The “Thai French-American” Harvard trained Architect – Inson Dubois Wood. Photo: David Kim.
In the 1960’s, Inson Wongsam, a budding artist from a large family in northern Thailand, decided to study in Paris. He set out on a Lambretta scooter, which he had won in a contest, on a months-long journey west. In each country he visited — including India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Greece — he mounted an art show. Unrolling the canvases he had been carrying in saddle bags, he sold his art to support himself along the way.
New York, N.Y. Fifty years later, his son, Inson Dubois Wood, is mounting his own traveling show, as documented in a handsome coffee-table book from Rizzoli (Inson Dubois Wood Interiors. $55) An interior designer who also trained as an architect at Harvard University, Inson has transformed houses and apartments in Europe, the U.S. and his father’s native Thailand, into showplaces, filled with paintings, sculptures, furniture by both “name” designers and anonymous flea market finds.
Inson Wood has released his latest monograph book on interior design – “Inson Dubois Wood: Interiors” published by Rizzoli New York. Photo: Mark Roskams.
Upper Eastside living room Chinese New Year-inspired room with paintings by Ron Erlich (center) and Larry Zox (left). Photo: Peter Rymwid.
The textile guru Christopher Hyland, in the book’s introduction, describes Inson as eclectic, and it is a (rare) correct use of that word: the architect is drawing from myriad sources. They include Thai culture he learned from his father and the French style he picked up from his mother.
Former carriage house – Upper East Side townhouse by Inson Dubois Wood with a diptych painting by Michael Dickey. Photo: Mark Roskams.
Then came his mentors in school — at Cornell, the neoclassicist Colin Rowe, and at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Rem Koolhaas and Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelblau, two architects who are not afraid to disrupt convention.
Later, when he chose to enter the world of interior design, rather than practice architecture in its allegedly pure form, he found himself working first for Juan Pablo Molyneux, a decorator to the world’s highest level well-to-do, and then as design director for David Easton, the dean of English country manor, who takes a slightly more restrained approach.
Upper Eastside Townhouse Carnivale inspired dining room with interior design by Inson Dubois Wood. Dining table by Wendell Castle. Photo: Durston Saylor.
The influences are all there in the gorgeous photos by Mark Roskams, who traveled the world shooting rooms filled with everything from precious antiquities to slashed canvases. The rooms aren’t pristine; these are places where people live, with scuffed walls among the masterpieces and scratches on marble kitchen counters. It is a sign of Wood’s belief in real life (lived grandly, of course) that he didn’t ask to have the images retouched into blurry sameness. His clients live their lives in sharp focus, and the book reflects that.
Townhouse design by Inson Dubois Wood with a cantilevered welded solid steel plate stair. Photo: Mark Roskams.
A few of the interiors shown in the book follow holistically creative themes. One client, moving to a penthouse on Central Park from Connecticut wished to create an environment entirely from repurposed or natural materials in order to foreground a collection of antique, vintage and contemporary furniture – with products made locally such as steps to a bronze greenhouse which were made from reclaimed beams which survived Hurricane Sandy.
Another client wanted an apartment suitable for meditation; Wood used so much white that, if it weren’t for the mid-century wooden bench – that sits among glass and steel furnishing on a floor of white-glass tile, you’d think you were looking at a black-and-white, rather than a color photo.
New Construction ground up Upper Eastside townhouse with architecture and interiors by Inson Dubois Wood. Photo: Mark Roskams.
But most of Wood’s clients encourage his diverse eclecticism. At a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, Wood used German and Russian antiques as references to the owners upbringing. A ground up townhouse on the Upper Eastside acts as both an art gallery and a comfortable home for a family.
In a European farmhouse, the homeowner’s roots were even more directly on display. As Wood explains, “We approached the project as if we were historical anthropologists mounting an exhibition.” Old trunks found in storage became side tables and farmers hats were turned into sculptures shown alongside impressionist paintings.
There’s one project in the book that isn’t for an individual client — Wood’s contribution to a prestigious Manhattan show house. Designed around the theme of Venice’s carnival, it is appropriately excessive, with Rodin sculptures; bulbous Wendell Castle furniture; oversized blown-glass vessels; red-lacquered and gold-leafed ceiling adornments; and Harlequin-print drapes.
Living room by Inson Dubois Wood with art by Inson Wongsam. Photo: Peter Rymwid.
Hamptons cottage by architect-interior designer Inson Dubois Wood. Photo: Mark Roskams.
It is meant to show how many influences Wood can bring together in one room, and it does so. And yet it isn’t that different from the other interiors in the book. Inson never pulls his punches. Inson Dubois Wood interiors, even ones that are nominally minimalist, are planned with care and executed with elan. It’s always Carnival when Inson is around.
Inson Wood perhaps isn’t as we’ll known as his mentors, Molyneux and Easton, or as famous as some of the other subjects of Rizzoli tomes this fall, but judging from this book, he has them in his sights.
Greenwich Village townhouse with Interior design by Inson Dubois Wood. Artwork by Fernand Leger. Photo: Mark Roskams.
Not everyone gets to combine their passion for cycling with philanthropy, but Inson Wood a New York-based interior designer, with the help of one of his training partners, Ric Wolf founded a cycling team in 2000 specifically for the purpose of raising awareness for charitable giving while supporting inner city youth follow their dreams of one day racing at the professional level.
Upper Eastside townhouse by Inson Dubois Wood with wall art by Desire Obtain Cherish and rug tapestry by Dubuffet. Photo: Mark Roskams.
Flash forward to 2016, with support from six hedge funds (One Equity Partners, Highbridge Capital, Brookstone, Cap Rok, Loeb Partners, Davidson Kempner) and a variety of local NYC businesses and over fifty members strong – Foundation has supported young riders to race at the national level. Young riders now compete across the nation and have even returned to their countries of origin: claiming National Championships in Dominican Republic, Guyana, Trinidad, Kurasow and Jamaica. The team is also one of the largest non-business donors to Alzheimer’s research and care.
Inson Dubois Wood is a visionary designer and philanthropic global citizen – the world could benefit from more people with his level of grassroots community giving and value-added for his fellow humans.
As racial justice movement continues to shape urban landscapes, advocates call for commemorative space in New York City
New York, N.Y. ā In the wake of nationwide protests following George Floyd‘s murder in 2020, cities across America began designating prominent streets and public spaces as “Black Lives Matter Plaza” to commemorate the movement for racial justice. Now, advocates are pushing for New York City to join the growing list of municipalities honoring the social justice movement through permanent public installations.
The City of St. Petersburg in partnership with The Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum celebrated Juneteenth 2020 with the unveiling of St. Petersburgās Black Lives Matter mural. diverse group of artists from Tampa Bay were commissioned to each paint a different letter on the street in front of the Woodson Museum.
Origins and Spread of BLM Plazas
Washington, D.C. established the first and most prominent Black Lives Matter Plaza in June 2020, when Mayor Muriel Bowser renamed a two-block section of 16th Street NW near the White House. The installation features the words “BLACK LIVES MATTER” painted in bold yellow letters stretching across the street. The plaza quickly became both a gathering place for protestors and a powerful visual symbol of the movement.
Since then, at least seven other cities have created their own versions of Black Lives Matter Plaza, including Minneapolis, Seattle, Tulsa, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Dover (Delaware), and Richmond (Virginia). Each city has taken its own approach, from street murals to renamed plazas and parks, creating permanent markers acknowledging the significance of the movement in American civic life.
Dr. Keisha Williams, professor of Urban Studies at Columbia University, explains the significance: “These plazas serve multiple purposes in our citiesāthey’re sites of protest, commemoration, education, and community gathering. They physically inscribe the movement for racial justice into our urban landscapes.”
New York’s Absence Raises Questions
Despite being home to some of the nation’s largest Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and 2021, New York City has yet to establish a permanent Black Lives Matter Plaza. The city did support temporary street murals in each borough, including one outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, but these installations were not made permanent.
“It’s surprising that New York, with its rich history of civil rights activism and its diverse population, hasn’t created a permanent space honoring the Black Lives Matter movement,” said James Rodriguez, director of the Coalition for Civil Rights Memorials. “Cities with much smaller Black populations have taken this step.”
The absence is particularly notable given New York City’s tradition of commemorating social movements and civil rights leaders through named streets, monuments, and public spaces.
Growing Support for NYC BLM Plaza
A coalition of community organizations, including Black Lives Matter NYC, the New York Urban League, and several community boards, has been advocating for a permanent Black Lives Matter Plaza in a prominent Manhattan location.
“We envision a space that goes beyond just a name or street painting,” said Tanya Washington, community organizer with Black Lives Matter NYC. “We’re advocating for a plaza that includes educational elements about racial justice history, community gathering spaces, and public art that centers Black experiences.”
City officials have acknowledged the proposals but point to various considerations that have slowed the process, including budget constraints, competing priorities for public space, and the desire to develop a comprehensive approach rather than a symbolic gesture.
“We want to ensure that any memorial space truly reflects the significance of the movement and serves the communities most impacted by the issues BLM addresses,” said one NYC Councilmember. “That requires thoughtful planning and community input.”
Critics argue that the delays reflect deeper political hesitations about associating with a movement that has faced both widespread support and controversy.
Looking Forward
Urban planners and civil rights advocates emphasize that the creation of Black Lives Matter Plazas represents more than symbolic gesturesāthey’re part of a larger conversation about whose histories are commemorated in public spaces and how cities can physically represent commitments to equity and justice.
“These spaces challenge the traditional narrative of who and what we memorialize in our cities,” said Dr. Williams. “They’re not just about the past; they’re about creating more just and inclusive urban environments for the future.”
As New York City continues to grapple with issues of racial inequity in housing, policing, and public services, advocates argue that a Black Lives Matter Plaza would serve as both a reminder of ongoing struggles and a commitment to addressing them.
Black Lives Matter Plazas Spread Across American Cities (May 12, 2025)
TAGS: Black Lives Matter, racial justice, urban planning, public memorials, social movements, New York City, Washington D.C., civic spaces
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Urban planners and civic leaders are reimagining how public spaces can acknowledge movements for social change. At least eight major U.S. cities have established permanent Black Lives Matter Plazas since 2020, but New York City is noticeably absent from this list despite its size and diversity.
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From D.C. to Minneapolis to Seattle, cities are creating permanent public spaces commemorating the movement for racial justice. Now NYC advocates are calling for their own installation that would serve both as memorial and community gathering space. What makes these urban markers meaningful beyond their names?
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Eight U.S. cities have created permanent BLM Plazas since 2020, but NYC isn’t one of them despite its diverse population and protest history. What would make a BLM Plaza meaningful beyond just a name? Should these installations focus on education, community gathering, or visual impact?
May has been designated “Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Month” in the United States, one of several months designed to celebrate America’s growing ethnic diversity.Once used primarily to describe Americans of East Asian heritage, “Asian American” has become a catchall in recent years, used by journalists, advocacy groups, government agencies and others to describe all manner of Asians. Yet not all Asian Americans embrace it with equal zeal.
Large dragon at the annual Chinese new year parade, on 7th Street NW in Chinatown, D.C. Photo: Mr.TinMD.
More than two decades into her American journey, Shamarukh Mohiuddin navigates the crossroads of culture and identity.
A Washington-area business consultant by day, Mohiuddin supports Asian American causes, performs with a dance group at the capital’s annual Fiesta Asia and checks “Asian” on forms. Yet, the label doesn’t quite fit.
She prefers “Bangladeshi American,” a term that resonates more deeply with her and her Bangladeshi friends.
“Most of my friends, when they hyphenate their heritage, they will usually use their own country’s name, so it will be like Indian-American or Bangladeshi-American or Filipino-American,” Mohiuddin said.
May has been designated “Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Month” in the United States, one of several months designed to celebrate America’s growing ethnic diversity.
Once used primarily to describe Americans of East Asian heritage, “Asian American” has become a catchall in recent years, used by journalists, advocacy groups, government agencies and others to describe all manner of Asians. Yet not all Asian Americans embrace it with equal zeal.
“Some people reject it because it’s too broad and it doesn’t kind of recognize or acknowledge difference, but I still think for some people it’s a very meaningful category and identity as well,” said Dina Okamoto, a sociology professor at Indiana University and author of a book on the development of Asian American identity.
Activists coin ‘Asian American’
The term “Asian American” emerged in 1968, coined by activists Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, Asian Americans were identified by their country of origin, when not derogated as “Orientals.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed to the U.S.House of Representatives by Speaker Kevin McCarthy.Photo: MEAphotogallery.
Ichioka and Gee, driven by the anti-racism and anti-war movements of the 1960s, created the pan-ethnic label to promote political solidarity among America’s disparate Asian groups that shared similar experiences of racism and discrimination.
