Edinburgh Peace and Justice Resource Centre

'Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important that television.' Aldo Leopold

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The Word

Joe Slovo, died today in 1995, aged 68.
Slovo, one of the drivers behind South Africa's national reconciliation, was a leading member and later chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was the first white member of the ANC National Executive Committee and in 1991 the general secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP).

‘Great masses of workers ... answered the call to struggle. Their favourite slogan "Down, down, down" (with the government) resounded once more. I had to cross the procession at the Brandenburg Gate, in the Tiergarten, and again in front of general staff headquarters. Many marchers were armed. Several trucks with machine guns stood at the Siegessaule. Repeatedly, I politely asked to be allowed to pass, as I had an urgent errand. Obligingly, they allowed me to cross through. If the crowds had (...)

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365 days

'If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.' Rachel Carson

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The Word

‘I let down my friends, I let down my country.' Expletive deleted.

'Software is like sex: it's better when it's free.' Linus Torvalds

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The Word

'Software is like sex: it's better when it's free.' Linus Torvalds

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The Word

‘I let down my friends, I let down my country.' Expletive deleted.
On 4 January 1974, US president Richard Nixon refused to obey a federal court order to hand over tape recordings of discussions in the White House Oval Office and other documents subpoenaed by the Senate committee investigating the Watergate scandal. The tapes were eventually handed over, confirming Nixon's involvement in the illegal activities around his re-election campaign – and his fondness for swearing, as revealed in the (...)

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365 days

Bombing Hamas into Gaza's scorched earth will not change the rules of the game, says Arthur Neslen
In November, Ahmed Yousef, the speechwriter and aide of Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniya (Hamas), claimed that US President elect Barack Obama's team had been in contact with the group during the US election campaign. The Obama camp denied it, and Yousef now says the talks are on ice.

Bombing Hamas into Gaza's scorched earth will not change the rules of the game, says Arthur Neslen
In November, Ahmed Yousef, the speechwriter and aide of Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniya (Hamas), claimed that US President elect Barack Obama's team had been in contact with the group during the US election campaign. The Obama camp denied it, and Yousef now says the talks are on ice.