Channel will publish articles that advance new ideas and approaches for education transformation
This article was first published on Diplomatic Courier
Salzburg Global Seminar and Diplomatic Courier are pleased to launch this new channel focused on Education Transformation as part of our evolving partnership and to support the Salzburg Global Center for Education Transformation. The channel will publish articles on a regular basis that advance new ideas, advocacy, and approaches for education transformation in line with the mission of the Salzburg Center.
We are choosing to launch the channel now because we want it to support and help develop ideas that come out of the UN’S Transforming Education Summit taking place just before the UN General Assembly later this month. The UN summit is being convened in response to a global crisis in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality, and relevance. This crisis has been become slowly more visible for many years but has really been highlighted by our collective experiences of multiple and convergent societal, climate, and health crises over the past few years.
These crises have also acted as a catalyst for many long overdue conversations about the power, purpose, and practice of education. As the world starts to move beyond these crises and societies start to address their multiple causes it feels as if there is an exciting window of opportunity for education systems around the world to go through processes of profound transformation. This is long overdue. The lives that young people today will lead are fundamentally different from the lives of young people a hundred years ago, yet the majority of education systems around the world have barely changed. Of course, there have been incremental reforms as subjects and technology have been updated but the fundamentals of pedagogical approaches, the structure of the school day, assessment, and where power resides in the system have not changed.
Many systems are now beginning to grapple with the kind of transformation that they need to initiate in order to provide outcomes that will support all students to thrive in the century ahead. We very much hope that this channel will be a place where new ideas from around the world can be shared and discussed for a global audience.
The channel is a shared project between Diplomatic Courier and Salzburg Global Seminar and is part of the Salzburg Global Center for Education Transformation, which focuses on influencing systems transformation efforts by developing new approaches to critical and emerging issues in education, including social, emotional and creative skills, psycho-social support and wellbeing, ecological education, and education leadership.
Salzburg Global Seminar is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1947 to challenge current and future leaders to shape a better world. Our programs seek transformative impact on education, culture, health, and peace & justice through global exchange and collaborative leadership.
If you are interested in writing for the channel, then please contact Dominic Regester dregester@salzburgglobal.org or Shane Szarkowski shane@diplomaticourier.org.
Muhong Lee and Hanna Suh attended two-week program at Schloss Leopoldskron
Muhong Lee and Hanna Suh from South Korea were among the 46 participants who joined the 16th program, After the Pandemic: How Can Media Advance Equitable and Just Civic Futures? of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change as part of the Korea Foundation Fellowship.
Muhong recently completed his dissertation as part of his master’s degree in international economics and governance at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. He works as a political research writer at German Bundestag for a member of parliament for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
Hanna Suh is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in communication at Seoul National University (SNU). She is a researcher at the SNU FactCheck Center, lending support to different projects to provide fact-checking training to journalists. She is also involved in peace building activities as an advisory committee member of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, which focuses on the reconciliation between North and South Korea.
Speaking to Salzburg Global, Muhong and Hanna reflected on their experiences at the Academy.
“People gathered here at Schloss Leopoldskron after the Second World War for the first session of the Salzburg Global Seminar in 1947. Because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we need more international communication in the same spirit as 1947. The Academy was a timely event to gather and reimagine how media can advance equitable and just civic futures,” said Hanna.
“Governments across the globe struggled with political communication during the pandemic, and we all underestimated the importance of media. Many people focused on political communication with other stakeholders, but not much on citizens. The program taught me how important it is to simplify information, so it's understandable for everyone.
“My takeaway from the Academy would be gaining valuable insights into how media works through different lectures and seminars, exchanging ideas with people from all over the world, understanding the issues different countries are facing and their approach to tackle them,” said Muhong.
Both Fellows expressed their gratitude to the Korea Foundation for giving them the opportunity to be part of such an insightful and transformative program where they met a diverse group of people. Their hope is that more South Koreans will join the Academy in the future.
Salzburg Global Seminar last week wrapped up its Redefining Cultural Diplomacy series. Attendees reconsidered the roles of artists, governments, and tech in cultural diplomacy, coming to some moving conclusions for the future, writes DC Editor and event rapporteur Adam Ratzlaff.
What is cultural diplomacy, who are (and should be) the agents of cultural diplomacy, and how can we maximize impacts for a better future? Over 60 experts are convening at Salzburg Global Seminar's latest program to consider these questions, writes DC Editor and session rapporteur Adam Ratzlaff.
Fellows of Salzburg Global programs on healthier and more equitable communities pen blog series for The BMJ
In 2017 and 2018, Salzburg Global Seminar in partnership with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation convened a series of three programs exploring the conditions which can create and protect health and wellbeing beyond a traditional focus on health care. The three sessions covered hospitals, urban planning, and childhood obesity.
In the intervening months, several Salzburg Global Fellows of those programs have come together to write a series of articles for The BMJ, all of which are available for free. The articles in this collection reflect the wide ranging discussions by program participants from around the world, identifying challenges and opportunities for building healthier communities.
John Lotherington, Salzburg Global Program Director said: "We’re delighted to see this collection of articles arising from our sessions in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Building Healthy Communities: the Role of Hospitals and Building Healthy, Equitable Communities: The Role of Inclusive Urban Development and Investment*. They are great contributions to our joint goal of how better to build a culture of health, bringing together stakeholders from diverse sectors and from every continent.
"We should pay tribute to all the authors, who carried the energy and ideas forward from the session, and despite onerous 'day jobs' continued these collaborations to produce such fascinating articles which, through BMJ Online, will influence thinking around the world."
GDP and the economics of despair
We should switch to a measure that promotes health, not consumption, says Harry Burns
Hospitals could be anchors for an economy focused on wellbeing
Paul Simpson asks how can healthcare systems help build healthy societies beyond providing high quality medical care
Can New Zealand’s wellbeing budget help address social inequalities?
Plans for a wellbeing budget have been met with both scepticism and hope, reports Anna Matheson
Lowering hospital walls to achieve health equity
Hospitals have a pivotal role in reducing health inequities for indigenous people and other marginalised groups, argue Anna Matheson and colleagues
How healthcare can help heal communities and the planet
The gains from healthcare are often undermined by the sector’s contributions to social inequity and environmental damage, but it doesn’t have to be that way argue Damon Francis and colleagues
Strengthening the links between planning and health in England
Gemma McKinnon and colleagues argue that multidisciplinary action in planning and health will contribute to more equitable communities and improved health and wellbeing
How can urban planning contribute to building health equity?
Sharon Roerty tells us more about what can be done to make cities a more healthy place to live.
Confronting power and privilege for inclusive, equitable, and healthy communities
Ascala Sisk and colleagues set out a call to interrogate power and analyse privilege to create and sustain healthy communities.
Connected green spaces in cities pay real dividends
Nick Chapman writes about the benefits of urban green spaces.
*A third set of articles connected with the RWJF-funded program on Healthy Children, Healthy Weight is forthcoming.
This collection is a series of articles based on discussions from Salzburg Global Seminar programs on building healthy communities. Open access fees were funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The BMJ peer reviewed, edited, and made the decision to publish the article with no involvement from the foundation.