“It originated as an umbrella term to encompass all the people of Asian ancestry in the United States, but more than being a simple marker of multiple ethnicities, it signified a political stance,” said Daryl Joji Maeda, a cultural historian at the University of Colorado and author of a book on the Asian American movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
In the decades since, the term has largely shed its political connotations and evolved into a simple label for identifying people of Asian ancestry. The change was in part driven by the government’s adoption of the term, including the addition of a new “Asian or Pacific Islander” category to the 1990 census questionnaire.
“Today, that meaning of Asian American predominates,” Maeda told VOA via email.
But the term has taken on a broader meaning as America’s Asian community has grown more diverse, thanks to increased immigration from South and Southeast Asia. Where America’s Asian community was once made up mainly of Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos, today it encompasses dozens of nationalities, numbering about 24 million people.
As a result, Maeda said, “it would be disingenuous or naĆÆve to think that Asian and Asian American refer only to descendants of people from East Asia.”
In popular discourse, the term is gaining traction. Advocacy groups, cultural organizations, school districts and government agencies are increasingly employing the label to describe all people of Asian heritage, not just East Asians. In school districts with large South Asian students, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students are often described as Asian.
Yet “Asian American” doesn’t always reflect how members of the community see themselves.
Pew studies self-identification
To find out how Asian Americans self-identify, Pew Research conducted the largest survey of its kind last year: only 12% picked “Asian” and 16% “Asian American,” while over half, or 52%, preferred specific ethnic labels like “Chinese” or “Indian,” with or without “American.”
Usage of “Asian” as an identifier varied across ethnicities, however. For example, 23% of smaller groups such as Bhutanese and Bangladeshis preferred “Asian,” nearly double the overall rate, according to the Pew survey. By contrast, individuals from larger groups such as Chinese and Indian Americans favored ethnic labels.
New York City Uptown March in Solidarity with Asians in America Photo: The All-Nite Images, 2021.
Sahana Mukherjee, associate director of race and ethnicity research at Pew Research Center, said “Asian” is often used by individuals from lesser-known groups because of its broader recognition.
“It’s a lot easier for them to use the term Asian instead of their ethnic label,” Mukherjee said in an interview with VOA.
Yet the term “Asian” still conjures associations with East Asia. Among Asian Americans surveyed by Pew, 89% equated it with East Asians, 67% with South Asians, and only 43% with Central Asians.
Some confuse Indian with Native American
Nikhil Bumb, the U.S.-born son of immigrants from India, said when he was growing up in South Carolina in the 1990s and 2000s, the term “Asians” was primarily associated with East Asians.
“At several points, I was told I wasn’t Asian,” said Bumb, now a managing director at FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm. “So I guess what [Asian] meant for most people was East Asian. That’s how it was commonly used.”
Indian-Americans celebrate Diwali, the Holiday of Light. Popular spots likeĀ Times SquareĀ now get painted in vibrant Indian colors.
He identified as Indian American, but it too presented its own problems: some people confused the term with Native American.
“I think now it is better understood that Indian American refers to folks from the country India ā¦ but growing up certainly there was a lot of confusion,” Bumb said in an interview with VOA. “Whenever you would say, ‘I’m Indian’ or ‘My parents are Indian,’ folks would say, ‘But you don’t seem Indian.'”
‘You don’t look Asian’
To Ayeshah Alam Khan, a Pakistani American activist and lifestyle coach based in Texas, being Pakistani has always meant being Asian, if not South Asian.
So it came as a bit of a culture shock when, after relocating to the U.S., she started drawing puzzled looks whenever she introduced herself as “Asian.”
“People would look at me and kind of go, ‘Oh, you don’t look Asian,'” Khan, a former model and radio and TV presenter in Pakistan, said.
Khan is fair in complexion, thanks to her mixed Pakistani and European heritage. But it was the “East Asian” stereotype, she said, not her skin tone, that sparked confusion.
“I realized they actually meant that I should look, per their conception, either Chinese or Japanese or Korean, or what we consider the Far East,” Khan said.
Until the public gains a more sophisticated understanding of Asian diversity, she said, the term “doesn’t really serve anyone at this point.”
For now, though, she sticks to Pakistani or South Asian American, as do her friends, she said.
RāBonney Gabriel, Miss Universe 2022, crowned Miss Universe in New Orleans. Photo: Miss Universe Organization.
Okamoto of Indiana University said she has observed an improved American understanding of Asian diversity. Early in her career, she said, she used to get questions about South Asians being part of the Asian category, but not anymore.
“I don’t know if they’re surprised now,” she said.
Mohiuddin, who graduated from the University of Maine in the early 2000s, said she too has seen signs of change in recent years. Asian American groups, though still largely led by East Asian Americans, are increasingly adding South Asians in their ranks and reaching out to the broader Asian diaspora.
Mohiuddin recalled seeing several South Asians while attending a recent fundraiser hosted by Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
“So I think that it is changing slowly,” she said.
Showing true artistry and incredible range, Dasol performed in the 56th Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall in The Peter Jay Sharp Concert.
New York, N.Y. I have been writing about the Young Concert Artists (YCA) since my profile of its inspired and legendary founder Susan Wadsworth in 2010 (Wikipedia).
His performance brought an extremely enthusiastic audience to a standing ovation.
Dasol showed virtuosic command of the entire keyboard throughout the concert.
His deft handling of the Barber, however, was met with a most raucous ovation by the entire hall — even by would-be skeptics of more contemporary pieces.
I overheard one gentleman seated behind me who noted to his companion: “When he first started the piece, I was thinking ‘I might hate this… But I really loved it! That was spectacular!'”
It was impressive to hear all 24 Chopin Preludes in a single performance.
These masterful pieces are each beautiful and complex.
For an artist to be able to convey the full range of emotional depth of each while performing all 24 preludes in succession — almost 40 minutes of skillful, varying technique — was truly a rare experience.
Dasol graduated from the Hannover Music School in Germany and today lives in Berlin.
He will make his Washington D.C. debut next year, sponsored by the Korean Concert Society Prize.
Chatting with him at the after-party, I was struck by how incredibly humble this outstanding young pianist is.
I remember so clearly writing about the leadership and legacy of Susan Wadsworth, founder of Young Concert Artists (YCA) at the time of YCAās fiftieth anniversary. This year marks the institutions 56th year.
I enjoy following notes in the program.
I chuckled when I read the lines nine year-old Samuel Barber penned to his mother, stating “I have written to tell you of a worrying secret. Now don’t cry when you read it because it is neither your fault or mine. I suppose I will have to tell it now without any nonsense. To begin with, I was not meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer and will be, I’m sure.”
I wonder how many of the YCA artists I have covered felt similarly?
As the head of a foundation supporting young global leadership in the arts and education, I firmly believe that Young Concert Artists is critically important to the future of music here and abroad.
YCA founder Susan Wadsworth never ceases to amaze me with her tireless efforts to support young talent. Since 1961, Susan has been identifying and mentoring among the best musical minds in the world, each one a thought leaders and global citizen in their own right. May she never retire!
About Young Concert Artists (YCA)
Young Concert Artists (YCA) is a New York City-based non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting the careers of talented young classical musicians from around the world.
Founded in 1961, YCA holds an annual competition called the Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, where artists compete as individuals or in chamber groups.
Winners of the YCA competition, known as YCA Jacobs Fellows, receive a cash prize and the opportunity to perform at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
They are also provided with an artistic manager who promotes the artist through booking concert engagements, providing publicity materials, and offering career development.
The 2023 YCA Jacobs Fellows, selected from over 150 applicants, are cellist James Baik, violinist Oliver Neubauer, cellist Benett Tsai, percussionist Michael Yeung, and guitar duo Ziggy & Miles.
These artists participated in a rigorous audition process and were assessed by an esteemed jury for their technical mastery, stage presence, and performance potential.
YCA’s mission is to discover and promote the careers of exceptional young classical musicians, providing them with performance opportunities, career management, and professional development.
The organization has a long history of discovering and furthering the careers of extraordinary young artists, with notable past winners including violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Ray Chen, pianists Murray Perahia and Emanuel Ax, and cellists Alban Gerhardt and Narek Hakhnazaryan.
In the bustling landscape of the 20th century, Jewish individuals played pivotal roles in shaping our world across diverse domains. However, the specter of the Holocaust looms large over their legacy, raising the question: What if the Holocaust had never occurred?
By Artificial Intelligence
In the realm of literature, the absence of the Holocaust might have allowed authors like Elie Wiesel to explore even deeper dimensions of human experience through their storytelling.
New York, N.Y. The Holocaust, with its devastating toll of six million lives lost, not only inflicted immeasurable suffering but also deprived the world of countless potential contributions.
Imagine a world where the brilliance of figures like Albert Einstein and Jonas Salk, unencumbered by the horrors of genocide, could have flourished even further. Einstein’s groundbreaking theories of relativity might have led to even more profound discoveries, while Salk’s polio vaccine could have reached more lives sooner.
Literature
In the realm of literature, the absence of the Holocaust might have allowed authors like Franz Kafka, Elie Wiesel, and Isaac Bashevis Singer to explore even deeper dimensions of human experience through their storytelling.
Poets such as Nelly Sachs and Yehuda Amichai could have woven even richer tapestries of emotion and meaning.
Music
Music, too, would have resonated differently. Leonard Bernstein’s symphonies, Bob Dylan’s anthems, and Irving Berlin’s melodies could have enraptured audiences with even greater intensity, had the shadows of genocide not darkened their paths.
Entrepreneurs
The entrepreneurial spirit of Jewish pioneers, from Jacob Schiff in finance to Sergey Brin in technology, might have soared to even greater heights without the burden of collective trauma. Their innovations could have propelled humanity into new realms of prosperity and connectivity.
Jurists like Louis Brandeis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg could have shaped laws and institutions with even greater wisdom and compassion.
The Arts
In the arts, painters like Marc Chagall and sculptors like Jacques Lipchitz could have imbued the world with even more beauty and insight.
Filmmakers like Billy Wilder and Steven Spielberg might have crafted narratives that touched the depths of the human soul without the backdrop of such immense tragedy.
Intellectual Giants
Intellectual giants such as Hannah Arendt and Noam Chomsky, freed from the shadows of genocide, might have illuminated even more profound truths about society and politics.
Jurists like Louis Brandeis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg could have shaped laws and institutions with even greater wisdom and compassion.
In reflecting on the Holocaust’s impact on 20th-century Jewish contributions, we confront not only the magnitude of loss but also the resilience of the human spirit.
Despite facing persecution and discrimination, Jews stood at the forefront of cultural, scientific, and economic transformations.
Yet, the world could have been even richer, even brighter, had the Holocaust not cast its long shadow over the tapestry of history.
Fountain House, 425 West 47th Street, New York City. Photo: Courtesy Fountain House.
The Fountain House Symposium and Luncheon, held each spring at The Pierre, is the go-to forum for those of us eager to learn the latest on mental health. This year, the eventās fourteenth, the intriguing topic was āBorderline Personality Disorder: Why It Matters & What You Should Know.ā
New York, N.Y. The event drew an audience of nearly 600 and raised over one million dollars in support of the groundbreaking programs of Fountain House, founded in New York City in 1948 with the belief that people living with mental illness can be active participants in their own and each otherās recovery.
The three stellar symposium panelists who reported from the frontlines of the field were: John Gunderson, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Personality and Psychosocial Research Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA; Perry Hoffman, Ph.D., President and Co-Founder of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD); and Marie-Paule de Valdivia, L.C.S.W., M.B.A., Executive Vice President of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD), Assistant Clinical Professor of Social Work in Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Program Leader at Yale-New Haven Intensive Psychiatry Day Hospital. Veteran business journalist and TV anchor Consuelo Mack was the superb emcee.
Emcee Consuelo Mack with panelists John Gunderson, M.D., Perry Hoffman, Ph.D., and Marie-Paule de Valdivia, L.C.S.W., M.B.A. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
Panelist John Gunderson, widely recognized as the āfatherā of borderline personality disorder, published seminal studies that helped transform the diagnosis from a psychoanalytic construct into an empirically validated and internationally recognized disorder and wrote the major textbook on its treatment.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been called the āleprosy of mental illnesses.ā A serious psychological and psychosocial disorder that centers on the inability to manage emotions effectively, it was originally thought to exist on the āborderā between other psychiatric diagnoses. Misunderstood ā and stigmatized even among many mental health professionals ā BPD was long considered untreatable. The symposium panelists dismantled that persistent myth.
Dr. Gunderson illuminated for us the hallmarks of BPD: intense and volatile emotions (such as shame, anger, sadness or anxiety), chaotic relationships, impulsivity, unstable sense of self, suicide attempts, self-harm, fears of abandonment, and chronic feelings of emptiness. Symptoms are often in evidence by adolescence.
The Pierre Grand Ballroom. Nearly 600 guests turned out to support Fountain House. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
The causes of BPD are not yet fully understood, but it is generally agreed that a complex combination of genetic, social, and psychological factors must interact with one another in order for the disorder to manifest. Dr. Gunderson said that BPD occurs in approximately 2% of the population and accounts for 20% of all psychiatric admissions. Although there is no medication specifically indicated to treat BPD, medication may help with conditions that often accompany it, such as depression and anxiety.
