversions while Harmanpreet and Ajit Pandey scored one goal apiece to ensure India’s third consecutive victory.

India started on an attacking note pressing hard on the weak Chines defense, but could only convert in the 16th minute through a penalty corner. Harmanpreet Singh was the scorer for India. The first half came to an end with India leading 1-0. India raced through to score their second goal through Ajit Pandey in the 2nd minute of the second half to give India a 2-0 lead. China struck back soon after in the 43rdminute through a penalty corner taking the score to 2-1. India thereafter increased their pace in the game to convert two goals in quick succession through Manpreet (Jr.) to ensure India’s win over China. With this win India sits atop the chart in Group B.

“It is good that we have continued with our winning momentum. It gets tougher from here, and we all realise that we now enter the knockout zone hence every match is a new championship for us. I am glad that the boys stuck to the basics and were confident in paving through the opponents defense. We head back now to prepare for the quarterfinals and hopefully we will have enough to rejoice after that match as well,” said Harendra Singh, Coach, Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team.

The 8th Junior Asia Cup is being played from the 14th – 22nd November 2015 at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia. One of the elite Asian tournaments, the 8th Junior Asia Cup will see the top eight Asian hockey powerhouses playing for supremacy. India is placed in Pool A with Malaysia, Japan and China.

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November 18, 2015

News from the Tow Center

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Tow Tea: FOIA Workshop

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism is using this week’s Tow Tea to host a workshop on accessing and collecting data and information made available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Freedom of Information Act is a law that gives individuals the right to access information from the federal government.

We will be joined by New England Center for Investigative Reporting’s Shawn Musgrave and BuzzFeed’s Nabiha Syed.

RSVP for the event here

ON THE TOW BLOG

Too Little Too Late: The horror of Paris Proves the Media Need to Debunk Rumors in Real Time
Claire Wardle

In the first couple of hours there was the claim that the lights on the Eiffel Tower were turned off as a mark of respect, when actually they are turned off every night at 1am; the video of a fire in a refugee camp in Calais that turned out to be from earlier this month; and a tweet from Donald Trump about gun control that he actually sent after the Charlie Hebdo attacks from January. And perhaps worst of all, the sharing of a photo from an Eagles of Death Metal concert from the previous night in Dublin, with people saying it was from inside the Bataclan concert hall.

Read the entire blog post here

The Future of News Depends on Journalists and Technologists Working Together
Francesco Marconi

The symbiosis between two worlds — journalism and technology — that have historically had different cultures and business models, is creating both tension and opportunity.

News organizations are increasingly behaving like startups and journalists are expanding their skills beyond just reporting. They are leveraging data, building products and exploring new platforms to distribute content and grow audiences. How has this relationship changed the news industry?

Read the entire blog post here

RECENT EVENTS

Race & Digital Media

On Wednesday, November 11th, the Tow Center, the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the MA Program for American Studies hosted a panel discussion consisting of both academic and non-academic commentators on and practitioners of new media publishing. They spoke both about their sense of the contemporary situation of web publishing as well as their trajectories as professionals within the new media environment.

Supreme Court of India: Ban websites that defame and insult the Sikh community! #BanSikhJokes

RPS Kohli
New Delhi, India

Sign Kohli’s Petition

I was subjected to racist ridicule as a young boy, even though I was a school topper. My two sons went through the same. It was the same joke, “12 baj gaye.”

For years now, the Sikh community has been ridiculed,insulted, poked fun at, and portrayed as naive idiots, foolish and an object of amusement, all “in good nature.”

While we are a fun loving community, and love our culture, the Bhangra, the language, we DO NOT like when “12 Baje Jokes” or “Santa Banta Jokes” are cracked at our expense. It is not about Sikhs not being able to take a joke, it’s about hurting our religious sentiments.

Bullying is not funny. Nor is making fun of my religion.

A PIL in the Supreme Court is asking for websites specialising in these jokes to be banned. This is our time to take action.

Sign my petition urging the Supreme Court to ban the websites that defame and insult the Sikh community.

Progressive nations all over the world have become sensitive about racial or communal humour. Why is India still stuck in medieval times? Would jokes on Hindus, Muslims or Christians be considered funny or offensive? It’s time to stop casually targeting the Sikh community.

Little boys and girls are bullied in school. It is not okay to “crack a Sardar joke.” It’s not a harmless joke, if an entire community is being bullied under its weight.

Sikhs are a proud and brave community. We have occupied top positions like the President, Prime Minister, Chief of Army, Air Marshall. But it’s the Santa Banta jokes, they know us for.

This needs to stop. Sikh jokes are sick jokes.

President, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee S. Manjit SIngh GK and many other organizations like Church of North India have lent their support to this petition.

The Supreme Court will hear the case soon. If thousands of us sign this petition, we can show it to Honorable Supreme Court of India that racism is not funny.

I along with the PIL petitioner, Harvinder Kaur and President of DSGMC would deliver your signatures to the Supreme Court.
{PIL/WritPetition/CRL/160 of 2015 titled Ms. Harvinder Chowdhury vs Union Of India through Secretary, Ministry of Telecom and I&B}.

Sign and share this petition.

Sign Kohli’s Petition

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