Newspaper speaks with president and chief executive officer of Salzburg Global Seminar Stephen Salyer, vice president and chief program officer Clare Shine, and Salzburg Global Fellow Phloeun Prim
The New York Times has published an in-depth profile of Salzburg Global Seminar in a piece titled, "This Salzburg Palace Is More than a Scene in 'The Sound of Music.'
Ginnane Brownell, a London-based freelancer writer and journalist, authored the piece, which highlights the work and history of the organization and Schloss Leopoldskron. She spoke with president and chief executive officer of Salzburg Global Seminar Stephen Salyer, vice president and chief program officer Clare Shine, and Salzburg Global Fellow Phloeun Prim.
Shine told Brownell, “When you are looking at a world that is increasingly complex, volatile, unequal, you want to be able to go deep into that complexity... We work in interdisciplinary and inter-regional way[s], and by committing ourselves to say we are going to put a stake in the ground for five or 10 years around this particular area of transformation. That gives us the flexibility to bring disrupters, establishment figures, different types of partners together on an organically-evolving basis and that feeds right through in how we think about impact.”
In the feature, Brownwell also highlights the forthcoming program of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change—The Cost of Disbelief: Fracturing Societies and the Erosion of Trust. Between July 16 and August 2, 75 emerging media makers, journalists and storytellers will gather at Salzburg Global Seminar to explore the relationship between media environments, truths, and the fracturing of our societies.
Read the article in full here.
A version of this article also appeared in print on July 12, 2019, in the International New York Times.
Former Director of the FBI expresses concern that Moscow will continue to meddle in next presidential election, calls Trump’s behavior towards Russia “stunning”
James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, told journalists in Austria this weekend that he thinks Moscow will interfere in the next US presidential elections in 2020 and that President Trump’s attitude toward the hostile country is “stunning.”
Speaking to journalists from Der Standard, the Salzburger Nachrichten, the Wiener Zeitung and the Suddeutsche Zeitung while at Salzburg Global Seminar’s annual June Board Weekend, Comey said:
“I think Moscow and the Russians will interfere in some respect. This is a big challenge for the American security community to figure out what they’re doing and try to devise a way to stop it.
“A central challenge for the FBI and the rest of the US national security community is that the President doesn’t acknowledge that the 2016 attack happened. So if he’s the commander-in-chief, how do you effectively block the next attack if your boss won’t acknowledge the last one?”
Appointed to the post in 2013 by then-president Barack Obama, the former director of the FBI was controversially fired by President Trump in May 2017. The grounds for his dismissal formed part of the investigation led by his predecessor at the Bureau and Special Counsel to the Department of Justice, Robert Mueller.
Comey called the evidence presented in the Mueller Report “compelling” and “striking” adding that it “confirmed beyond all possible doubt that the Russians attacked the American election.”
Russia attacked the 2016 US presidential elections through three main channels, Comey explained: by sowing discord and exploiting existing divisions on issues such as race, gun control and abortion through provocative postings on social media platforms; hacking and releasing sensitive emails; and “noisily” hacking voter registration databases.
It was this third prong of the attack that Comey found most concerning.
“We had a hard time figuring out the purpose of that,” the former investigator explained, as many of the targeted databases were not in closely-run states, which would have been the expected targets of election interference.
“I actually concluded that they were doing it so that we would see it, so that we would say something about it. Because remember – their first goal was to undermine confidence in the integrity of the election.”
US security services and social media platforms are working to thwart and reduce any future Russian attacks, said Comey, agreeing that the likes of Facebook and Twitter had learned a lesson from 2016 and adding that there was “goodness” in the fact that American voters were now more aware of possible Russian manipulation of social media.
Despite concerns that Russia will attack future elections through similar tactics, Comey remained confident that there would not be manipulation of the vote itself thanks to the “complicated and local” manner in which the US conducts its elections.
“I call it a hairball. It’s a beautiful hairball because it’s very hard for someone from St. Petersburg to get down to the local level and change my vote in the gymnasium where I just slipped on a paper card.”
Given all the evidence that Russia is intent on undermining US democracy, the former head of the FBI expressed serious concerns about Trump’s Russia policy:
“I was very much struck by the president standing next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, and siding with Vladimir Putin against his own intelligence community with respect to their judgments about interference in the election. That was stunning to me…
“He frequently says he tougher on Russia than any president. That, like a lot of the things that Mr. Trump, says is not true.”
Comey was in Salzburg to deliver the third Salzburg Lecture at Salzburg Global Seminar’s annual June Board of Directors Weekend.
Following this year’s theme of Living Dangerously: How Can We Get Real About Risk?, the former FBI director spoke on “Judgment Calls: Risks, Rules and Leadership,” calling on leaders to “get help, lift your eyes, and remember your grandchildren” when taking tough decisions.
Former Director of the FBI calls out US president for his lies and fears young Americans will emulate him
James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, called US President Donald J. Trump a “chronic liar” who does not “embody American values” in an interview with Austrian journalists.
Speaking to journalists from Der Standard, the Salzburger Nachrichten, the Wiener Zeitung and the Suddeutsche Zeitung while at Salzburg Global Seminar’s annual June Board Weekend, Comey said:
“It’s bad for our country if the rest of the world thinks you’re led by a leader who’s a chronic liar,” adding that the 45th president has “fundamentally changed” the executive office.
Comey worked under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who promoted him to head the FBI in 2013, before he was controversially dismissed from his post by Donald J. Trump in May 2017. Comey praised the 43rd and 44th US presidents, saying they “both did something that leaders have to do: listen well.” In contrast, he called the current president “the worst listener as a leader I’ve ever seen” adding that he does not “embody American values.”
“The flip side of this,” Comey added, “is American parents of the last two and a half years have had more conversations at dinner with their children about truth than ever before…
“People copy their leaders. So children watch the president of United States see moral equivalence in Charlottesville, treat and speak about women like they’re pieces of meat, and lie constantly. There’s a danger that will shape these young people. And what’s good about America is most people are responding by saying to their kids: ‘You see what you just saw on television? No, no, no! That’s not the way you were raised to act. You will treat women with respect. You will understand that racial prejudice is a real thing in the United States and has to be addressed. And you will tell the truth.’
“In a way I’m sure he never anticipated, Donald Trump has been a spur in some ways to our culture. I wouldn’t argue that we needed him. But, there is good that is coming from the way Donald Trump has acted.”
Having published the book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership in 2018, Comey now plans to spend his time until 2020 elections teaching and speaking about ethical leadership, especially with younger Americans.
As part of this personal mission to speak out against unethical leadership, Comey was in Salzburg to deliver the third Salzburg Lecture at Salzburg Global Seminar’s annual June Board of Directors Weekend.
Following this year’s theme of “Living Dangerously: How Can We Get Real About Risk?”, the former FBI director spoke on “Judgment Calls: Risks, Rules and Leadership,” calling on leaders to “get help, lift your eyes, and remember your grandchildren” when taking tough decisions.
“I want to be able to tell [my grandchildren] that when we were led by an unethical President I lent my voice.”
Asked about his own political ambitions and a possible run for office, Comey emphatically replied: “That’s an easy no.”