Panelist Perry Hoffman referred to BPD as the āgood prognosis diagnosis.ā Why? The success of innovative treatments ā beginning with dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), developed by psychologist Marsha Linehan in the late 1980s ā transformed the outlook from bleak to hopeful.
DBT teaches ālife skillsā for coping with sudden, intense surges of emotion. As there is a shortage of clinicians trained in this intricate therapy, Perry outlined an alternative approach pioneered by fellow panelist John Gunderson: His āGood Psychiatric Managementā combines a number of the principles of other treatments in a streamlined format accessible to a far greater number of clinicians and their patients.
Dr. John Gunderson, widely recognized as the “father” of borderline personality disorder. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
Data show that with effective treatment and support, over time 80% percent of people with BPD reduce their symptoms. Misdiagnosis is common; Perry stressed the importance of early intervention and accurate diagnosis as key to recovery.
Perry conducted the landmark study on families and BPD, which documented the importance of family emotional involvement in patient recovery. She co-founded the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD) as a resource and support group for families dealing with the BPD diagnosis and co-designed the āFamily Connectionsā program, a free-of-charge course that focuses on the needs of family members and is run by family members who have themselves been trained. Family Connections is available in locations around the U.S., in person or via teleconference, and in a number of other countries.
An enlightening Q&A followed the panelists’ presentations. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
Family was front and center in panelist Marie-Paule de Valdiviaās riveting personal account. In seeking answers regarding her daughterās disturbing behavior and rejection of family, it was Marie-Paule herself who arrived at the BPD diagnosis ā via the internet! At that time, Marie-Paule had no previous experience with mental illness, but that was to change ā personally and professionally. After two decades in the business world, this M.B.A. went back to school, secured an M.S.W. degree, and became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker trained in dialectical behavior therapy.
Event Chairs Patricia Begley, Anne Mai, Carolyn MacKenzie, Alexandra Herzan, Lorna Graev, Florence Peyrelongue, and Kitty de Chazal. Lynn Nicholas and Ilyse Wilpon (not pictured) also served as Event Chairs. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
Now, less than a decade since she identified her daughterās illness, Marie-Paule teaches at the Yale School of Medicine and works with patients and their families at Yale-New Haven Hospital. An astounding evolution. Her daughter, who benefited greatly from DBT treatment, has reconnected with the family.
What a panel this was! In addition to the treasure trove of information they imparted, there was an extraordinary interconnectedness among them. John and Perry are longtime collaborators on books on BPD (their latest is Beyond Borderline: True Stories of Recoveryfrom Borderline Personality Disorder). Perry and Marie-Paule work side by side in leading NEA-BPD, which holds an annual conference in conjunction with Yale, now Marie-Pauleās professional āhome.ā The commitment of these three to people with BPD and their families was palpable.
Such commitment mirrors that of Fountain House, dedicated to the recovery of men and women with mental illness by providing opportunities for its members to live, work, and learn, while contributing their talents through a community of mutual support. Members, in partnership with staff, operate employment, education, housing, and wellness programs. They perform all activities, including advocacy, administrative support, building maintenance, and food preparation that keep this community going. Members hold jobs, graduate from schools, develop social networks, and experience fewer hospitalizations and improved overall health. Increased fulfillment, sense of purpose, and stability inevitably follow.
Fountain House President Kenn Dudek with Lorna Graev and honoree Amanda Wang. Lorna founded this event with Lynn Nicholas. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
Fountain House has inspired the creation of hundreds of similar programs in 34 countries that serve more than 100,000 people annually. In 2014, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation recognized Fountain Houseās global reach and the efficacy of its evidence-based model with the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.
The recipient of the 2017 Fountain House Humanitarian Award was Amanda Wang. Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in 2007, Amanda founded the first in-person, peer-led support group for people living with the disorder. Her heartfelt remarks provided us with a window on the formidable challenges of navigating life with BPD. Amanda didnāt sugarcoat her story; she gave it to us straight. But there is so much more to Amanda, whose candor, strength, and resilience brought us to our feet. Bravo! See honoree Amanda Wangās powerful presentation: https://youtu.be/UiigRQ1sWuU.
The author with honoree Amanda Wang. Photo: Leslie Barbaro Photography/Fountain House.
The date of next yearās Fountain House Symposium and Luncheon has been entered in my calendar: April 30, 201
The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation (www.lucefoundation.org) supporting young global leadership is affiliated with Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW), raising global leaders. If supporting youth is important to you, subscribe to J. Luce Foundation updates here.
Portrait of a young truck driver.Bangladesh. Photo: Scott Wallace / World Bank.Transporting bricks along the river in Bangladesh. Photo: Scott Wallace / World Bank.
Nestled along the Arabian Sea, Mumbai, India’s bustling metropolis, epitomizes the juxtaposition of extremes – wealth and poverty, tradition and modernity, chaos and serenity. Let’s delve into the intricate fabric of Mumbai’s urban landscape, exploring its intricate strain network, burgeoning subway system, economic disparities, and cinematic allure, while drawing comparisons with Delhi, Kolkata, and New York City.
The subway in Mumbai rivals any in the world. The subway cars were built in China with funds borrowed from Japan.
Subway Cars built in China with Funds Loaned from Japan
At the heart of Mumbai’s bustling streets lies its lifeline – the intricate train network, affectionately known as the “Mumbai locals.” These overcrowded trains crisscross the city, ferrying millions of commuters to their destinations every day. The strain network is not merely a mode of transportation but a symbol of Mumbai’s resilience and vitality. Despite its challenges, including overcrowding and safety concerns, the strain network remains indispensable, connecting people from all walks of life and serving as a testament to Mumbai’s spirit of endurance.
In recent years, Mumbai has embarked on a transformative journey with the introduction of its new subway system, the Mumbai Metro. Designed to alleviate congestion and provide faster, more efficient transportation options, the Mumbai Metro represents a bold step towards modernizing the city’s infrastructure. With its sleek design and state-of-the-art facilities, the Mumbai Metro is reshaping the urban landscape, offering commuters a comfortable and convenient alternative to the traditional strain network.
Local Mumbai train taken from a train ride from Andheri to Churchgate in Mumbai. Photo: Nestor Lacle.
Stark Disparities Between Rich and Poor
However, Mumbai’s story is not just one of progress and prosperity. The city’s economic landscape is marked by stark disparities between the rich and the poor. On one hand, Mumbai boasts a glittering skyline dotted with luxury high-rises, corporate headquarters, and extravagant malls, symbolizing the aspirations of India’s burgeoning middle class and elite. On the other hand, sprawling slums and makeshift dwellings dot the city’s peripheries, home to millions of impoverished residents struggling to make ends meet.
The juxtaposition of wealth and poverty is perhaps best exemplified in the iconic film “Slumdog Millionaire,” which was shot on location in Mumbai. The film vividly captures the city’s vibrant street life, bustling markets, and sprawling slums, offering a glimpse into the lives of its diverse inhabitants. “Slumdog Millionaire” serves as a poignant reminder of Mumbai’s complex social fabric, where dreams and despair coexist amidst the chaos of everyday life.
Despite Dharavi‘s negative light as a filthy Mumbai slum with people living in poor conditions it is also known to be industrious and enterprising.
Comparisons between Mumbai and other Indian cities, such as Delhi and Kolkata, offer further insights into the country’s urban landscape. Delhi, India’s capital, is renowned for its rich history, political significance, and expansive boulevards. Kolkata, on the other hand, exudes a distinct cultural charm, with its colonial architecture, literary heritage, and bustling street markets. While each city has its unique character and challenges, Mumbai stands out for its relentless energy, entrepreneurial spirit, and unparalleled diversity.
Mumbai from A to Z
Aspirational – Mumbai attracts migrants from across India seeking opportunities, making it a city of dreams and ambition.
Chaotic – The traffic, crowds and pace of life in Mumbai can feel chaotic and overwhelming at times.
Contrasting – Mumbai juxtaposes wealth and poverty, with gleaming skyscrapers next to sprawling slums.
Cosmopolitan – As a global financial center, Mumbai has a diverse, international population and culture.
Crowded – With a population of over 20 million, Mumbai is densely populated, especially in the slums and informal settlements.
Diverse – The city is home to people from all backgrounds, religions and cultures, creating a rich tapestry of diversity.
Noisy – Mumbai is one of the noisiest cities in India, with constant traffic, construction and human activity.
Polluted – Air and noise pollution are major issues in the densely populated, industrialized city.
Resilient – Despite the challenges, Mumbaikars are known for their grit, determination and ability to adapt.
Vibrant – Mumbai is a lively, energetic city full of activity and color.
Zonal – Mumbai is divided into distinct zones or areas, each with its own unique features and characteristics.
Contrasting Mumbai with global metropolises like New York City reveals both similarities and differences. Like New York City, Mumbai is a melting pot of cultures, a hub of commerce and creativity, and a magnet for ambitious individuals seeking to fulfill their dreams. However, Mumbai’s urban landscape is characterized by greater extremes of wealth and poverty, a more chaotic and congested transportation network, and a unique blend of traditional and modern architecture.
Mumbai is a city of contrasts and connections, where the old and the new, the rich and the poor, converge in a vibrant tapestry of urban life. From its intricate strain network to its burgeoning subway system, from its economic disparities to its cinematic allure, Mumbai embodies the complexities and contradictions of modern India. As the city continues to evolve and grow, it will undoubtedly remain a source of inspiration, fascination, and intrigue for generations to come.
U.S.S. Buchanan, one of six destroyers leaving Boston for delivery to London in 1940, under Lend-Lease.Photo: U.S. Naval Institute.
Naval History Magazine of the U.S. Naval Institute By Captain Michael A. Lilly, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Before U.S. entry into World War II, a deal was made to avail England of U.S. destroyers then in mothballsābut it took some crafty manipulation of the famous Time-Life publisher and his equally famous wife to make it happen.
Washington, D.C. In 1981, my grandmother Una Walker asked me to deliver several germinating coconut trees to her lifelong friend, the famed writer and editor Clare Boothe Luce (widow of Henry āHarryā Luce, the pioneering publisher of Time, Life, and other magazines). Clare was living at her Kahala beach house on the island of Oahu. At that time, Clare revealed to me that, back in the early days of World War II, she and Harryās unwitting participation in a tale of international manipulation and intrigue involving the LendāLease plan had helped save England from Hitler.
Clareās maid answered my knock and ushered me to a small alcove overlooking a pool and spacious lawn. Soon, I heard Clareās cultured voice behind me: āWell, Michael . . .ā
I turned to see Clareāthen in her senior years, but elegant and dynamic. Her skin was flawless, ātranslucent as a pearlā as one author put it. There was very little about her that suggested her age. She was graceful and beautiful.
āCome kiss your Auntie Clare,ā she said with her arms outstretched. āDonāt you look marvelous. If I recall correctly, the last time we were together, you caught me a lobster for lunch.ā
Prime Minister Winston Churchill is welcomed aboard the USSĀ AugustaĀ during the historic Atlantic Charter meeting, which lasted from August 9-12, 1941. Photo: U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive.
āYes, I remember catching it for you.ā As I grew up, Clare frequently stayed at my grandparentsā beach home, āMuliwai,ā on the north shore of Oahu. It had been Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitzās weekend hideaway during the Pacific war.
After exchanging pleasantries, Clare settled back and said that, under then-President Ronald Reagan, āIāve finally got my old job back. Iām on the Presidentās Foreign Intelligence Advisory Boardāa sort of secret, hushāhush group of people that reviews intelligence information. We make recommendations to the President. I had the job under [President Richard] Nixon. Then I was out under that pitiful [Jimmy] Carter. And now I am back again.ā
Clare had a remarkable ability to bring any subject to life. As did anyone who came within her charming sphere, I became instantly captivated.
āYou know,ā she continued, āintelligence, in the spy game, is really three factors: the gathering of data, its evaluation, and its dissemination to those who need it.ā
Her intelligence board consisted of specially selected civilians who evaluated intelligence information for the President. The idea was that private citizens brought a fresh perspective to intelligence that was sometimes more effective than relying only on professional evaluations.
āThis is fascinating, Clare,ā I interjected, ābecause I recently read a book, A Man Called Intrepid, about the best spies in England before World War II being informal groups of civilians who foresaw the inevitability of war with Hitler.ā
āWell,ā smiled Clare with a twinkle in her eye, āyouāll recall my name in that book, along with Greta Garboās. And thereās an interesting tale I learned as a result of that book and other declassified sources after my husband Harry died.ā
That is when she launched into her story about her and her husbandās pivotal role in helping Winston Churchill defeat Adolf Hitler.
