“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Grandson takes up Mandela challenge to serve

Google – AFP,  Justine Gerardy (AFP), 19 June 2013

Mandla Mandela arrives at Parliament for the State of the Nation Speech
on February 10, 2011, in Cape Town (AFP/File, Rodger Bosch)

MVEZO, South Africa — Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla wanted to be a disc jockey but his illustrious grandfather had other ideas for him -- passing down a lesson on the responsibility that South Africa's most famous surname carries.

The anti-apartheid hero chose his 38-year-old grandson as the first Mandela in decades to be chief of his rural birthplace Mvezo in the Eastern Cape six years ago.

"My grandfather has always been my role model. He's an inspiration to the work I do today," Mandela, whose father was Makgatho from the hero's first marriage, told AFP.

As his 94-year-old grandfather battles a lung infection in hospital, he admitted it had "not at all" been easy trying to match up to the man who became South Africa's first black president.

"He's a global icon but I feel that as members of the family, the small things that we do as individuals, as a collective can one day amount to the dynamic person my grandfather became," he said.

"South Africa, and even the Mandelas themselves, I believe will never produce another Nelson Mandela but we can always strive to embrace him, his principles and values."

A picture taken on June 16, 2013 shows 
Mandla Mandela (3rd L) kneeling down
 to talk to a girl from the village of Mvezo
(AFP/file, Jennifer Bruce)
Lying on the winding Mbashe river where fiery aloes bloom and livestock wander, Mvezo is scenic but deeply impoverished.

There is no clean drinking water or sanitation in the village's humble homes, many built of mud, or even a health clinic.

Born here in 1918, Mandela's father was stripped of the Mvezo chieftancy by a colonial magistrate and he spent his early years in nearby Qunu village.

"We are very much as a family intrigued as to the place he comes from, how he emerged and the dynamic person that he became," said Mandela.

"And I think for future generations of the Mandelas, we should always look to our place of our origin and draw strength from that."

While Mandela was serving a 27-year jail term, his grandson was born in Soweto, a flashpoint of the anti-apartheid struggle far from the rural hinterland where his grandfather was born.

As a music loving high-schooler, he dreamed of becoming a DJ.

Mandela's response? "Nonsense, no Mandela will ever become such. You need to go out and find a career," he enacted, mimicking his grandfather's waving finger.

"My grandfather has really been the driver behind the person that I needed to be and the anchor around that was education," he said.

"He's always believed that education is a weapon which one could utilise to change the world so he ensured that we got a good education so that we could be of service to the people."

On his grandfather's wishes, he stopped working to study further in his 20s in the Eastern Cape.

At the time, he had two businesses and diplomas in business management and marketing under his belt. But his grandfather had other plans for him.

He also spent time in Qunu -- where his grandfather built a house on his prison release -- which opened his eyes to the poverty stalking rural South Africans.

"Upon my graduation my grandfather said 'so are you still that eager businessman you wanted to be?'. With his sense of humour, he had seen that I had changed and I had become more community driven," said Mandela.

"And that's the lesson learned from my grandfather: that Mandelas are supposed to ensure that they are of service to our people and I've taken that role, starting here in Mvezo."

But the village "has just been an opening of the doors", he says, having followed his grandfather into politics.

He joined parliament in 2009 for the ruling African National Congress, which his grandfather led into power, a move he initially resisted.

"Again I sought my grandfather's advice and he said to me how you're not only working for your community which is our inheritance, that of Mvezo, but you are able to work with the broader society."

Mandla Mandela's time as chief has not been without controversy.

His three marriages have fuelled headlines of bigamy, outstanding maintenance payments, and child paternity questions, amid a land dispute and the exhumation of Qunu family graves for reburial in Mvezo.

Under him, signs of change include a new brick-paved road which has transformed the journey to the village.

A museum -- currently comprising a tiny outdoor display -- is being extended in an impressive complex with the offices of the traditional council and a conference centre.

A science and technology school, the village's first high school, is also under construction and tourist accommodation is also on the cards

Mandela believes that his grandfather's style of collective leadership was shaped by his rural beginnings, in Mvezo and elsewhere, where he learned some of his earliest lessons.

"It's the birthplace of my grandfather and this is where people will always want to come and visit, because it has a rich significance. There is no other birthplace except Mvezo," he said.


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