Former Director of the FBI calls the practice of ignoring the US President dysfunctional but comforting
James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, dismissed conspiracy theories that there was an anti-Trump cabal at the FBI but told journalists in Austria that there is currently a “two-layer” system currently in operation in the US.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV, live from the Max Reinhardt Office of Schloss Leopoldskron, Comey said: “The notion that we were part of some anti-Trump cabal is a lie and it’s sort of a dumb lie… We were investigating people associated with the Trump campaign before the election and we didn’t tell anybody.”
Later, when addressing journalists from Der Standard, the Salzburger Nachrichten, the Wiener Zeitung and the Suddeutsche Zeitung while at Salzburg Global Seminar’s annual June Board Weekend, the former head of the FBI added:
“There’s a strange situation in American government right now. There’s two layers. There’s the president at the top saying all kinds of things. And then there’s a lot of people at the next level who are ignoring him and are prepared to protect the American people. That’s dysfunctional – but it’s comforting.”
The former FBI head said the current two-layer system is “not healthy” or “sustainable” but urged those concerned with the erratic behavior of Donald Trump, such as European bureaucrats, diplomats and security agents, to continue working with their American counterparts despite the “noise” coming from the president’s Twitter account.
“I don’t believe in keeping secrets from the commander in chief… If leaders are picking and choosing what they share with the president because of their concerns about what he’ll do with the information that’s not healthy…
“They all have to decide for themselves. But they should decide [to] interact with the United States knowing what the country is like… Understanding that the relationships at a level below [the president] – between ambassadors, between defense officials, uniformed military – those are lasting and stable and should be a source of comfort. And so don’t let the noise distract too much…
“But console yourself knowing that in the long run, you know America. You know what we’re like. And that should give you comfort.”
After his dismissal from the FBI – where he expected to be for “six more years” – Comey has spent his time writing and lecturing about ethical leadership. He published his book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership in 2018 and spoke at Salzburg Global Seminar on “Risks, Rules and Leadership” at the annual June Board of Directors Weekend. He will be taking up teaching posts in the fall.
In his Salzburg Global Lecture, he said leaders need to “get help, lift your eyes, and remember your grandchildren” when taking tough decisions. The 58-year-old recently became a grandfather for the first time earlier this year.
“I want to be able to tell [my grandchildren] that when we were led by an unethical President I lent my voice.”
Former Director of the FBI speaks to Bloomberg TV live from Salzburg Global Seminar
US President Donald J. Trump should be removed from office by voters not impeachment, James Comey, former Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigations told Bloomberg TV on Friday, June 21.
Comey was speaking to Bloomberg’s Matt Miller live from Salzburg Global Seminar ahead of delivering the annual Salzburg Global Lecture at the June Board Weekend.
Appointed to the post in 2013 by then-president Barack Obama, the former director of the FBI was controversially fired by President Trump in May 2017. The grounds for his dismissal formed part of the investigation led by his predecessor at the Bureau and Special Counsel to the Justice Department, Robert Mueller. Comey dismissed conspiracy theories that there was an anti-Trump cabal at the FBI as a “dumb lie.”
The Mueller Report, published in March 2019, is now being touted by some of the president’s political opponents as grounds for impeachment. However, despite praising Mueller’s report as “tremendous work” that could lead to the president’s impeachment, Comey told Bloomberg that he hoped he would not be impeached.
“That would let the American people off the hook,” he said, explaining that he believed US voters should remove Trump from office, not US Congress. Trump’s removal from office, he warned, could be seen as a coup by his supporters and instead, American politicians and citizens alike should keep their faith in the democratic process. While he declined to endorse any individual, Comey did say he believed that there were candidates in the 2020 presidential race who had the “character” necessary to be a good leader and president.
While he repeated previously-stated criticisms of President Trump, Comey did appear to be in agreement with the president on matters of national security, calling both Iran and Chinese tech firm Huawei threats.
As the Trump Administration wages a trade war with China, Comey said that actions against Huawei were rooted in “a fact-based intelligence concern” and agreed that there would be intelligence risks “once their technology is embedded in a 5G network.”
Less than 24 hours after President Trump called off military action in retaliation for Iran’s downing of an American drone, the former FBI director acknowledged that the Islamic Republic constitutes a “top” and “constant” threat to security.
Comey was at Salzburg Global Seminar to deliver the third Salzburg Lecture at the annual June Board of Directors Weekend.
Following this year’s theme of Living Dangerously: How Can We Get Real About Risk?, the former FBI director spoke on “Risks, Rules and Leadership,” drawing on insights shared in his recently published book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership, in which he discusses ethics, leadership, and his experience in government.
Other speakers at this year’s June Board of Directors Weekend included retired US Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy; leading African academic, Nelson Torto; former CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, Kathryn Fuller; and former executive chairman of the Malaysian Securities Commission, Ranjit Singh. All will address the increasing risks being faced in their fields and how we can mitigate such risk.
Bangladeshi photographer and activist highlighted in the magazine’s annual end-of-year piece
TIME magazine has profiled Salzburg Global Fellow Shahidul Alam as part of its “Person of the Year” feature.
The Bangladeshi photographer and activist is a part of TIME magazine’s spotlight on “the Guardians” and the “War on Truth” – this year’s winner.
The Person of the Year feature profiles a person, group, idea, or object that has done the most to influence the events of the year.
The magazine honored several journalists, including Jamal Khashoggi, Capital Gazette staffers, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. It also highlighted numerous examples of journalists who have been attacked in the course of their work, including Alam.
Karl Vick, writing for TIME, said, “In 2018, journalists took note of what people said, and of what people did. When those two things differed, they took note of that too. The year brought no great change in what they do or how they do it. What changed was how much it matters.”
Earlier this year, Alam was jailed for more than 100 days in response to statements he made during student-led mass protests in Dhaka.
Speaking with TIME, Alam said, “The world over, journalism is under threat. Whether you’re a teacher, a dancer, a painter, or a journalist, each one of us needs to be constantly fighting.”
In August, Salzburg Global expressed its concern for the welfare of Alam and helped spread information about his situation with the wider Fellowship. Last month, Alam was granted bail by Bangladesh’s high court. He had previously applied for bail four times.
Alam still faces up to 14 years in prison on charges of spreading propaganda against the government under the Bangladeshi’s International Communication and Technology Act (ICT), according to TIME.
Despite this possibility, Alam remains undaunted and plans to cover elections in Bangladesh this month.
Alam has previously attended two Salzburg Global programs. In 2013, he joined Salzburg Global as a faculty member for Power in Whose Palm? The Digital Democratization of Photography. In 2016, meanwhile, he was a participant at Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability. At both programs, he shared his photography and activism with Fellows from around the world.
Senior partner at FAA Investments featured by Directors & Boards journal
Salzburg Global Board Member Chris Lee has been included in Directors & Boards' "Directors to Watch" list.
Lee, who also sits on the advisory committee for the Salzburg Global Forum on Corporate Governance, was selected as someone exemplifying "the very best of board service" as well as someone bringing racial and ethnic diversity to their boardrooms.
Directors & Boards is a quarterly journal that covers issues surrounding leadership and corporate governance.
Lee is a senior partner at FAA Investments, a private investment group focusing on real estate and early-stage companies. He is co-founder and managing partner at Star Magnolia Capital (Hong Kong) Limited, an alternative investment firm conducting in-depth research on hedge funds and private equity managers.
In addition to his role as a board member for Salzburg Global, Lee also serves as an independent board member with Matthew Asia Funds and The Asian Masters Fund (ASX: AUF).