āYou see, Harry came to me one night before we had entered the war and said, āClare, I had lunch with Churchillās emissary, Bill Stephenson, and I came up with a wonderful idea. You know all those old destroyers we have sitting around in mothballs? I think the President ought to give them to Churchill to fight Hitler!ā
āWell, I said that was an excellent idea and suggested he call President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt, which he did. Later, we were invited to dinner and to spend the night with Roosevelt at the White House. Harry spent the evening talking with Roosevelt about the destroyers. And I,ā continued Clare with a look of exasperation, āhad to endure hours with that dreadful Harry Hopkins [a former social worker who became Rooseveltās āambassadorāatālargeā].
āLater that night we slept in the Lincoln Bed in the White House. As I lay there on my pillow, Harry leaned over and whispered in my ear, āClare, Iāve convinced the President! He thinks itās a great idea about the destroyers. Except heās afraid of being called a warmonger and being impeached and all that. He says heāll do it, but he wants me to support him with publicity in Time and Life. I said Iād do it.ā
āWell, Harry gave the President the publicity, and eventually the destroyers were lent to England. Thatās the story as Harry and I knew it back before the war. Then, after Harry died, that book, A Man Called Intrepid, came out, and lots of secrets from World War II were told for the first time. I finally learned what had really happened.
āYou see, it all began with Churchill. He was fighting for the life of England and needed those old destroyers sitting around in mothballs in the United States. So, he asked his spy man William Stephenson, who he called āIntrepid,ā to convince Roosevelt to turn them over.
āSo Stephenson went to Roosevelt and explained the situation to him. Roosevelt told Stephenson he couldnāt just turn them over to England because heād be accused of being a warmonger and be impeached with all the isolationist sentiment in the country at that time.
āStephenson wondered if there was any other way to get the destroyers. Roosevelt replied he could do it if he could get the right publicity. He suggested that Stephenson talk to Harry Luce with his Time–Life business and plant the idea of the destroyers in his head. Harry would then have to convince the President that the destroyers should be turned over. And the President would agree so long as Harry backed the idea with publicity.
āSo Stephenson went to Harry and planted the idea. That was when Harry came to me with what he thought was his original idea about the destroyers.
Clare Booth Luce and the author in 1967 when he was still in college and working summers as a Pan Am passenger service agent, hence the uniform. Photo courtesy of author.
āAll those years, Harry privately credited himself with getting the President to lend the destroyers to England. In fact, Churchill had come up with the idea of the destroyers in the first place and Roosevelt had come up with the idea of Harry.ā
In part because of Harry Luceās help, Roosevelt got the LendāLease Act through Congress on 11 March 1941, the destroyers were lent to England, Roosevelt was called a warmonger but was not impeached, and England was saved from Hitler. And Clare Boothe Luce became a member of President Reaganās intelligence committee.
And I learned it all because I dropped off some coconut seedlings at my āAuntieā Clareās Kahala beach house.
Originally published in Naval History Magazine of the U.S. Naval Institute, December 2022
In the 1990s, I marched with ACT-UP and handed out condoms in the bars, bathhouses and back alleys of New York City. Here, with my second partner who I would kiss goodbye to on the subway platform as an act of defiance.
Results of the General Assembly’s vote on the resolution on the status of the Observer State of Palestine. U.N. Photo/Manuel ElĆas.
By adopting this resolution the General Assembly will upgrade the rights of the State of Palestine within the world body, but not the right to vote or put forward its candidature to such organs as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
New York, N.Y. The U.N. General Assembly convened again in New York on Friday for an emergency special session on the Gaza crisis and overwhelmingly passed a resolution which upgrades Palestineās rights at the world body as an Observer State, without offering full membership. It urged the Security Council to give āfavorable considerationā to Palestineās request.
What does the resolution mean?
Hereās a quick recap of what this means: by adopting this resolution the General Assembly will upgrade the rights of the State of Palestine within the world body, but not the right to vote or put forward its candidature to such organs as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Granting Palestinian membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council. At the same time, the Assembly determines that the State of Palestine is qualified for such status and recommends that the Security Council āreconsider the matter favourablyā.
None of the upgrades in status will take effect until the new session of the Assembly opens on 10 September.
Here are some of the changes in status that Palestine will have a right to later this year:
To be seated among Member States in alphabetical order
Make statements on behalf of a group
Submit proposals and amendments and introduce them
Co-sponsor proposals and amendments, including on behalf of a group
Propose items to be included in the provisional agenda of the regular or special sessions and the right to request the inclusion of supplementary or additional items in the agenda of regular or special sessions
The right of members of the delegation of the State of Palestine to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly
Full and effective participation in UN conferences and international conferences and meetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or, as appropriate, of other UN organs
6:04 PM
The meeting has adjourned for the day. Vice President Jƶrundur ValtĆ½sson announced that the session will reconvene on Monday, 13 May, at 10 AM New York time.
For a full summary of this and other major UN meetings, visit UN Meetings Coverage in English and French.
4:59 PM
Saudi Arabia: Re-establish the truth
Saudi Arabian Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil recalled General Assembly resolutions adopted over the years that reaffirmed the rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination.
UN Photo
āThe resolution presented today is fully in line with those resolutions. It seeks to implement the will of the international community and contribute to building true peace in the Middle East based on the two-State solution,ā he said.
āIt is high time for the international community to re-establish the truth because the world can no longer ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people that has lasted for decades,ā he added.
Ambassador Alwasil further noted Israel, the occupying power, has perpetrated āall sorts of crimesā against Palestinian people, scorning international law.
āIsrael is convinced that they are above these resolutions and that they enjoy a certain level of immunityā¦which explains their ongoing hostile and brutal policies,ā he said.
He highlighted the dire situation in Rafah, the last refuge for the Palestinian people which was also densely populated by those displaced from elsewhere and called he for a strong international position to put an end to the Israeli practices in Gaza.
Concluding his statement, the Ambassador expressed Saudi Arabiaās commitment to supporting the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and to build their own independent State within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with relevant resolutions.
4:43 PM
China: Resolution reflects the will of the international community
Ambassador FU Cong of China said that Palestine should have the same status as Israel and that Palestinian people should enjoy the same rights as Israeli people.
UN Photo
āIt is the common responsibility of the international community to support and advance the process of Palestinian independent Statehood, and provide strong support for the implementation of the two-State solution and a lasting peace in the Middle East,ā he said.
He further noted that on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the United States repeatedly used its veto āin an unjustified attemptā to obstruct the international communityās efforts to correct the āhistorical injustice long visited on Palestineā.
āIt is not commensurate with the role of a responsible major country,ā he said.
He also recalled the overwhelming support for the General Assembly resolution, adopted earlier in the day, reaffirming the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and recommending that the Security Council reconsider favourably its application to join the United Nations.
āChina welcomes this historic resolution, which reflects the will of the international community,ā Ambassador Fu said.
āWe believe that the special modalities adopted within the limits permitted by the UN Charter will enable the international community to listen more adequately to the voice of Palestine and help it to talk and negotiate with Israel on a more equal footing.ā
3:04 PM
Assembly President Francis resumed the meeting, with about 72 speakers left to take the floor. The spokesperson for the General Assembly announced earlier in the day that due to the number of remaining speakers, the meeting will likely continue on Monday.
1:07 PM
With the last speaker for the morning having delivered their statement, the President of the General Assembly adjourned the meeting. It will reconvene at 3 PM New York time.
1:00 PM
Switzerland: Ceasefire urgently needed
Swiss Ambassador Pascale Christine Baeriswyl explained that her countryās abstention from the vote was in line with its position at the Security Council last month.
UN Photo
āWe felt that in view of the great instability prevailing in the region, this stage was not conducive to improving the situation,ā she said.
āWithout opposing it, we believe it would be preferable to consider admitting Palestine as a full member of the United Nations at time when such a step would insert itself in the logic of emerging peace,ā she added, noting that such admission would have to follow the procedures enshrined in the UN Charter.
She also voiced Switzerlandās firm support to the two-State solution, stating that only a negotiated solution in which two States ā Israel and Palestine ā live side by side in peace and security can lead to lasting peace.
Ambassador Baeriswyl also voiced deep concern over the catastrophic situation of civilians in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, stating that it could worsen further in the event of a major Israeli military offensive in Rafah.
āSuch a prospect is unacceptable, and Switzerland reaffirms its opposition to such an operation,ā she said, emphasising the need to ensure protection of humanitarians and respect for international humanitarian and human rights laws.
In conclusion, she called for an immediate ceasefire.
āSafety of civilians must be ensured. All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally, and safe, rapid and unhindered access for humanitarian aid must be allowed via all crossing points.ā
12:10 PM
Firmly committed to two-State solution: UK
Barbara Woodward, Ambassador of the United Kingdom, said that her country remains āfirmly committedā to the two-State solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.
UN Photo
āWe are abstaining from this resolution because we believe the first step towards achieving this goal is resolving the immediate crisis in Gaza,ā she said, emphasising that the fastest way to end the conflict is āto secure a deal which gets the hostages out and allows for a pause in the fightingā.
āWe must then work together to turn that pause into a sustainable, permanent ceasefire.ā
She added that āsetting out the horizonā for a Palestinian State should be one of the vital conditions from moving from a pause in fighting to a sustainable ceasefire.
āRecognising a Palestinian State, including at the UN, should be part of that process,ā she said.
Ambassador Woodward also noted that the UK remains deeply concerned about the prospect of a major operation in Rafah and that it will not support such an act, unless there is a āvery clear planā on protecting civilians as well as their access to aid and medical care.
āWe have not seen that plan, so in these circumstances, we will not support a major operation in Rafah,ā she said.
11:58 AM
France: High time for political solution
French Ambassador Nicolas de RiviĆØre said his country voted in favour of the resolution, noting also the clarifications provided in the text on the right to vote and the right to be elected, which are the prerogatives of Member States alone.
UN Photo
āFrance recalls that the procedure for admitting a new Member State is defined by the UN Charter, and it must not be circumvented,ā he said.
He also noted that France is in favour of the admission of Palestine as a full member of the Organization, which is why it voted in favour at the Security Council last month.
Reiterating his countryās condemnation of the terrorist attacks by Hamas and other groups on 7 October, Ambassador de RiviĆØre stated Franceās demand for a ceasefire and release of all hostages.
āThe offensive that has started in Rafah risks causing numerous victims and displacing people at a time where nowhere can be deemed safe today in Gaza. There is further risk of disrupting delivery of aid,ā he said, expressing his countryās opposition to the military operation.
āAll parties must do everything they can to protect civilians and guarantee access for humanitarian aid. It is high time to mobilise for a political solution,ā he added.
11:46 AM
Statehood must be negotiated: US
Explaining the USās negative vote, Ambassador Robert Wood said that it did not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood.
UN Photo
āWe have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully. Instead, it is an acknowledgement that statehood will come from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties,ā he said.
āThere is no other path that guarantees Israelās security and future as a democratic Jewish State. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and dignity in a State of their own,ā he added.
He further expressed the US commitment to intensifying its engagement with Palestinians and the rest of the Middle East region to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian statehood and subsequent membership in the UN.
āThis resolution does not resolve the concerns about the Palestinian membership application raised in April in the Security Councilā¦and should the Security Council take up the Palestinian membership application as a result of this resolution, there will be a similar outcome,ā he said.
UN Photo/Manuel ElĆas
Results of the General Assembly’s vote on the resolution on the status of the Observer State of Palestine.
11:24 AM
Draft resolution passed overwhelmingly
The vote is in. It has passed overwhelmingly with 143 countries in favour, nine against and 25 abstaining.
11:22 AM
The Assembly just voted to pass the draft resolution as long as two thirds agree.
11:18 AM
Pakistan: Resolution vote will determine strong support
Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan said there will come a day when Israel will be held accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
The insults hurled today are āthe arrogance of the aggressorā reflecting the impunity of the occupier, he said, explaining his delegation’s position ahead of the vote on the draft resolution.
He also expressed hope that the international community will appropriately respond in that regard.
The Ambassador underscored that the resolutionās adoption will determine the widespread support for Palestine to be accorded full UN membership.
11:05 AM
Russia: A moral duty
The Assembly is now preparing to vote on the draft resolution.
Before that, some countries are exercising their right to make statements before the vote, starting with Russia’s Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.
UN Photo
He is criticising the US, saying that the resolution is complicated because it is attempting to advance Palestinian membership as far as possible without provoking another veto from Washington on full membership.
He said Palestine deserves nothing less than full membership at the UN.
āIt is the moral duty of everyone,” he said.
āOnly full-fledged membership will allow Palestine to stand alongside other members of the Organization and enjoy the rights that this status implies.ā
10:55 AM
Israel: Extra benefits for Palestine would appease terrorists
Israelās Ambassador Gilad Erdan said that after Hitlerās rise to power, the Nazis had sought to annihilate the Jewish people and all those they deemed sub-human, but the forces of good fought to return peace to the world, and the UN was founded to ensure that such tyranny never raised its head again.
