2004-1-11
This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Development
Report.
A new group says its goal is to
recapture kindness within societies. The group is called the
Alliance for the New Humanity. Organizers say societies put too much
value on competition, wealth and individualism. They say one of the
main problems in the world today is a lack of concern for one
another. The organizers say they seek to build bridges between those
who want peace and those who defend human rights.
The group includes activists, two Nobel Peace Prize winners and,
among others, Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. The alliance held
its first conference in December in the United States territory of
Puerto Rico. Former Vice President Al Gore was the guest speaker. He
discussed environmental issues. The Associated Press reported that
about two-hundred people attended the conference.
One of the founding members of the alliance is former Costa Rican
president Oscar Arias. He won the nineteen-eighty-seven Nobel Peace
Prize. Another is Betty Williams, a winner of the peace prize in
nineteen-seventy-six for her work in Northern Ireland.
Also a founding member is Deepak Chopra. The Indian-born writer
is known for his books about health and spirituality. Mister Chopra
says development is not simply the creation of wealth. He says it
also has to do with improvement of the human spirit.
Mister Chopra says he believes that people today recognize the
need for more hopeful thinking, more caring societies and less
influential media. The Alliance for the New Humanity say its purpose
is to unite these people. It says the goal is to influence national
and international policy toward a more caring humanity.
The alliance has a name for individuals and groups that work
toward these goals. It calls them "peace cells." A person who
provides shelter to a woman and her children to escape violence is a
peace cell. A group that works to feed the homeless is a peace cell.
Alliance organizers say their aim is to connect all these people and
groups using the Internet.
The Alliance for the New Humanity says it plans to raise money to
support humanitarian work. The group says it also hopes to influence
the media to report less on the world's problems and more on answers
to those problems.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill
Moss. This is Bob Doughty.