Lee has attended the past two sessions of the Salzburg Global Forum on Corporate Governance. In 2017, he also attended the Salzburg Global session, Global Challenges, Regional Responses: How Can We Avoid Fragmentation in the Financial System?
Speaking to Directors & Boards, Lee says, "Directors must bring both a global strategic perspective and a focus on near-term priorities. An important role for boards is to guide a company’s strategic direction in our fast-expanding global marketplace. To improve corporate governance, directors must evaluate international best practices, such as the UK Stewardship Code, on long-term strategy incorporating all stakeholders’ values, not just shareholders! Strong directors are courageous leaders who look ahead for ways to benefit both the peoples of our planet and company's profit growth."
Read the article in full here.
Salyer reflects on his career, Salzburg Global's objectives and his thoughts on the future
Salzburg Global President Stephen Salyer has expressed his desire for Salzburg Global to identify young innovators "who are going to set the pace for the future" and provide them with support.
Salyer outlined this goal during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo and the Korea JoongAng Daily in central Seoul earlier this month.
During the interview, Salyer also reflected on his history with Salzburg Global, the types of sessions which take place, and how the organization differs from a think-tank.
Salyer also explores the synergy between artificial intelligence, technology and the fourth industrial revolution, and culture and arts when imagining the future.
Want to read more?
To read the interview in full on Korea JoongAng Daily's website, please click here.
The interview took place while Salyer visited the area as part of a business trip. During this trip, Salyer also met up with six former Salzburg Global interns who were selected after applying for the Korea Foundation Salzburg Global Seminar Internship Program.
Salzburg Global President speaks to Salzburger Nachrichten for in-depth interview
The original version of this article first appeared in the Salzburger Nachrichten on Saturday, July 22, 2017. The interviewer was Karin Zauner. To view the original version, which is in German, please click here.
Bankers, Nobel Prize winners, or students - they all are thinking beyond the horizon at Salzburg Global Seminar. 30,000 people have attended so far.
When the group chairman of HSBC, the biggest bank in Europe, comes to Salzburg and turns off his cell phone to discuss fundamental questions about the finance sector with colleagues of all ages – for instance, if banks will still exist in five years - and doesn’t take a single penny for his contributions, he is certainly at Salzburg Global Seminar. Salzburg Global is one of the most important international educational institutions in Austria. 30,000 people from 170 countries have attended programs over the past 70 years. The NGO is still fairly unknown in Salzburg, and their President, Stephen L. Salyer, wants to change that.
SN: Salzburg Global Seminar was founded in post-war Europe (from the US) as a “Marshall Plan of the Mind.” Looking at the current difficult relationships between the US and Europe, do institutions like yours gain more significance again?
Salyer: The initial idea after the Second World War was to create a secure place here in Salzburg, where people of different backgrounds and opinions could come together to speak openly and work out ideas. Today’s world is divided. When we start Salzburg Global’s next 70 years, we feel there is a place for this institution and opportunities for exerting influence are strong. This is not about Europe and the US only; this is about finding solutions to problems of global concern. Apparently, there has been a big divide between the US and Europe since Donald Trump became President. We do not have solutions for this at the moment. But we have a constitution, independent courts, and elections. We are not supposed to forget that.
SN: Do those currently complicated relationships between Europe and the US have an influence on your programs?
Salyer: The demand for our programs has never been higher. 83 students are attending our Media Academy at the moment, the biggest group we ever had. We had more than 400 applicants. The topic is: how can we overcome extremism and populism? The students talk about the US, but also about their home countries – and also about Austria. We see a clear interest in exchanging ideas with other smart, thoughtful people. In our programs, we always try to respond to the current situation. It is not about merely talking and having a good time, we always look at what the participants take home, what actions they can implement afterward. This means we really focus on what participants are doing after they leave the Seminar.
SN: Although Salzburg Global has famous Fellows such as Hillary Clinton and Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow, even the locals of Salzburg know little about what you are doing. Do you mind this?
Salyer: We have been trying to open the doors of Schloss Leopoldskron for years. Since 2014 we have also been running a hotel business. Next year will be the 100th anniversary of Max Reinhardt’s purchase of the Schloss. There are talks with the Salzburg Festival about using the common history of the place. Salzburg is also one of our 19 hub-cities for young cultural innovators and therefore aligned with cities such as Athens, Tokyo, and Adelaide. Will there be cultural festivals in the future? Those are the questions we raise. Of course, we need to promote our activities all the time. Next week we will celebrate our anniversary, and that will be an occasion to tell our story. We seriously want locals to understand what we are doing. We need to become better at that.
SN: Talking about the Seminar, what are you specifically proud of?
Salyer: I am proud that we are still here after the financial crisis. Every employee voluntarily accepted a pay cut in 2009. We invested two million USD into the renovation of the hotel. We are a private institution and have a small foundation after all. Every member of the board must make their contribution every year – also financially. In all our programs we talk about how to finance the future, also the future of medicine, for example. The young people need to find this out [and] develop their capabilities. They do not usually learn that during their education in journalism. That is part of what we are doing here. We ask tough questions and want young people to think outside the box, to look beyond.
SN: How do you push your participants into more uncomfortable zones?
Salyer: By having participants from different societies, [they] give examples and ideas that help you to question your own standpoint. One of our participants was heading the library in a small African town. The head of the British Library - one of the most important libraries in the world - told me after her presentation that he felt embarrassed by his own banal whining. The African colleague reminded him of the reasons why he wanted to become a librarian in the first place, and what he and his team could change to have a better future. We do not have the answers and do not force them on our participants. We create a situation where people listen to others and think: Wow, if they do it somewhere else, what can we do here?
SN: This situation can be created everywhere. How can you motivate leaders worldwide to come to Salzburg?
Salyer: Even nowadays people are afraid to raise their voice. Journalists fear for their life; they seek a secure space for exchange. This is valued here by the powerful as well as the young. We recently held our finance session in Salzburg, which is our stellar program. Among others, we hosted the chief regulator of the Australian finance industry and a governor of the American Federal Reserve Bank. When those people are here, they turn off their cell phones, they discuss if banks still exist in five years. I asked the group chairman of HSBC why he comes here. He said, first of all, because of the quality of the participants, at all stages of development; secondly, because of the high percentage of female participants, which is important in the finance industry; and finally, because this is the only meeting in the world where nobody wants personal advice from him.
SN: The setting of Schloss Leopoldskron is breath-taking. Does this mean anything for your work?
Salyer: It is difficult to set apart the beautiful and inspiring environment from work. Everyone who comes here is touched by it. Attending a program here makes people think they are part of something, something that is bigger than themselves.
Stephen L. Salyer was president of Public Radio International. Under his leadership, the network's affiliate structure expanded from 200 to more than 800 stations. He also co-founded a nationwide web service company for public television and radio stations in the US. Salyer started his career as speech writer for the philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller III.
Dates and Facts: the intellectual support program has changed
Three Harvard students, Clemens Heller, Richard Campbell, and Scott Elledge laid the foundation for Salzburg Global as an intellectual support program (“Marshall Plan of the Mind”) in the summer of 1947. Heller, a native of Austria, who fled to the US in 1938, wanted to locate the Seminar in his home country.