UN Photo/Manuel ElĆas
āToday, you are doing the oppositeā¦welcoming a terror State into its ranks,ā he said.
āYou have opened up the United Nations to modern-day Naziism. It makes me sick.ā
The terrorist group Hamas controls Gaza and has taken over areas of the West Bank, he said, holding up a poster showing Hamasās leader, who he described as āa terrorist diplomat whose stated goal is Jewish genocideā.
āToday, you have a choice between weakness and fighting terror,ā he said, adding that the UN is appeasing āmurderous dictatorsā and destroying the UN Charter. āThis day will go down in infamy.ā
In closing, he held up a mini portable electric document shredder and inserted the cover of the UN Charter.
10:48 AM
Palestinian flag āflies high and proudā
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the observer State of Palestine, recounted the devastating impacts of the ongoing war in Gaza, with over 35,000 Palestinians killed, a further 80,000 injured and over two million displaced.
āNo words can capture what such loss and trauma signify for Palestinians, their families, their communities and for our nation as whole,ā he said.
He added that the Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the āvery edgeā of the Strip āto the very brink of lifeā with ābombs and bullets haunting themā.
Mr. Mansour highlighted that despite the attacks and destruction, the flag of Palestine āflies high and proudā in Palestine and across the globe, becoming a āsymbol raised by all those who believe in freedom and its just ruleā.
UN Photo/Manuel ElĆas
āLives cannot be restoredā
āIt is true that we will not disappear, but the lives lost cannot be restored,ā he stated.
The Permanent Observer said people have to make a decision: stand by the right of a nation to live in freedom and dignity on its ancestral land, standing with peace and recognising the rights of Palestinians or they can stand on the sidelines of history.
Mr. Mansour said after holding observer status for 50 years, āwe wish from all those who invoke the UN Charter to abide by the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination guaranteed by the Charter.ā
āA āyesā vote is a vote for Palestinian existence; it is not against any State, but it is against attempts to deprive us of our State,ā he added, stating that it would be an investment in peace and empowering the forces of peace.
10:29 AM
Security Council must heed global call for Palestinian statehood: UAE
On behalf of the Arab Group, Mohamed Issa Hamad Mohamed Abushahab, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the UN, introduced the draft resolution, saying it recommends that the Security Council reconsider Palestineās full UN membership application.
āToday marks a defining moment,ā he said.
UN Photo/Manuel ElĆas
The State of Palestine has demonstrated that it deserves full membership in the international community by acceding to international treaties, adhering to the UN Charter and meeting requirements of statehood. In addition, more than 140 countries now recognise Palestine as a State, he said.
Voting for the resolution amid the ongoing conflict would support the two-State solution to the crisis, he said, adding that the Security Council must respond to the will of the international community.
Vote to take place at 11:00 AM
After delivering his statement, the UAE Ambassador called on the Assembly to vote on the draft at 11:00 AM New York time.
Members agreed to do so and would afterwards resume the debate.
10:17 AM
Middle East on course for āfull-scale catastropheā, warns Francis
Mr. Francis said from the podium of the Assembly Hall that the Israel-Palestine crisis was the original crisis before the world body when it was founded in 1946.
Peace has remained elusive, and today has become an untenable situation that is deteriorating “at an alarming speed”, he told delegates.
UN Photo/Manuel ElĆas
This is ābringing countless innocent victims into its deadly fold and pushing the region further to the brink of full-scale catastropheā.
He urged the international community to not look away from the dire situation that has unfolded since the 7 October terror attacks and the ensuing Israeli devastation of Gaza.
End the scourge of war
āToday, let us remember the legacy from which we hail. We stand proudly upon the shoulders of those who, many decades ago, recognised their ultimate responsibility to forge a peace that will banish the scourge and terror of war,ā he urged.
āI therefore call upon the membership to purposely assess the situation before us, with nothing else in mind but a commitment to peace as our utmost ambition,ā he said.
He called upon the parties to the conflict, supported by nations with leverage, to urgently come to an agreement on a ceasefire to bring to an end to the suffering of countless people and secure the release of all hostages.
āWe must believe in the essential goodness of others,” he said, and āin the understanding that no problem of human relations is insolubleā, calling on them to help bring lasting peace, save lives and end the violence.
10:14 AM
Heās inviting the Assembly to recognise the fact that some members are in arrears with their mandatory contributions. If you don’t pay up, you lose your vote. Those are the rules. But, there are exceptions that have been made, including today.
10:12 AM
The President of the General Assembly Dennis Francis has just gavelled in the resumed session on the Gaza crisis.
09:55 AM
Aid operations have come to a standstill since the start of the militaryās ground operation in Rafah this week, with an estimated 100,000 Palestinians displaced once again in a highly fluid situation, according to humanitarians.
Smoke rises above Rafah as bombardments continue.
UNRWA
The Assembly is also expected to vote on a draft resolution, co-sponsored by a group of countries, concerning the status of the observer State of Palestine at the United Nations.
Read our explainer on Palestineās status at the UN here.
The draft resolution follows the veto cast by United States at the Security Council on 18 April, which blocked Palestineās admission as a full UN Member State. That draft resolution, submitted by non-permanent Council member Algeria, had received 12 votes in favour, with Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstaining.
Draft resolution on Palestine
The draft resolution expected to be put to a vote at the 193-member General Assembly, where no nations have veto power, would have the world body ārecommendā that the Security Council reconsider the matter of Palestineās membership favourably in line with Article 4 of the UN Charter concerning membership and the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1948.
A revised version of the draft resolution, as of Thursday evening in New York, also included an annex, which on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, lists significant changes to the State of Palestineās status at General Assembly meetings and conferences, including its order in the list of speakers and seating arrangements.
These would not just be of symbolic importance, but signal a shift in Palestineās diplomatic heft within the entire UN system. That said, General Assembly will not grant Palestinian membership in the UN, since this requires a recommendation from the Security Council.
No voting rights
The draft resolution also notes that as an observer State, Palestine does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to UN organs such as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council.
If adopted, the resolutionās provisions would only apply from the start of the 79th session of the General Assembly, which gets underway in mid-September 2024.
Draft resolutions do not represent the official position of the General Assembly until they are formally adopted.
Once the resolution is voted on, the whole issue of Palestineās status will return to the 15-member Security Council for further consideration, where any effort to attain full membership is likely to be blocked again by the United States, which holds veto power alongside the organās other permanent members ā China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom.
The majority of the General Assembly will have had their say, however, amid the continuing crisis.
10th Emergency Special Session
The meeting is the continuation of the 10th Emergency Special Session (ESS), which last convened on 12 December 2023, against the backdrop of a worsening crisis in Gaza.
At that meeting in a resolution passed overwhelmingly, the Assembly demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The Assembly also decided to adjourn the session temporarily and authorised the President of the General Assembly to resume its meeting upon request from Member States.
The 10th ESS convened for the first time in April 1997 following a request from Qatar. It followed a series of Security Council and General Assembly meetings regarding the Israeli decision to build a large housing project in an area of East Jerusalem.
The United Nations Security Council called Friday for an immediate independent investigation into mass graves allegedly containing hundreds of bodies near hospitals in Gaza. Members of the council expressed in a statement their “deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves, in and around the Nasser and Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were buried.”
New York, N.Y. They stressed the need for “accountability” for any violations of international law and urged that investigators be given “unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations.”
Israel has repeatedly struck hospitals in Gaza since the beginning of its military operation in the enclave, which was prompted by an October 7 attack on Israeli residential communities and a music festival by Hamas militants.
Israel has accused Hamas of using these medical facilities as command centers and in some instances as places where it held hostages abducted during Hamas’ October 7 attack.
The World Health Organization said in April that Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital had been reduced to an “empty shell,” with many bodies found in the area.
The Israeli army has said around 200 Palestinians were killed during its military operations there.
The U.N. rights office called last month for an independent investigation into reports of mass graves at Shifa and the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis.
Rafah exodus
The U.N. says about 110,000 people have fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah as of Friday, amid fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, along with Israeli bombardments that have increased in and around the city.
Meanwhile, cease-fire talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt are back to square one, Hamas said Friday, accusing Israel of rejecting a truce proposal written by the mediators.
Negotiators for Israel and Hamas left Cairo late Thursday, ending the latest round of indirect negotiations.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday called the development “deeply regrettable.” The U.S., Qatar and Egypt were mediating the talks.
“We are working hard to keep both sides engaged in continuing the discussion, if only virtually,” he said.
While a full-scale invasion of Rafah does not appear to be imminent, the more limited incursion launched earlier this week is continuing.
Speaking Friday at a press conference in Nairobi, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once again appealed to both Israel and the Hamas leadership to “demonstrate political courage and spare no effort to reach an agreement to stop the bloodshed and to free the hostages.”
He described the situation in Rafah as being “on a knife’s edge” as airstrikes continued throughout southern Gaza. More than 1 million Palestinians, half of whom are children, have crowded into the Rafah governorate for shelter.
At a news briefing earlier Friday, the head of the U.N. Gaza Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, Georgios Petropoulos, said the fighting surrounding Rafah is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Speaking remotely, Petropoulos said all crossings into the Rafah area in southern Gaza are closed, preventing movement of supplies, humanitarian staff or any civilians needing to evacuate. He said even if the Rafah crossing was open, the nearby fighting would make it too dangerous to use.
The OCHA chief said unless there is a solution quickly, humanitarian activities will come to a halt in Gaza “within the next two days.”
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, said Friday that 34,654 Palestinians have been killed and 77,908 injured since Israel’s military offensive on Gaza began in October after the Hamas terror attack on October 7.
The White House on Thursday once again warned Israel against expanding its limited operation into an all-out assault on Rafah, this time not only for long-held humanitarian concerns but for strategic calculations.
Kirby told reporters, “Our view is that Rafah operations, certainly any kind of major Rafah ground operation, would actually strengthen Hamas’ hands at the negotiating table, not Israel’s.”
He said that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader currently believed to be hiding in the network of tunnels in Gaza, would have “less incentive to want to come to the negotiating table” if there were massive new civilian casualties in Rafah.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained defiant, saying Israel is prepared to “stand alone” against its enemies. In a later interview on U.S. television, Netanyahu said he hoped that he and Biden could overcome their disagreements.
Netanyahu ordered Israeli forces to carry out a “limited operation” in eastern Rafah earlier this week after rejecting a proposed cease-fire deal that Hamas said it had agreed to. The deal would have provided a temporary pause in hostilities paired with the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Thursday that negotiators are still working to make changes to Hamas’ counterproposal, but finalizing the agreement’s text was an “incredibly difficult” process.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that his country’s military “will continue to fight Hamas until its destruction.”
In a report to the U.S. Congress on Friday, the State Department raised doubts about whether Israel has in all instances used U.S. military assistance in a manner consistent with U.S. and international law, but it stopped short of a final conclusion and said it was still investigating.
Washington, D.C. On balance, the report said Israeli assurances that it has been using the materiel appropriately were found to be “credible and reliable.” The determination allows the U.S. to continue providing materiel to Israel.
A senior State Department official said the U.S. had not currently assessed that the Israeli government was prohibiting or restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance, but it is an ongoing evaluation.
While Israel has the knowledge, experience and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations, the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether its military is using them effectively in all cases, the report said.
The politically sensitive report to Congress came as Israel was pressing ahead with its military operation in Rafah and amid growing concerns about restricted humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been the main portal for delivery of food and other humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
The U.S. is watching Israelās operation in Rafah with concern and urges Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing immediately, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday.
“There’s going to be more suffering, and that’s deeply concerning to us,” Kirby said.
In the past five days, more than 100,000 people have fled Rafah, where more than half the enclaveās population had sought refuge from the fighting, said a senior UNICEF humanitarian coordinator earlier Friday. Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday.
Israel’s military campaign has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 80,000, most of them civilians, according to Gazaās Health Ministry. The offensive was launched following a Hamas terror attack into Israel that killed 1,200 people.
National security memorandum
In February, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a national security memorandum, known as NSM-20, that required the State Department to assess and report to Congress on whether it found Israel’s assurances “credible and reliable” regarding the use of U.S. weapons in ensuring compliance with international and U.S. law.
Israel has provided written assurances to Washington that its use of weapons supplied by the U.S. in the Gaza war has not violated U.S. or international legal standards in its conduct of the war or its treatment of civilians, including the provision of adequate humanitarian assistance.
A Palestinian searches through rubble of his destroyed home hit by Israeli strikes in Towers Al-andaa – the northern Gaza Strip.Ā UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan
But analysts said thereās currently no government mechanism to monitor how American weapons are used.
āWhat we call end-use monitoring is an unfortunate misnomer. It’s basically just checking if a munition is in the hands of a designated end user, rather than how that end user is using this munition,ā said Ari Tolany, director of the Security Assistance Monitor program at the Center for International Policy.
