Dear Madame President,
As someone who, during 16 years in the United States Congress, has celebrated the US-South Korean friendship and who maintains deep ties with the Korean community in the United States, I respectfully write to express my concern about the policies of your government, which are anti-democratic and which discredit the sacrifices that American soldiers made so many years ago in Korea's defense.
The arrest and imprisonment of an elected member of your Congress, Lee Seok-ki, on charges of sedition, will be noted by members of the United States Congress who are painfully aware of the personal and political risks which can attend challenging an administration whose politics greatly differ. Your attempt to outlaw an opposing political party, your use of your National...
Politics
3,258
Dear World Leaders,
We write to sound a warning. A warning that 2015 will be a year of huge opportunity, but also of huge risk.
What is at stake here could not be greater, for it is not less than the future of our human family and the world upon which we all depend. Two global processes – the replacement of the current UN development framework and the conclusion of a new climate treaty – culminate within months of each other at the end of 2015. They require us to decide which future we want for people and planet. For there are two dramatically different futures we could live in by 2030.
Down one hopeful path we have built on progress, and learned how to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger, as well as put an end to preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths. In so doing, we will...
2,965
Old friend,
My writings have not
Ceased and it
Seems you've
Come to
Your ultimate
Tenure goal,
To alienate
A people.
Time and time
Again we have
Watched you fail
To create an
Other
Dividing the lines
Of progress.
Presenting
Discrimination under the
Guise of religious
Freedom and
Expression is
Commendably skillful
But who is to say
That my religion,
My moral compass
Permits me to
Continue to
Grace you as a
Citizen?
Such has come to
Show that Indiana
Mustn't want to
Serve me any longer.
Your work has truly
Made me ashamed of
My Indiana citizenship,
Origins and pride
Tainted by an
Unwillingness to enter
Mutual understanding
An unaddressed
Bigotry that you...
3,481
Dear Mr Putin,
I have yet to meet with you personally in a face to face conversation, but here I give you the benefit of the doubt as one of the remaining sane leaders on Planet Earth.
We live in perilous times, and it is imperative at this juncture that WE, as Human Beings who are ALL members of the Human Family, recognize the nature of OUR discontent, and exactly where – and who that discontent stems from.
If a problem is to be solved, it is necessary to first understand WHAT or WHOM is causing the problem, and what necessary steps need to be taken to resolve the issue at hand.
The purpose of this letter is first to promote goodwill and solidarity between the good people of Russia and the good people of the usa, and issue a call for solidarity between the good people of Russia and...
4,919
Dear President Jonathan:
I want to congratulate you for surviving your checkered tenure as the President of our dear country, Nigeria. Six years are truly arduously long for anyone to steer the ship, which ferries the largest concentration of Black people on planet earth across the nebulous ocean of ethnic jingoism, unscrupulous agitations, melancholic spurting for inclusion or belligerent cry of marginalization, and, most importantly, bellicose vituperation for probity, accountability, and simple sanity in the polity under your executive watch.
I have had to look up all these fancy words in the dictionary to understand what newspapers and other commentators have been saying about you in the last four years that I have been seriously reading all the major newspapers of Nigeria on a...
3,351
Dear Mr President,
America is a fascinating society. It is a nation of nations: the world in miniature. Every continent, culture and civilisation is represented within your ranks.
In our unipolar world, non-alignment is no more the policy option of Third World countries who feared the collision or collusion of the two competing superpowers. Rather, it should be what characterises American foreign policy. Because if the US sides with one belligerent player in a regional conflict, not only does it unnecessarily alienate and antagonise all the other countries in the area but it also offends and ghettoises a domestic component of its own national and social fabric. A recent poll showed that 66 per cent of the American public wanted the US to be a neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian...
2,822
Dear Melanie
Congratulations on your appointment as permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Your career across government gives you the best possible experience on which to draw, and you have the best wishes of the local government sector as you come into the job.
As you enter the department, I’m sure you are aware that there is no magic bullet or easy solution to the many challenges that it faces. After five years of deficit reduction and austerity many local government functions have been cut to such a degree that DCLG often seems to have little to do other than observe the reduction in activity. This means that now more than ever we need realism, transparency and pragmatism to be the watchwords of the department.
Councils are facing more...
3,363
Dear Friends,
This has been a difficult and sombre week in Canada. We were all shocked by the terrible and violent events in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and in our nation’s capital, and we are united in mourning the deaths of two Canadian soldiers. We will not forget them and join with the Muslim community in sending our heartfelt condolences to their family and friends.
As we struggle to comprehend these terrible events, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We are all Canadian, and we have all been profoundly touched by this tragedy.
In the days and weeks to come, whether talking about protecting civilians in the Middle East, fighting racism and Islamophobia or ensuring rights are respected here at home, New Democrats can be counted on to stand up for human...
3,021
Dear Party Leaders,
Whatever the outcome of today’s referendum about the future governance of Scotland, there seems to be a strong consensus that nothing will ever quite be the same again. People in Scotland have been granted their right to be heard and have used the opportunity to imagine all kinds of positive futures.
Alongside the official Yes and No campaigns, we have seen the growth of genuine grassroots movements, giving everyone a voice. Across the nation, people previously disengaged from formal politics have been passionately debating what matters to them – all because they have a decision to make in which their individual vote really will influence the outcome.
For many of these people, voting had previously become merely an exercise in democracy rather than true...
3,134
Dear Prime Minister:
Many Americans love Canada and the specific benefits that have come to our country from our northern neighbor's many achievements (see Canada Firsts by Nader, Conacher and Milleron). Unfortunately, your latest proposed legislation -- the new anti-terrorism act -- is being described by leading Canadian civil liberties scholars as hazardous to Canadian democracy.
A central criticism was ably summarized in a February 2015 Globe and Mail editorial titled "Parliament Must Reject Harper's Secret Policeman Bill," to wit:
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper never tires of telling Canadians that we are at war with the Islamic State. Under the cloud of fear produced by his repeated hyperbole about the scope and nature of the threat, he now wants to turn our domestic spy agency...
20,804