Through family ties, Heller was able to secure Schloss Leopoldskron as a location. After three summer sessions, it became an institution: “Massachusetts non-profit - The Salzburg Seminar in American Studies.” During the Cold War, the Seminar played an important role as a bridge-builder. Ever since it has expanded widely both in geographical and thematic terms.
Salzburg Global Seminar makes a total revenue of about 10 million Euro. The operating revenue consists of individual contributions (16%), foundation grants (28%), hotel income (35%), and tuition (7%). In 70 years, no faculty member has been paid for their contributions. Salzburg Seminar bought Schloss Leopoldskron in 1959.
Salzburg Media Academy Director features in New York Times discussing "fake news" and how to combat it
In an attempt to decipher whether people are becoming less able to assess credibility in media reports, the New York Times has spoken to the Program Director of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, Paul Mihailidis about the creation and spread of fake news.
Mihailidis, who recently launched a new graduate program, Civic Media: Art and Practice, at Emerson College in Boston, spoke to the New York Times as part of a Q&A.
Interviewed by Sydney Ember, Mihailidis was asked about the proliferation of fake news during the most recent US presidential election, mistakes made interpreting the news, and how people like himself are trying to combat these false assumptions.
Mihailidis also discusses the lack of trust in the media and how he’s attempting to teach students to interpret the news in a “polarized media age.”
Regarding this latter point, Mihailidis told the New York Times: “Instead of just critiquing the voice, we’re trying to help people think about their voice in the community, the agency they have and what means they take to participate. Media literacy needs to be about connectivity, about engagement — and it needs to be intentionally civic.”
Mihailidis is set to publish a paper this spring exploring the spread of fake news, arguing media literacy as it is currently imagined may not solve the problem. To read Mihailidis’ interview in full, please click here.
It’s not the first time this year Mihailidis has been spoken to by a media outlet concerning media literacy. In February, Mihailidis spoke to Slate along with Salzburg Global Fellow Renee Hobbs to discuss the role of media literacy in uniting a divided America.
The Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, which Mihailidis directs, is an annual three-week summer program at Schloss Leopoldskron which gathers more than 60 students and a dozen faculty to explore media’s role in social and global change.
This year’s Academy, Voices Against Extremism: Media Responses to Global Populism, will take place between July 16 and August 5.
Students will learn and understand the key concepts of civic media, media literacy, global media, and civic imagination.
Salzburg Global Fellow features in The Washington Post after daughter’s letter to Gap goes viral
Salzburg Global Fellow and director of CityHealth, Beth Jacob has revealed how Gap responded to her daughter’s request for a better range of styles and choices for girls.
Jacob’s daughter Alice made headlines last month after her letter to the retailer went viral, featuring on the Huffington Post and Today online.
In her letter, Alice, aged five, explained she liked t-shirts which featured Superman, Batman, and race cars, but Gap’s shirts for girls were either pink or featured princesses on them.
Alice asked Gap to “make some cool girls’ shirts” or make a “no boys or girls” section - only a kids’ section.
In her role at CityHealth, Alice's mother, Jacob uses policy as a lever to improve people's health and wellbeing. She has spent more than 20 years advocating for smart policies on behalf of children and families.
Her work led to her taking part in The Child in the City: Health, Parks, and Play, which was held at Schloss Leopoldskron earlier this year.
As part of a new editorial for The Washington Post, Jacob revealed how Gap's chief executive and brand president Jeff Kirwan responded to her daughter's request.
Responding to Alice’s letter in an email, Kirwan agreed GapKids could do a “better job offering even more choices that appeal to everyone.”
Kirwan said GapKids always tried to provide a broad range of styles for girls and boys, including a selection of girls’ tees with dinosaurs and superheroes, but designers would now “work on even more fun stuff” he thought Alice would like.
In addition to this response, Kirwan provided Alice with a few of his favorite t-shirts from Gap’s latest collection, asking her for her thoughts.
Jacob wrote back to Kirwan along with her daughter. In her response, she said:
“Since Alice wrote you, we’ve seen word travel from Tucson to Beirut; more than I could count say they agree. We’re thrilled you, too, said she’s right and you want to do better. For kids like Alice everywhere, that means a lot.
So what next? Honestly, we’ve all got our work cut out for us. Because I haven’t told Alice the two other reactions to her letter. First, people ask what’s the big deal; why don’t we just buy ‘boys’ clothes? Or why don’t I learn to sew — and better yet teach Alice — so we can make whatever we want?
We grown-ups know what happens whenever someone small challenges the status quo. Even well-intentioned people at the top feel the pressure: Why take a risk if the majority isn’t speaking out?
Better not to rock the boat, right? Better to let the outliers change themselves to fit in. In 2017 girls can wear ‘boys’ clothes; you can even buy your son a polo shirt in pink. Why the fuss?
Why indeed? Because the fact is kids don’t have long before they learn the world’s limits — or their own. In the meantime, Mr. Kirwan, you and I have a chance to teach them a different lesson. Mine might come during a carpool conversation. Yours could come from clothes that say girls don’t have to be just one thing.
But we both have an opportunity on our hands: to help kids learn why being different is an act of bravery; why asking for something unfair to change is worthwhile.
Because sometimes people — even powerful ones — listen. Meanwhile, everyone sees they, too, have a fair shot at being heard.
It is not just about T-shirts, is it? You and I, we’ve got a chance to show kids everywhere that all big changes start small.
Sincerely yours,
Beth Jacob”
To read Jacob’s article in full and find out how Kirwan responded to Jacob’s latest message, click here.
Beth Jacob is the project director of CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation in the US that "provides leaders with a package of evidence-based policy solutions that will help millions of people live longer, better lives in vibrant, prosperous communities."
She was a participant in the Salzburg Global program The Child in the City: Health, Parks and Play, which is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum, a series held in partnership with the IUCN. The session was supported by the Huffington Foundation, Parks Canada and Korea National Park and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/574
Salzburg Global Fellow and co-founder of the organization Justice for Sisters, speaks to star2.com on helping marginalized communities in Malaysia
Salzburg Global Fellow and Justice for Sisters co-founder Thilaga Sulathireh has suggested more people in Malaysia are speaking out against the discrimination members of the LGBTQ community face.
Sulathireh, 30, speaking to star2.com, said a lot of cisgender and heterosexual people were now speaking out against discrimination, which highlighted a “positive step in our activism.”
She said: “There are limitations in Malaysia when it comes to talking about gender identity. Yet, people want to talk about it now. This is really encouraging and something we cherish.
“Take the recent murder of Sameera (in Kuantan recently) as an example… there was a huge public outcry not just within the trans community but from the general public.”
Sulathireh’s activism began at a very young age. As a teenager, she participated as a volunteer at the Malaysian Aids Council (MAC) where she worked with HIV support groups, an experience that made her aware of gender-related concerns.
In 2010, she founded the organization Justice for Sisters. Through this association, Sulathireh and her team seek to provide a bigger visibility of the transgender community, pursuing social integration.
She has taken part in several Salzburg Global events. In 2013 she participated in the inaugural session of the LGBT Forum, Human Rights: New Challenges, Next Steps. This first meeting resulted in The Salzburg Statement of the Global LGBT Forum, a document summarizing the thoughts shared by the 60 participants on how to move forward on LGBT rights.