āSo it’s for this reason that NSM-20 was very reliant on humanitarian and documentary organizations to submit credible allegations of abuses of U.S. weapons, because the U.S. government does not have statutory authority going to be regularly tracking that.ā
Others, including the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20, a private, volunteer group of policy experts, said the State Departmentās assessment that Israeli forces have in some instances used the U.S. weapons in a manner inconsistent with humanitarian law ācontinues to inch towards reality.ā
The task force recommended that Congress conduct strong oversight of arms transfers.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller explained that the NSM-20 report examines past events, with the department reviewing various aspects from the previous year up until the time of the report’s submission.
“It goes to questions of intent. It goes to questions of proportionality,” Miller told reporters Thursday.
U.S. opposes full-scale assault
The U.S. has been opposing a full-scale military assault by Israel in Rafah, situated in the southern part of Gaza. Such an operation would endanger the lives of 1.3 million civilians who evacuated from the northern and central areas of the territory to seek safety from Israelās military response to Hamas militantsā October 7 attack on Israel.
Biden has made clear the U.S. will not make available certain types of military assistance to Israel for its use in a military campaign in Rafah. The Biden administration recently paused bomb shipments to Israel, sending a political message to its ally.
Polished French restaurants in expansive art nouveau-style spaces.
New York, N.Y. As someone who dedicates a significant amount of time to humanitarian efforts in some of the world’s most impoverished regions, it’s a rare but cherished opportunity to enjoy the finer things in life. My partner, Bix Luce, and I recently indulged in such an experience at Boucherie in New York City. Known for his appreciation of fine cuisine, Bix was particularly excited about this culinary adventure, and our evenings exceeded all expectations.
La Grande Boucherie
With a dazzling dining gallery featuring 40′ glass ceilings, this one-of-a-kind brasserie is built in the tradition of the Belle Epoque, inspired by elegant and ornamental Art Nouveau style. The menu features French classics and timeless bistro favorites, with a focus on prime cuts and an in-house meat program.
The wait staff at Boucherie on Union Square deserves special mention for their exceptional service. From the moment we were seated, we felt genuinely cared for. Our waiter was attentive without being intrusive, offering insightful recommendations and ensuring that every aspect of our meal was perfect. Their knowledge of the menu and wine list was impressive, and their friendly demeanor added a personal touch to our dining experience.
Now, onto the highlight of the evening: the food. Boucherie’s menu is a celebration of classic French cuisine, and every dish we sampled was a testament to the chef’s skill and dedication to quality.
We started with the Escargots de Bourgogne, which were tender and flavorful, bathed in a rich garlic parsley butter. For our main courses, Bix opted for the Duck Ć l’Orange, while I chose the Filet Mignon au Poivre. The duck was perfectly cooked, with a crisp skin and succulent meat, complemented by a tangy orange sauce that balanced the dish beautifully. My filet mignon was equally impressive, cooked to a perfect medium-rare and accompanied by a creamy peppercorn sauce that added a delightful kick.
No meal at Boucherie would be complete without dessert. We shared the Tarte Tatin, a classic French apple tart, which was beautifully caramelized and served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect ending to a truly memorable meal.
Our experience at Boucherie was nothing short of spectacular. The combination of a beautiful location, elegant ambiance, considerate wait staff, and delicious food made for an unforgettable evening. It’s a reminder that while our work in humanitarian efforts is crucial, it’s also important to take time to enjoy life’s pleasures and create cherished memories with loved ones.
Endorsement: Why Rahul Gandhiās Leadership is Crucial in the Face of Modiās Authoritarianism
New York, N.Y. In the current political landscape of India, marked by the rise of Hindu-nationalism and authoritarian tendencies, Rahul Gandhi stands as a steadfast advocate for democracy, secularism, and unity. As a member of the illustrious Gandhi family, he carries forward a legacy of dedication to the nation, rooted in the principles of non-violence, inclusivity, and progressive values.
Rahul Gandhi’s leadership offers a stark contrast to the divisive and authoritarian approach of Narendra Modi. While Modi’s tenure has been characterized by centralization of power and polarizing rhetoric, Gandhi emphasizes dialogue, consensus-building, and the protection of minority rights. His commitment to preserving India’s democratic institutions and fostering an inclusive society is more crucial now than ever.
Drawing on the rich heritage India’s pastāthe non-violent philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi (no relationship) and Indira Gandhiās focus on social justiceāRahul Gandhi envisions an India where diversity is celebrated and every citizen is empowered. His approach to governance prioritizes the welfare of all Indians, transcending religious and regional divides to build a cohesive and resilient nation.
Rahul Gandhi’s vision for India is one of progress, fairness, and shared prosperity.
His dedication to upholding the democratic values enshrined in the Indian Constitution sets him apart as the leader India needs in these challenging times. By supporting Rahul Gandhi, we endorse a future where India thrives as a pluralistic, democratic, and inclusive society, true to the ideals upon which it was founded.
Compare and Contrast with Narendra Modi
Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi represent two vastly different visions for India:
Rahul Gandhi:
Democratic and Inclusive: Advocates for democratic values, secularism, and inclusivity, ensuring that all citizens, regardless of religion or background, are represented and respected.
Legacy of Service: Continues the Gandhi family tradition of service to the nation, emphasizing social justice, non-violence, and equitable development.
Consensus-Building: Focuses on dialogue and consensus in policymaking, promoting unity and cooperation among diverse groups.
Narendra Modi:
Authoritarian and Nationalist: Known for centralizing power and promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda, which has often marginalized minority communities.
Strongman Leadership: Emphasizes a strong, decisive leadership style, which critics argue undermines democratic institutions and freedoms.
Polarizing Rhetoric: Utilizes polarizing rhetoric to galvanize support, often deepening societal divides along religious and cultural lines.
By contrasting Gandhiās inclusive, democratic vision with Modiās authoritarian nationalism, it becomes clear why Rahul Gandhiās leadership is essential for safeguarding Indiaās future as a diverse and democratic nation. We add Raul Gandhi to the pantheon of progressive leaders around the world we support including Claudia Sheinbaumof Mexico, Lai “William” Ching-teĀ of Taiwan, Benny Gantz of israel, and Pita “Tim” Limjaroenrat of Thailand.
TAGS: Rahul Gandhi, India, Indian politics, Modi government, political leadership, secularism, democracy, Gandhi family, unity in diversity, progressive values, Indian future
Bodhgaya, Bihar. In a transformative pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, I found myself immersed in the sacred rites of the Kalachakra, beckoning seekers to spiritual awakening. Accompanied by the esteemed Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura, a beacon of guidance and philanthropy, our journey was dedicated to supporting the Manjushree Orphanage for Tibetan Children in Tawang, India, nestled near the Chinese frontier.
Bodhgaya‘s profound Buddhist heritage resonated tranquility and spiritual depth, drawing devotees worldwide to absorb its teachings and bask in its divinity. The unfolding of the Kalachakra revealed ancestral wisdom and spiritual consciousness, etching an indelible mark on my soul.
Our path led us to Dharamshala, the humble abode of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Encountering him at the Kalachakra was a serene experience, with silent conversations echoing in a peaceful realm. A subsequent private audience deepened our commitment to Dr. Kazuko’s noble work, a promise embraced by His Holiness.
The author with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura in Dharamshala, India.
Dr. Kazuko’s leadership in Orphans International Worldwide and the James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation, alongside my role in the Gaia Holistic Foundation, empowered our collaboration to uplift the Manjushree Orphanage, impacting the lives of Tibetan children in Tawang.
Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura, founder of Gaia Holistic Foundation, at the Tibetan Buddhist Orphanage at Manjushree. Photo: Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura.
Remembering Audiences with His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura in Bodhgaya, India.
Standing amidst the Himalayas near the Chinese border, pride swelled within me. The inscription honoring Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura and Orphans International on the orphanage’s main building cornerstone filled me with immense gratitude. The joyous welcome from the children of Manjushree Orphanage warmed our hearts.
The Dalai Lama‘s calm demeanor and profound peace left an enduring impression, transcending religious boundaries. Inspired by his wisdom and compassion, I am reminded of the importance of service and mentorship in shaping interactions and giving back to communities in need.
His Holiness‘s words, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them,” resonate deeply, encapsulating the essence of our journey. Through compassion and service, this profound odyssey fosters hope, purpose, and interconnectedness in a world in need.
In 1939, at the height of the Sino-Japanese War, a 19-year-old Harvard art history student set off for the remote region of Lijiang, China, in search of the mysterious ancient culture of the Naxi (Nah-shee).
New York, N.Y. Launched on his quest after receiving a gift of a 40-foot Naxi funeral scroll depicting a soulās journey through heaven and hell in a pictographic script, Quentin Roosevelt, grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, traveled for four months before he finally reached the mountainous region on the Tibetan border. Ā
There, with the help of the Reverend James Andrews, a family friend and Pentecostal missionary based in Lijiang, he spent ten days assembling what was to become one of the most complete collections of Naxi art outside of China. Ā
Crown. Northwestern Yunnan Province. 18th-early 20th century.Paint on cardboard. 4.3 x 7.3 in. Private Collection, Spain
This first-ever exhibition of the collection of Naxi art that the young Roosevelt gathered on his journey of discovery is on view at theĀ Rubin Museum of Art. Ā Quentin Rooseveltās China: Ancestral Realms of the Naxi, which will remain on view through September 19, 2011, unites the Roosevelt collection with that of legendary botanist-explorer Joseph Rock, the first Western explorer to extensively study the complex religious and linguistic traditions of the Naxi, and whose collection has also never been publicly displayed.
Quentin Roosevelt, grandson of Teddy Roosevelt, traveled for four months before he finally reached the mountainous region on the Tibetan border.
Guest-curated by Cindy Ho and anthropologist Christine Mathieu, along with the Rubin Museum of Artās former Chief Curator Martin Brauen, the exhibition includes 147 works showcasing the art central to the Naxi Dongba religion, a highly-structured tradition comprising approximately one thousand ceremonies and sub-ceremonies. Much of the art is adorned with a pictographic script that is unique to the Naxi, and possesses a freshness and spontaneity that suggests a focus on content rather than artistic labor.
Among the highlights are:
Ceremonial funeral scrolls, which are central to the Dongba religion as they act as bridges for souls to reach the realm of the gods.
One such scroll, forty feet long and a foot wide, leads a soul on the arduous journey through the gates of hell on to the realm of the gods in intricately painted scenes of the various realms of existence. Funeral scrolls are unique to the Naxi religion and are found nowhere else in China or Tibet.
Ritual cards were used in the many Dongba ceremonies. One set of cards that represents flying creatures was ritually hung above the altar. The ten brightly painted cards that each depict a wild bird, except one which shows a bat, were used in a ceremony called Sizhpiu to request longevity.
Ceremonial Manuscripts were written by Dongba priests in a pictographic script and contain the entire religionās corpus in about one thousand ceremonial books. The pictographs represent words or syllables, and script tended to be altered as priests took on their own styles and created their own schools.
Manuscript Page. Northwestern Yunnan Province; date unknown. 3.5 x 11 in. HarvardāYenching Library, Harvard University.
The exhibition will include a number of texts, including those used in divination ceremonies, funerals for those who died at a young age, and ceremonies for honoring spirits of the natural world, among others.
The dramatic story of Rooseveltās journey is brought to life in the exhibitionās Explore Area, which features digitized photographic documentation, written correspondence, and actual artifacts from his trip, including Rooseveltās camera and passport. This section provides a glimpse into Rooseveltās personal experiences on his journeyāwhat he saw and felt as he encountered the Naxi culture, religion, and art.
Residing in a remote mountainous region between Tibet and the south-western Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, the Naxi and especially their religious art are still relatively unknown. In fact, the thesis Roosevelt wrote as an undergraduate in 1941 remains the only academic thesis on Naxi art in Western and Chinese scholarship.
āIn an era before easy air travel and GPS, the young Roosevelt, inspired by the gift of an enigmatic scroll, embarked on an extraordinary journey to a remote region of war-torn China,ā said Martin Brauen. āHis expedition has brought exceptional artifacts to the United States and the Naxi culture to the attention of a larger public, a great and enduring contribution.ā
Ritual Cards. Northwestern Yunnan Province. 18th-early 20th century. Watercolor on hemp paper (?). 8.9 x 6 in. Collection of Dr. John M. Lundquist.
Guest curator Cindy Ho first researched and conceived of an exhibition on Naxi religious art in 1993. Ho gained access to Rooseveltās personal journals and collections through the generous support of his family, enabling her to track down all of the works he had assembled through his explorations. She traveled to Lijiang four times, retracing his footsteps and visiting villages he and Joseph Rock had written about.
