Kelowna, BC 11/1/2007 5:00:00 AM
New Book a Source of Inspiration Amid Grim Situations
Reconciliation expert offers challenges and insight
In his book entitled Dispatches from the Global Village, author Derek Evans, former Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International and consultant to the United Nations and other international organizations, says helping leaders realize they are human beings can help them create a connection to others which can be the beginning of the road to reconciliation.
Evans led more than 70 international delegations conducting human rights investigations or peace negotiations. He has travelled the globe to meet with African warlords and the Dalai Lama, heads of state and victims of torture, to challenge the forces of injustice. He has negotiated with rebel factions in the Sudan, and met under threat of death in the dead of night with families of “disappeared” children in Sri Lanka. He knows what he’s talking about when it comes to suffering and global injustice. “In his human rights work a bad day is when prisoners of conscience are executed, or people are tortured”.
Even with all of the tragic and gut-wrenching experiences and the fact that helping leaders with blood on their hands realize their humanity is a monumental task, Evans remains hopeful. His book is about what people are doing to make things better. These are teaching stories in which ordinary and extra-ordinary people are the heroes. Each of the stories in the book reflects the author’s own groping search for the path to peace and justice and elegantly portrays the intimate link between the local and global realities of the world. These stories transcend time and distance, and cross the boundaries of culture and class to unite us in our humanity in the face of all that separates people and nations.
Shining through every story is Evans’ hope that people can find the wisdom from within to choose a different path – and somehow learn to live in peace despite our differences.
DEREK EVANS is a writer, teacher, scholar, and activist. His work in peace and human rights spans three decades and five continents. He is Principal of Evans & Associates, an independent firm providing professional consultancy services in the fields of conflict transformation, human rights, governance and strategic development. Evans is a regular political columnist and author of 14 books. He teaches at Simon Fraser University.
Dispatches from the Global Village
By Derek Evans
Published by CopperHouse
May 2007
190 Pages, Paper,Interfaith/Spirituality
$23.95 CAN, $19.95 US.
ISBN 978-1-551455-53-2
For Author Interviews or Review Copies
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