Sulathireh also took part in the fourth session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum convened in Thailand in 2016. The latter aimed to boost the dialogue on LGBT rights in Asia and touched on different topics such as family-related issues and new forms of storytelling with a particular focus on transgender-Asian perspectives.
Sexual relations between people of the same sex are still banned in Malaysia. Certain acts such as wearing clothes from the “opposite” sex are also criminalized. These type of laws mean members of the LGTBQ community remain vulnerable and unprotected against violence and discrimination.
Sulathireh told star2.com raising public awareness on issues faced by the LGBTQ community is an integral part of her work.
Speaking to the lifestyle portal, she said, “Trans people face a series of discrimination at work… right from the interview process to their experiences at the workplace. There are not many employment opportunities for them which forces them to do sex work, and this leads to them being discriminated yet again.
“With more public awareness, hopefully there will be more job opportunities for them.”
To read Sulathireh’s interview in full, please click here.
Dr. Jonathan Koffman responds to a Salzburg Question addressing one of the key issues affecting palliative care
This article first appeared on the EAPC blog, which will continue to publish more posts on the Salzburg Question series. It coincided with the launch of the second Salzburg Question: Is dying well as important as living well?
In response to the Salzburg Questions, a new series encouraging a global discussion about the key issues affecting palliative care, Dr. Jonathan Koffman of the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, UK, explores the importance of addressing happiness at the end of life. It’s a timely post given that today, March 20, is the International Day of Happiness.
When did you last ask a patient, “What makes you happy?”
At first glance happiness seems to be a little bit like love; if you have to ask whether you are in it or not, you probably aren’t. So what is happiness? The subjective, fuzzy, vague feeling of this concept has been neglected in psychology until relatively recently. Is it possible that psychologists weren’t particularly interested in the scholarly research of happiness? I’m not convinced. Achieving quality of life is considered to be one of the main goals of palliative and end-of-life care. A widely presumed component of quality of life is happiness, a concept considered to be so important to human existence that the World Health Organization now recognizes it as an integral component of health.
Given the importance of happiness in quality of life it is perhaps surprising how little research has examined its meanings among people living with advanced disease. Moreover, no research has attempted to understand the meaning of happiness among people living with advanced disease from diverse communities. Addressing this concern is important because increasing globalization has brought with it an unprecedented number of people who have migrated to developed countries.
We recently conducted a study to explore and compare, for the first time, the centrality and interpretations of happiness across two cultural groups. We interviewed 26 Black Caribbean and 19 White British cancer patients living with and, dying from, advanced cancer in London. Beyond providing detailed accounts of how they comprehended their cancer and symptoms, we also asked participants to tell us very simply, in their own words, what made them happy. This is a question that rarely appears in the clinical assessment of patients.
Nearly all participants volunteered views on happiness, which were related to four main themes:
▪Empty lives, a theme associated with lives devoid of contentment.
▪Happiness and the physical form, such as the effect of distressing symptoms on wellbeing.
▪Love and affection, which concerned relationships with family and friends
▪Realising personal meaning in life, which related to God, prayer and the sacred world.
The findings provide a very evocative account of the presence of happiness even in the darkest moment of advanced disease. For example, we observed that black Caribbean participants often comprehended the inexplicability of their cancer through the lens of their strong religious beliefs, which enabled them to make the successful transition to a state of acceptance and happiness.
We recommend that health and social care professionals be aware that happiness is an important, complex and multidimensional human experience, which at times is also culturally shaped. They must therefore be sensitive and willing to ask the questions that, on the face of it, seem indulgent when compared to the task of treating physical symptoms. This will enable them to better understand their concerns and then to devise therapeutic responses that maximize moments of happiness and subsequent quality of life.
For more information about the study conducted into happiness amongst different cultural groups at the end of life, the full paper can be viewed here.
Follow the EAPC Blog for more posts in the Salzburg Questions series.
Follow the global dialogue on Twitter. Using the hashtag #allmylifeQs the nine Salzburg Questions will be debated throughout 2017.
Salzburg Global Fellow profiled on CNN for her human rights activism in Uganda
In the West, much of the discourse around LGBT rights is currently focused on marriage and adoption, but in other regions, LGBT activists are fighting for the right to simply exist, free from legal persecution and prosecution.
Not only is homosexuality still illegal in 38 African countries, but it is also still punishable by death in four. As a consequence of these oppressive legal systems, the African LGBT community remains unprotected against homophobic discrimination, physical and emotional abuse, and persecution. In spite of the hostility, the number of citizens standing up against such oppression keeps growing.
Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera is such an example. The activist, considered the pioneer of defending LGBT rights in Uganda, founded the association Freedom & Roam Uganda (FARUG) in 2003 to raise awareness of this discrimination. She has also been involved in the creation of Kuchu Times and Bombastic, two media organizations looking for a wider representation of LGBT people in the African media landscape.
Nabagesera’s contributions have been acknowledged on many occasions. She has been awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, and the Right Livelihood Award. Her inspiring story has been widely featured in the media too. She was the first openly gay African woman to appear on the front cover of TIME Magazine. This week CNN has published a piece referring to her as “The face of Uganda’s LGBT movement."
CNN details Nabagesera’s life experiences, which have not been easy at all. She has repeatedly been harassed and threatened because of her sexual orientation. In 2011 she had to cope with the death of her friend and activist David Kato, who was murdered after the Rolling Stone Uganda, a local newspaper published Uganda's “top 100 homosexuals” personal details. Nevertheless, she persists in her pursuit of LGBT recognition and human rights in her country and around the world.
As part of her global outreach, Nabagesera has been working with Salzburg Global Seminar since 2013 and has participated in all four sessions of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum. Speaking to Salzburg Global, she said the organization increased her self-awareness. She said, "I always want to come back and learn more."
Nabagesera said she appreciates the diversity of participants and the opportunity of having new and past Fellows involved in every session, suggesting it brings a sense of continuity and community to the program.
She will be returning to Salzburg in May to participate in the fifth session, Home: Safety, Wellbeing and Belonging.
To read more about Nabagesera’s story, please click here.
Salzburg Global Fellows Stella Flores and Susana Maria Muñoz feature in Diverse magazine's Top 25 Women in Higher Education & Beyond
Two Salzburg Global Fellows have been acknowledged as two of the top 25 women in higher education and beyond.
Diverse Issues In Higher Education magazine has recognized both Dr. Stella Flores and Dr. Susana Maria Muñoz for their significant contributions.
The magazine is a biweekly trade publication which reports on diversity, access, and opportunity for all in higher education.
The Top 25 Women in Higher Education & Beyond features in the magazine’s March 9 edition.
It highlights Dr. Flores as an “expert” in higher education issues and describes her research as having a “wide and influential scope.” It refers to Dr. Munoz and her research on “issues of college access, persistence and identity among under-represented student populations.”
Dr. Flores, Professor of Education at New York University, and Dr. Muñoz, Associate Professor of Education at Colorado State University, both attended Session 537 Students at the Margins and the Institutions that Serve Them: A Global Perspective.
The goals of the session included developing a database for institutions serving marginalized populations worldwide. This database would act as a common reference point for facilitating interested parties and sharing knowledge and practices.