In 1997, Ho was joined by ethnohistorian Christine Mathieu, who had just received her PhD on the reconstruction of the social, religious, and political history of the Naxi. Mathieu traveled to Yunnan twice to research the details of the Roosevelt collection in consultation with Naxi priests and scholars. In 2009, sixteen years after Ho first began working on a Naxi exhibition, she and Mathieu were approached by the Rubin Museum of Artās Chief Curator Martin Brauen about collaborating on a show about the Naxi culture.
Manuscript Cover. Northwestern Yunnan Province. 18th-early 20th century. Ink and paint on paper. 3.6 x 11 in. Private Collection, Spain.
āRooseveltās detailed study of the Naxi tradition, illustrated with his own diagrams and photographs, provides an invaluable window into the world of a little-known culture. His undergraduate work exhibits tremendous courage in its original interpretations and analyses,ā said Ho. āIn many ways, it has been a blessing that the exhibition took so many years to realize. The Rubin Museum is the perfect venue and has allowed us to expand on our original concept of exhibiting Rooseveltās collection.ā
The ancestors of the Naxi people, called Mosuo (Mo-so), settled in the Lijiang plain in Yunnan province, China in the tenth or eleventh century. Today, the Naxi are one of fifty-six national groups that form the Chinese nation. The Naxi have fascinated scholars and visitors from around the world with their complex and highly-structured religion, Dongba, and especially for the spontaneous and freeform pictographic script in which the religion is written.
Chinese troops fighting along the Salween River front, 1942.
Dongba artist-priests were recognized for their artistic ability and the most influential created their own styles and schools, adding to the complexity and mysteries of the tradition. Quentin Rooseveltās China examines and explores the artistry central to the Dongba religion.
āThe Rubinās curatorial and educational programs are focused on journeys of discovery. Discovering new cultures and ideas. Discovering rare and magnificent works of art. And personal discovery for our audiences as they encounter cultures and worlds for the first time,ā said Marcos Stafne, Head of Education and Visitor Experience. āThe museum strives to create a window into a diverse landscape of artistic expression and to capture the shared human drive to explain the complex world around us.ā
Quentin Rooseveltās China continues the museumās tradition of bringing to the fore previously little-known cultures and creating ground-breaking exhibitions. In 2007, the museum presented Bon: The Magic Word, the first major exhibition in the world dedicated to art of the Bon culture and belief system that predates Buddhism in Tibet.
In 2009 the museum was home to the first public display of Carl Gustav Jungās famous Red Book, in conjunction with the first ever facsimile and translation of the original work. The exhibition on the Naxi religion exemplifies the museumās interest in providing audiences with unprecedented experiences.
Cindy Ho reconstructed the Quentin Roosevelt collection and conceived the idea for an exhibition on the Naxi based on the collection in 1993. She identified the Naxi Dongba artifacts collected by Roosevelt, forgotten and dispersed in five different locations. Ho has lectured about the Roosevelt collection at Harvard University and New Yorkās China Institute. In 1997, she produced Trailing the Written Word: The Art of Writing Among Chinaās Ethnic Minorities and West of the East ā A Journey Through Macau, Asiaās First and Last Colony in 1999, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts and supported by FundaƧao Oriente. Ho lives in New York City.
Christine Mathieu is an ethnohistorian and anthropologist who has studied the histories and cultures of the Naxi and Mosuo people since 1989. She was one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of Naxi studies after the communist revolution of 1949. In 1997 she joined Cindy Ho to work on the Roosevelt exhibition. She has contributed chapters to several anthologies and authored two books on the Naxi and Mosuo, A History and Anthropological Study of the Ancient Kingdoms of the Sino-Tibetan Borderland and the internationally-acclaimed Leaving Mother Lake, with Yang Erche Namu. Mathieu lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Martin Brauen, former Chief Curator at the Rubin Museum of Art, studied Buddhism at Delhi University and anthropology and history of religions at Zurich University. Field studies have taken him to Ladakh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. Brauen joined the museum as Chief Curator in 2008 and served until July 1, 2011. He had previously been head of the Department of Tibet, Himalayas and the Far East at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. He is the author of numerous English language publications about Tibetan and Himalayan art and culture, including The Dalai Lamas, Dreamworld Tibet, and Deities of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as a number of publications in German.
The exhibition Quentin Rooseveltās China: Ancestral Realms of the Naxi is accompanied by a 200-page color-catalogue edited by Christine Mathieu and Cindy Ho that offers a comprehensive introduction to Naxi art, iconography, and religion and will be the first publication of its kind.
The contributions include introductions by Mathieu and Ho; two biographical pieces: the first on Quentin Rooseveltās journey to China by Chief Curator Martin Brauen, and the second on the life of Joseph Rock by Rockās late biographer Sylvia Sutton.
It also includes essays by scholars of the Naxi nationality on Naxi history, Dongba art, and women in the Dongba religion; a comparative review of Naxi and Mosuo religious traditions; an essay on Dongba language and the pictographic script; a comprehensive review of Dongba religion and its history by Mathieu; and an interview with Yang Fuquan, also a scholar of the Naxi nationality and vice-president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.
The Rubin Museum of Art holds one of the worldās most important collections of Himalayan art. Paintings, pictorial textiles, and sculpture are drawn from cultures that touch upon the arc of mountains that extends from Afghanistan in the northwest to Myanmar (Burma) in the southeast and includes Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and Bhutan.
The larger Himalayan cultural sphere, determined by significant cultural exchange over millennia, includes Iran, India, China, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. The museum explores these rich cultural legaciesālargely unfamiliar to Western viewersāfrom a variety of perspectives, offering multiple entry-points for understanding and enjoying the art of the Himalayas.
The name change is the latest effort by the BSA to brand itself as a more inclusive organization after years of declining membership. The group began allowing girls to join the Cub Scouts, its program for children ages 7 to 10 years old, in 2018.
Washington, D.C. The Boy Scouts of America announced Tuesday it will change its name to Scouting America as it struggles to recover from a sexual abuse scandal involving its adult scout leaders.
The organization said the change will take effect on Feb. 8, 2025, the 115th anniversary of its founding. The BSA describes itself as “the nationās foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training,” with its mission āto prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes.ā
The next year it opened its flagship Boy Scout program to older girls and changed its name to Scouts BSA.
BSA says more than 176,000 girls have joined Scouts BSA since the changes, with more than 6,000 obtaining the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.
The organization has also lifted its ban on openly gay youth and openly gay adult leaders over the last decade.
The BSA is under a bankruptcy reorganization plan that allows it to operate while spending $2.4 billion to compensate more than 82,000 men who sued the organization, claiming they were sexually abused during their scouting years.
Israeli military manoeuvres and shelling continued in and around eastern Rafah in southern Gaza on Wednesday morning asĀ UN humanitarians stressed that āno fuel or aidā is getting into the enclave.
Ā Thousands of people leave Rafah for central Gaza as hostilities escalate in and around the enclave’s southernmost town. U.N. News / Ziad Taleb
āWeāre not receiving any aid, the crossing area has ongoing military operations and is an active war zone,ā said Scott Anderson, from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,Ā UNRWA, in a post on X. āWe are hearing continued bombardmentsĀ in this area throughout the day. No fuel or aid has entered into the Gaza Strip and this is disastrous for the humanitarian response.ā
The development comes amid deepening international concerns including from the UN Secretary-General about a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, fuelled by the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing following a deadly rocket attack claimed by Hamas last weekend, and the seizure of Rafah crossing on Tuesday by Israeli forces, dashing ceasefire hopes.
Forced to evacuate
In addition to concerns over dwindling supplies of fuel, food and other basic necessities in Gaza, UN humanitarians reported that tens of thousands of people in Rafah have been uprooted once more by Israeli evacuation orders.
āEvery day we are displaced. Every hour we are displaced,” said Rafah resident Salah Rajab GazanĀ speaking toĀ U.N. NewsĀ inside the enclave. āWe expected that the deal would be reached and weād go [back] to Gaza City. But, what we expected did not happen, and the opposite happened.ā
Gaza āhas no futureā
In another interview with our Arabic service correspondent there, a former resident of Jabalia camp in northern Gaza described his exhaustion and loss after seven months of war which had claimed the lives of his children.
āI canāt find a mattress to sleep on,” he said. “I used to have a house and floors. I am tired of life because there is no life in Gaza. Gaza has no future.ā
Guterres concern
In a bid to secure an end to the war and the release of all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, UN Secretary-General AntĆ³nio Guterres issued a direct appeal to the Government of Israel late Tuesday āto stop any escalation and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talksā.
Posting on X late on Tuesday, the UN chief said that he was ādisturbed and distressedā by the Israeli Defense Forcesā renewed military activity in Rafah, just as he called on Hamas leaders and Israel āto show political courageā and secure a ceasefire.
āAfter more than 1,100 Israelis killed in the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October, after more than 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, havenāt we seen enough?ā Mr. Guterres asked.
To the brave students following in our noble tradition, I say, you are on the right side of history. Dare to struggle, dare to win!
By Marjorie Cohn Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Authorās Note: The following are remarks I delivered on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at the 55-year reunion of the Stanford University antiwar movement, in which I participated.Ā On April 3, 1969, an estimated 700 Stanford students voted to occupy the Applied Electronics Laboratory (AEL), where classified research on electronic warfare was being conducted at Stanford. That spawned the April Third Movement (A3M), which holds reunions every five to 10 years. The sit-in at AEL, supported by a majority of Stanford students, lasted nine days. Stanford moved the objectionable research off campus, but the A3M continued with sit-ins, teach-ins and confrontations with police in the Stanford Industrial Park.
This reunion comes at an auspicious time, with college campuses erupting all over the country in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Once again, 55 years later, Stanford students are rising up for peace and justice. They have established a āPeopleās Universityā encampment and they are demanding that Stanford: (1) explicitly condemn Israelās genocide and apartheid; (2) call for an immediate ceasefire, and for Israel and Egypt to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza; and (3) immediately divest from the consumer brands identified by the Palestinian BDS National Committee and all firms in Stanfordās investment portfolio that are complicit Israeli war crimes, apartheid and genocide.
At this moment in history, there are two related military occupations occurring simultaneously ā 5,675 miles apart. One is Israelās ongoing 57-year occupation of Palestinian territory, which is now taking the form of a full-fledged genocide that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The other is at Columbia University, where the administration has asked the New York Police Department to occupy the school until May 17. Both occupations are fueled by the Zionist power structure. Both have weaponized antisemitism to rationalize their brutality.
The students at Columbia are demanding that the university end its investments in companies and funds that are profiting from Israelās war against the Palestinians. They want financial transparency and amnesty for students and faculty involved in the demonstration. Most protesters throughout the country are demanding an immediate ceasefire and divestment from companies with interests in Israel. More than 2,300 people have been arrested or detained on U.S. college campuses.
Israel has damaged or destroyed every university in Gaza. But no university president has denounced Israelās genocide or supported the call for divestment.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement was launched in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil society organizations who described BDS as ānon-violent punitive measuresā to last until Israel fully complies with international law. That means Israel must (1) end its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantle its barrier wall; (2) recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and (3) respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their land as mandated by UN General Assembly Resolution 194.
Boycotts are the withdrawal of support for Israel, and Israeli and international companies that are violating Palestinian human rights, including Israeli academic, cultural and sporting institutions. Divestment occurs when universities, churches, banks, pension funds and local councils withdraw their investments from all Israeli and international companies complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. Sanctions campaigns pressure governments to stop military trade and free-trade agreements and urge them to expel Israel from international fora.
āA particularly important source of Palestinian hope is the growing impact of the Palestinian-led nonviolent BDS movement,ā according to Omar Barghouti, co-founder of BDS. It āaims at ending Israelās regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid and defending the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.ā
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the BDS movement an existential threat to Israel ā an absurd claim in light of Israelās arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The BDS movement is modeled largely on the boycott that helped end apartheid in South Africa. As confirmed by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli human rights organization BāTselem, Israel also maintains a system of apartheid. Israelās system is āan even more extreme form of the apartheidā than South Africaās was, the South African ambassador told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the recent hearing on the legality of the Israeli occupation.
The U.S. has a long, proud history of boycotts ā from the civil rights bus boycott to the United Farm Workers Unionās grape boycott. But at the behest of Zionists, anti-boycott legislation has been passed at the federal and state levels to prevent the American people from exercising their First Amendment right to boycott.
āThe genocide underway in Gaza is the result of decades of impunity and inaction. Ending Israelās impunity is a moral, political and legal imperative,ā Palestineās Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the ICJ. āSuccessive Israeli governments have given the Palestinian people only three options: displacement, subjugation or death; these are the choices, ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide.ā
āIsrael restricts every aspect of Palestinian life, from birth to death, resulting in manifest human rights violations and an overt system of repression and persecution,ā al-Maliki said. āThrough indiscriminate killing, summary execution, mass arbitrary arrest, torture, forced displacement, settler violence, movement restrictions and blockades, Israel subjects Palestinians to inhumane life conditions and untold human indignities, affecting the fate of every man, woman and child under its control.ā
The Israeli military is poised to compound its genocidal campaign by ethnically cleansing 1.4 million people sheltering in Rafah, who have nowhere to flee. The violence in Gaza did not start on October 7, 2023, with the killing of some 1,200 Israelis by Hamas. It is the continuation of Israelās brutal Nakba (Arabic for ācatastropheā) that began 75 years ago.
