wish list: tolerance respect compassion. peace.

"another world is not only possible,

she is on her way. on a quiet day,

i can hear her breathing."

[arundhati roy]

the recent protests in egypt should serve as a wakeup call to the rest of the world. they have shown us what true beauty in human compassion really is: "egyptian christians have frequently formed a kind of human wall to prevent egyptian muslims at prayer from being molested."

another act of compassion did arise, when egyptian muslims made good on their promise and attended the coptic christmas mass in early january, in an action meant to be a 'human shield' to protect christians against radical islamists.

just this evening, i came across the satellite sentinel project. shortly before the egyptian protests, the eyes of the world were on sudan, during the unanimous vote to become two independent countries. now the world will be watching. george clooney and john prendergast have a plan for accountability, to remind the leaders of northern + southern sudan that they are being watched by the 'antigenocide paparazzi'.

the sentinel project is building an early warning tracking system to identify communities at risk of genocide. harvard university, the un, and the enough project [along with private funds george clooney has raised] have hired private satellites to monitor troop movements. clooney wants the sudanese people to enjoy the level of celebrity attention he usually gets. if you know your actions are going to be observed, you tend to behave differently than when you operate covertly.

the whole world is watching. perhaps another world is on her way. and with her, peace.