The session also aimed to create a global network of individuals and institutions interested in the practical implementation of issues, including student learning, gender parity, and affirmative action.
In addition to these aims, the session was designed to stimulate fresh thinking on how colleges and universities could most effectively provide educational opportunities to disadvantaged and marginalized people.
During the session, Dr. Flores spoke to Salzburg Global about how affirmative action was disappearing in U.S. states and the detrimental impact this was having. Meanwhile, Dr. Muñoz talked to Salzburg Global about the many challenges undocumented students faced in higher education, including the constant fear they or their family could be deported.
This program concluded with session partners Salzburg Global, Educational Testing Service (ETS), and the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions committing to help participants take their ideas forward. To read a report of this session, please click here.
Native American Fellow speaks to Austrian radio station about Standing Rock movement and how art can encourage resilience
Salzburg Global Fellow Eileen Briggs has revealed how art and creativity is being used to express opposition to the controversial Dakota oil pipeline.
Briggs, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, spoke to Bethany Bell for FM4 while attending Salzburg Global's session The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for the construction of the Dakota oil pipeline to be completed.
Protestors from the Standing Rock movement believe the construction of the pipeline will affect the quality of drinking water.
Briggs tells FM4 that she's "fiercely" part of the protection of her water and, "We are definitely in a reactionary mode."
Prayer and songs have been used to express opposition. While being interviewed, Briggs performs a song that talks about walking on Mother Earth in a gentle way.
You can listen to the full interview below.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and members of the Appalachian College Association further efforts at second annual Global Citizenship Summit
More than fifty faculty and administrators from select Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and members of the Appalachian College Association (ACA) convened at the second annual Global Citizenship Summit to share and receive feedback on deepening global citizenship education work, expand and enhance multi-campus partnerships, and plan for the formation of a new organization to support ongoing, and stimulate new, collaborative activities to institutionalize global citizenship education.
The Summit, led by Lindsey Wilson College and co-organized by Bennett College, Brevard College, Clark Atlanta University, and Ferrum College, was held in conjunction with the Appalachian College Association’s annual conference at the Meadowview Conference Resort & Convention Center in Kingsport, Tennessee, September 29-October 1, 2016.
“Global citizenship education is no longer a choice, it is an imperative,” Dr. Adil Najam, inaugural dean at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, told Summit participants. “There is an implied oppositeness between global and local, and part of our charge as educators is to take that implication, to confront it boldly, and to suggest it is not so. If there is a global, the global is everywhere. Too often we make global sound exotic and elsewhere, as opposed to something that is central to who we are and where we are….”
The Summit was a result of a competitive grant process organized as part of Salzburg Global Seminar's Mellon Global Citizenship Program (M-GCP) and made possible through the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. An outgrowth of the multi-year Mellon Fellow Community Initiative (MFCI), which ran from 2008 to 2013, the M-GCP was launched in 2014 to further the innovative work that moved thirty-six U.S. colleges and universities – all of which are either HBCUs or members of the ACA – toward becoming sites of global citizenship.
While ACA and HBCU institutions share many common attributes based on their long histories serving unique and diverse student bodies and the broader communities around them, their distinct communities and geographical distances have not encouraged collaboration among them. The M-GCP has helped the institutions to test and validate the multiple benefits that result from these cooperative efforts.
“It is essential that we make sure all students get to the point where they can engage with the world,” Dr. Dawn Michelle Whitehead, senior director for global learning and curricular change at the Association of American Colleges and Universities said. “If all students need global learning, we need to start looking at it from an integrated perspective across disciplines. Global learning cannot be achieved in a single course or a single experience, but is acquired cumulatively across students’ entire college career through an institution’s curricular and co-curricular planning.”
Focusing on the theme Strength Through Diversity: Partnering for Effective Global Citizenship Education, participants in the Summit heard from leading experts on global citizenship education and outlined concrete next steps for the creation of the Global Citizenship Consortium, an organization to be embedded within the Global Citizenship Alliance (GCA) that will support activities and partnerships developed through the M-GCP. The GCA was established in the Fall of 2015 to continue, strengthen and expand the work of Salzburg Global’s successful Global Citizenship Program, which in its 12 years had become one of the largest, most systematic, and most comprehensive programs on global citizenship education in the United States.
Dr. John Burkhardt, director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good and director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan, told Summit participants that higher education institutions must transform themselves if they are to provide leadership in a more interdependent world. “Higher education in our country is a system built on the assumption that differences are variations from the norm, to be explained and accommodated by exclusion, duplication, or exception,” Burkhardt said. “It is within your power to re-think this. We need to have a conversation about who we are and what we want with people we don’t even know and aren’t even sure we can trust. Without discourse, like that which is happening at this summit, we have no means for determining who we are and what we want in any reasonable, peaceful way.”
The Summit offered 2015 and 2016 M-GCP grantees the opportunity to discuss the process and results of recent multi-campus programmatic activities, including the partnership between Florida Memorial University and Berea College, the global education visiting specialist series Global Citizenship Revisited: New Approaches to Achieve Global Competencies between Ferrum College, Bennett College, and King University, and the study away incentive program Trading Spaces, a collaboration between Lindsey Wilson College and Clark Atlanta University, which faculty members from both institutions described as an opportunity for urban and rural students to not only gain new experiences and perspectives that may otherwise not be available to them, but to also find commonalities.
An undergraduate research conference focusing on the theme Global Citizenship: Exploring Problems, Finding Solutions was held concurrent to the Summit in Kingsport and was an opportunity for students to present their own innovations and ideas. In addition, student participants from Global African (Diaspora) Citizenship, a study away incentive program between Florida Memorial University and Berea College, made possible through a 2016 M-GCP grant, presented their findings from the recently completed program along with a musical performance for attendees.
Students benefiting from the activities of the M-GCP also had the opportunity to address the value and impact of global citizenship on their educational experiences. “Global citizenship is about trying to understand how other people live their lives,” said Kayla Brubaker, a senior English major and Russian minor at Ferrum College. “It is about interacting with people and cultures you are not familiar with. I would like to think I am a global citizen, but there is much more to be learned.”
“Global citizenship is no longer just an idealized rhetorical term used in textbooks,” said Betty Overton-Adkins, M-GCP Advisory Council member and director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good at the University of Michigan. “It is the reality that today's students will live as part of their future. Those of us who are college educators will fail to provide future-focused preparation if we overlook this aspect of our students' educational experience.”
More information about the M-GCP can be found at the M-GCP website (http://m-gcp.salzburgglobal.org). Please contact David Goldman at DGoldman@SalzburgGlobal.org for enquires related to the M-GCP.
About Salzburg Global Seminar
Since 1947, Salzburg Global Seminar has brought together more than 30,000 change-makers from across the world to fulfill its mission: to challenge present and future leaders to solve issues of global concern.
We focus on complex problems confronting the global community, covering topics as diverse as health care and education, culture and economics, geopolitics and human rights. Our sessions are designed to stimulate open dialogue and transformative thinking across national, cultural, generational and institutional boundaries. Working with the world’s leading public and private organizations and philanthropic investors, we engage our global network to accelerate positive global change. Salzburg Global’s programs are primarily convened at Schloss Leopoldskron, Austria, with additional offices in Washington, DC, USA and London, UK. This 300-year-old palace, now also an award-winning hotel, provides an inspiring retreat and intimate space for international convening.