The Ambassador of Belize told the ICJ, āNo state reserves to itself the right to systematically violate the rights of a people to self-determination ā except Israel. No state seeks to justify the indefinite occupation of anotherās territory ā except Israel. No state commits annexation and apartheid with impunity, except ā it seems ā Israel.ā He said that āIsrael must not be allowed such blatant impunity.ā
Yet the U.S. government continues to fund Israelās occupation and genocide, and protect the Israeli regime from any accountability. The U.S. also provides Israel with diplomatic cover, consistently vetoing resolutions in the Security Council that call for an enduring ceasefire.
Israeli officials believe that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli government officials, including Netanyahu, for their crimes, including the obstruction of humanitarian aid to the people starving to death in Gaza. Hamas leaders also reportedly face arrest warrants. The Biden administration is taking steps to shield Israelis from ICC arrest warrants.
Meanwhile, Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, called for an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel. The amazing student movement that only promises to grow will hopefully be a game changer in stopping Israelās US-backed genocide.
To the brave students following in our noble tradition, I say, you are on the right side of history. Dare to struggle, dare to win!
Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, dean of the Peopleās Academy of International Law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She sits on the national advisory boards of Assange Defense and Veterans For Peace. A member of the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, she is the U.S. representative to the advisory council of the Association of American Jurists. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues.
This article originally appeared at Common Dreams; licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine’s state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Washington, D.C. Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators said Tuesday that they thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level officials.
Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine’s state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports, which indicate that the colonels were recruited prior to Russiaās full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of Russian special services,” Vasyl Maliuk, head of Ukraineās State Security Service, told his agency via Telegram.
The United States and most European Union countries skipped Putinās 6th term swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.
The inauguration comes more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said in 2022 that there had been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him. A Polish man was arrested in April on allegations of working with Russia’s GRU military intelligence on an alleged plot to assassinate the Ukrainian president.
Zelenskyy is leading Ukraineās effort to fight off Russia’s aggression as the war enters its third year.
As a frequent traveler, I’ve marveled at the seamless public transit systems in cities like Bangkok, Singapore, and Tokyo. So when the MTA unveiled its new OMNY contactless payment system, I was thrilled that New York was finally catching up with the times. The promise of simply tapping my phone or card to board seemed like a dream come true.
Little did I know, it would soon become a nightmare. #ShareIfYouCare #CrosstownBusNightmare #NeverTapAgain
New York, N.Y. One recent afternoon, I tapped my phone on the OMNY reader as I boarded a crosstown bus. The screen flashed “GO,” and I took my seat, feeling smug about embracing this modern convenience. However, my satisfaction was short-lived when a squad of MTA police officers boarded and began checking everyone’s receipts or phone statements.
Despite having followed the instructions and being granted entry, my bank statement showed no record of the payment. Protests fell on deaf ears as four of us were unceremoniously ordered off the bus, surrounded by burly officers who seemed more interested in flexing their authority than hearing our explanations.
The Humiliation and Consequences
The humiliation of being publicly escorted off the bus like a common criminal was bad enough, but the consequences didn’t end there. Not only was I issued a $100 fine that could potentially tarnish my record, but I was also left stranded, forced to reschedule a crucial doctor’s appointment ā a significant inconvenience.
Insult was added to injury when, hours later, the charge finally appeared on my statement, confirming that I had indeed paid the fare. But by then, the damage was done.
The Plot Thickens
I called my credit card company and they said that when I swipe my cell in the subway, it registers āMTA,ā but when I swiped on the bus, it registered as āNYC go nowā or something. And because I usually take the subway and not the bus, it was the first time that new charge hit my card. So they held up payment deeming it suspicious and didnāt approve it for 12 hours.
In short, the fault seems to lie with both MTA and my credit card company. I donāt really care whose fault it was, I was still kicked off the bus by uniformed police, missed my medical appointment, and was fined $100. This so-called seamless experience is full of wrinkles. It is simply not for me anymore.
A Broken System
The MTA’s heavy-handed approach and lack of understanding or flexibility in dealing with a clearly flawed system is appalling. Why should I, or any law-abiding citizen, cooperate with an agency that humiliates and penalizes us for their own technological shortcomings?
Until the OMNY system is refined and its enforcers are trained to handle such situations with more empathy and common sense, I’ll be steering clear of this so-called “convenience.” The MTA has lost my trust and my business. I, for one, will never tap again.
Photos: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
With Wynton Marsalis, world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and a leading advocate of American culture.
New York, N.Y. I was thrilled to be with Wynton Marsalis[Luce Index™ Score: 95] at the French Embassy in New York City the night in 2009 he received Franceās highest distinction, the insigniaĀ Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, an honor that was first awarded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Marsalis has been called the āPied Piperā of Jazz and the āDoctor of Swingā
Since his recording debut in 1982, he has released 127 jazz, classical and alternative recordings and won many awards. From the very beginning of his career, education has been vital to his mission. He has taught and mentored a voluminous number of musicians who have gone on to play, teach and advocate in their own brilliant ways. Through these relationships Marsalis has ensured that the legacy of jazz music will continue to propagate for generations to come.
Over the past four decades, Marsalis has rekindled and animated widespread international interest in jazz through performances, educational activities, books, curricula, and relentless advocacy on public platforms. Today, Marsalis continues the renaissance that he sparked in the early 1980s, attracting new generations of young talent to jazz and illuminating the mythic meanings of jazz fundamentals.
Wynton Marsalisā core beliefs are based on jazz fundamentals: freedom and individual creativity (improvisation), collective action and good manners (swing), as well as acceptance, gratitude and resilience (the blues). Marsalis believes that music has the power to elevate our quality of life and lead us to both higher and lower levels of consciousness. He maintains that music can elevate the quality of human engagement for individuals, social networks and cultural institutions throughout the world.
A Musical Upbringing
Wynton was born in New Orleans in 1961, to jazz pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis Jr. and Dolores Marsalis. He developed an avid desire to participate in the cultural community that surrounded him. He was curious about his father and his musician friends that would always come by the family home for a visit, or to shed tunes. Hearing how passionately Ellis and his musician friends talked about the Civil Rights Act, and key political figures of the time such as Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Lyndon B. Johnson led Wynton to first start to understand the intrinsic link between music and the human experience that it represents.
Early Years in New York
After receiving his diploma from Benjamin D. Franklin High School in New Orleans, Marsalis left home to continue studying classical music at The Juilliard School in New York City. He enrolled in the fall of 1979.
While a student at Juilliard, Marsalis quickly began to take note of the flourishing jazz scene that was transpiring in New York. He soon started playing jazz gigs around the city; it didnāt take long for the grapevine to begin to buzz as people wondered who this young cat from New Orleans was.
Columbia Records signed Marsalis to his first recording contract in 1980ā just a year after he had left home.
Since his boyhood encounter with the young man on the New Orleans streetcar, Marsalis has maintained his love of classical music. His deep interest in the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and others has driven him to pursue classical music as well as jazz throughout his career.
Television, Radio & Literary
Throughout his career, Marsalis has taken on an inexhaustible advocatory role for jazz music. He has often been referred to as The Conscience of Jazz. Through the mediums of television, radio, journalism and literature, he has communicated his message to the world about the imperative force of jazz to elevate our livelihood and culture.
Marsalis had two documentaries made on his music and perspective early in his career: Catching a Snake in 1985 and Playing Through the Changes in 1992. Though many years have passed since these two pieces aired, Marsalisā overall message about jazz music and its importance as a classic American art form have remained consistent to date.
In the fall of 1995, Wynton launched two major broadcast events. That October on PBS, he premiered Marsalis on Music, an educational television series on jazz and classical music which he wrote and hosted. Writers distinguished Marsalis on Musicwith comparisons to Leonard Bernsteinās celebrated Young Peopleās Concerts of the 1950s and 60s. That same month, NPR aired the first of Marsalisā 26-week series entitled Making the Music. These entertaining and insightful radio shows were the first full exposition of jazz music in American broadcast history. Wyntonās radio and television seriesā were awarded the most prestigious distinction in broadcast journalism, the George Foster Peabody Award. The Spirit of New Orleans, Marsalisā poetic tribute to the New Orleans Saintsā first Super Bowl victory (Super Bowl XLIV) has also received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Feature (2011).
Marsalis has been interviewed for countless documentaries and educational specials on jazz music, as well as classical. One of his most notable moments in this vein was his collaboration with Ken Burns in 2001 on his documentary miniseries Jazz. Other examples include his contributions to A World Without Beethoven? (2020), TCMās Jazz in Film series (2020), and his interviews with LIFE on Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong (2015). Marsalis is consistently called upon to speak about the legacies of other jazz legends. He has given interviews on Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and so many others.
Select Awards and Accolades
Marsalisā creativity has been celebrated throughout the world. He has won the Netherlandsā Edison Award and the Grand Prix Du Disque of France. The Mayor of Vitoria, Spain, awarded him with the cityās Gold Medal ā its most coveted distinction.
In 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan proclaimed Wynton Marsalis an international ambassador of goodwill for the Unites States by appointing him a UN Messenger of Peace. Then, in November 2005, Wynton Marsalis was bestowed The National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States Government. Marsalis was honored with The National Humanities Medal by President Barak Obama in 2015, in recognition of his work to deepen the nationās understanding of the humanities and broaden American citizensā engagement with history, literature, languages and philosophy.
In the five decades preceding Marsalisā 1997 Pulitzer Prize win for Blood on the Fields, the Pulitzer Prize jury had refused to recognize jazz musicians and their improvisational music, reserving the distinction solely for classical composers. In the years following Marsalisā award, the Pulitzer Prize for Music has been awarded posthumously to Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.
TIME magazine selected Wynton as one of Americaās most promising leaders under age 40 in 1995; in 1996, TIME celebrated Marsalis again as one of Americaās 25 most influential people. In 2011, the Marsalis family, including Wynton, became the first to receive a group NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment of the Arts. Honorary degrees have been conferred upon Marsalis by 41 of Americaās leading academic institutions including Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Princeton, Yale and Tulane University in his hometown of New Orleans.
In the winter of 2021, Marsalis was welcomed into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The same year, he was winner of the Dr. Maria Montessori Ambassador Award given by the American Montessori Society, Brooklyn for Peaceās PathMakers to Peace Award, the winner of the American Prairie ReserveāsĀ Ken Burns American Heritage PrizeĀ and was presented theĀ Key to the City of New YorkĀ by Bill DeBlasio. In 2022, Marsalis was presented withĀ SFJAZZās Lifetime Achievement Award. Marsalisā albumĀ Black Codes (From the Underground)Ā was inducted into theĀ National Recording RegistryĀ at the Library of Congress in the spring of 2023.
“The Hijras taught me that being trans and Indian is enduring. The Hijras can teach all trans people that their experiences are enduring. The Hijras can teach society that trans people are enduring.” – Alex Parmar-Yee
New York, N.Y. — In a recent article published by Queer A.F. and titled “The Hijras taught me that being Trans and Indian is enduring,” Alex Parmar-Yee.
Parmar-Yee writes, “āPeople like me arenāt transgender, right?ā This is a question that I and many trans folks have asked ourselves as we have begun exploring our identities.
“However, āpeople like meā can mean different things for each individual. It might refer to an individualās experience of dysphoria, their hobbies, or their friends.
“For me it was my ethnicity. Although born in London, Iām a second generation immigrant of Chinese and Indian heritage, and growing up in the ā90s and ā00s meant that the representation of transgender people and LGBTQIA+ people in general that I saw tended to be controversial. Moreover, those people were usually white.
“As I began to scratch the surface of trans-ness online in my 20s, I saw the trans community indeed appeared to be mostly white folks.
“As I got deeper I discovered more about Black trans pioneers, but I didnāt encounter many brown, South Asian trans siblings. Perhaps, I thought, being born and raised British had allowed me to assimilate with identities which arenāt for people like me?”
She continues, “As my initial gender exploration and experimentation ended and I became more confident as a non-binary trans feminine individual, I sought more information on trans people throughout history. I fell down an internet research rabbit hole, and ended up on a page which surprised me…
“The Hijras taught me that being trans and Indian is enduring. The Hijras can teach all trans people that their experiences are enduring. The Hijras can teach society that trans people are enduring,” she concluded.
🏳️⚧️
This article was one part of a series of official content produced for the first-ever Trans+ History Week. During the week Queer A.F. invested in, mentored and published over 30 Trans+ creatives from the U.K., U.S., and Europe.