A full program listing can be found online: www.salzburgglobal.org/calendar
LGBTI activists and allies explore storytelling to counter exclusion and discrimination at the session The Many Faces of LGBT Inclusion
Community advocates, artists, filmmakers, academics, government representatives and human rights experts from across the world gathered in Thailand last week to explore new narratives to counter discrimination and stereotypes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, and to promote greater visibility and inclusion.
More than 50 LGBTI activists and allies from over 30 countries came together for the fourth annual meeting of the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum, titled “The Many Faces of Inclusion”. Held from 2-7 October 2016 in partnership between Salzburg Global Seminar and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this year’s Forum aimed to enhance Asia’s role in global LGBTI dialogue, highlighting its unique legal, religious and cultural traditions regarding LGBTI individuals and their communities.
“Within the ongoing global discourse on LGBT equality, Asian perspectives have been underrepresented. We hope that our meeting in Chiang Rai contributes to amplifying the voices of Asian leadership. Global progress on equality for LGBT people will depend on advancements in Asia,” said Klaus Mueller, founder and chair of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum. “Throughout the Forum, participants shared their professional experiences and personal stories. Storytelling is a major tool for expressing who we want to be – and for changing hearts and minds.”
The meeting focused on the themes of storytelling to communicate lived experiences of LGBTI people, international coalition building to advance inclusive development and promoting inclusive families that reflect the diversity of the LGBTI community.
Through open discussions, the Forum examined progress and challenges for LGBTI inclusion and identified potential entry points with government, academia and development partners for positive change. During the ‘Strengthening International Connections’ panel, ambassadors and lawmakers from Bhutan, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Venezuela called for stronger coalitions to advance common policy priorities, especially the need for comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, inclusive anti-bullying policies in education settings, freedom of association, and legal gender recognition for transgender people.
“Open dialogue between government and civil society is key to ensure the inclusion and protection of LGBTI people,” said Edmund Settle, Policy Advisor for UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub. “Ensuring civic and political participation in national legal and policy making processes will further efforts to address the discrimination and inequality that LGBTI people live daily.”
Throughout the week, the Forum considered the importance of families for LGBTI people and communities. Discussions focused on the families that LGBTI people are born into, the families they choose, and the families they raise, with participants sharing their own personal stories within small groups. These stories will be collected for an exhibition, titled “Family Is…”, to be held in Berlin, Germany in May 2017.
During the week, meeting participants reflected on how growing visibility of LGBTI people and communities has created opportunities for positive dialogues within their families and communities. However, participants also noted that increased visibility has the potential to lead to backlash, from the introduction of anti-homosexuality “propaganda” laws to abuse and violence towards LGBTI people.
Many of the participants noted that this anti-LGBTI extremism is often rooted in ignorance, with misinformation and false representations of LGBTI people and communities in the media. Empowering LGBTI people and communities to share their own stories through new media and emerging technologies can be a powerful and effective way to challenge this misinformation and educate wider society.
“Having been able to galvanize a movement with correct information to counter anti-LGBT extremism, we now have to share this knowledge and create allies to support our cause,” said Dennis Wamala from Uganda.
Throughout the Forum, participants emphasized the opportunities that film, new media and journalism can have on communicating positive narratives to reduce stigma and discrimination and raise awareness for social inclusion throughout society. This also includes the use of social media tools to reach new audiences and address abuse and digital security.
“There is a misunderstanding in society about LGBTI people. Film can be a powerful medium that can be used in advocacy efforts to correct distortions,” said Fan Popo, a filmmaker and activist from China.
“As a filmmaker and lesbian mom, I recognize that I have the responsibility to tell more stories about the LGBTI community and to help those people who cannot raise their voices,” said Cha Roque, a filmmaker from the Philippines. “I hope that through my films, I can take the fight for equality and acceptance a step forward.”
The full report from the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum session “The Many Faces of LGBT Inclusion”, complete with personal stories and recommendations for action, will be published later in December 2016. To receive a digital copy of the report, sign up for the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum newsletter: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/LGBTnewsletter
*LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is widely recognized in many parts of the world, but we would not wish it to be read as in any way exclusive of other cultures, terms or groups.
Media contacts:
Louise Hallman, Editor, Salzburg Global Seminar lhallman@SalzburgGlobal.org
Ian Mungall, Programme Analyst, UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub ian.mungall@undp.org
Salzburg Global LGBT Forum
The challenges confronting the LGBT and human rights movements are no longer only national or regional. They are influenced by a multitude of factors at the global level. The Salzburg Global LGBT Forum, a multi-year series of Salzburg Global Seminar, is therefore working to advance civil dialogue through further developing an active network of global LGBT and human rights actors. Founded and chaired by Dr. Klaus Mueller, the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum currently connects representatives from more than 60 countries. The Forum’s goal is to negotiate these interconnected global challenges and advance the free and equal rights of all LGBT people.
The fourth session of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum was held in Chiang Rai, Thailand in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Being LGBTI in Asia programme. Funding for this session, entitled “The Many Faces of LGBT Inclusion,” was generously provided to Salzburg Global Seminar through a grant from the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to support the Forum’s ongoing “Family is…” Project and through a donation by US philanthropist Michael Huffington.
For more information visit: lgbt.salzburgglobal.org
*LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is widely recognized in many parts of the world, but we would not wish it to be read as in any way exclusive of other cultures, terms or groups.
UNDP and the Being LGBTI in Asia programme
UNDP is the UN’s global development network advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP’s vision is to support countries in achieving the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion.
Being LGBTI in Asia is a regional programme aimed at addressing inequality, violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status, and promotes universal access to health and social services. It is a collaboration between governments, civil society, regional institutions and other stakeholders to advance the social inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. The programme recognizes that LGBTI people are highly marginalized and face varied forms of stigma and discrimination based on their distinct sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions. The programme is supported by UNDP, the Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
For more information visit: www.asia-pacific.undp.org/content/rbap/en/home/operations/projects/overview/being-lgbt-in-asia
Chair of UBS and the fifth annual program of the Salzburg Global Forum on Finance in a Changing World speaks to Bloomberg TV live from Schloss Leopoldskron.
UBS AG Chairman Axel Weber is "pretty confident that the Greek people are convinced that their future in the euro is a better future," he told Manus Cranny and Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television's The Pulse.
Weber, who appeared live from the terrace of Schloss Leopoldskron, was in Salzburg for the opening of the fifth annual program of the Salzburg Global Forum on Finance in a Changing WorldThe Future of Financial Intermediation: Banking, Securities Markets, or Something New?
WATCH ONLINE: www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-06-30/weber-confident-greeks-are-convinced-of-future-in-euro
Weber is co-chairing the session alongside Roger Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF and former vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. You can find more on this year's program here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/552
The Future of Financial Intermediation: Banking, Securities Markets, or Something New? is part of the multi-year program Salzburg Global Forum on Finance in a Changing World. This year’s program is in partnership with Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Ernst Young, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Oliver Wyman, with co-sponsors Cleary Gottlieb, the Cynosure Group, Davis Polk, and Dynex Capital.
Kevin Kallaugher, Fellows from Session 547 featured in the Austrian newspaper "Salzburger Nachrichten".Read via Pressreader.com (log-on necessary).