Ilya Andrushchenko (Russia, AC 10-12)
As many of you may know 24 of January, 2011, there was a terrible example of human behavior demonstrated in Moscow, Russia. If you still don’t know what I am talking about, I mean the terrorist’s attack committed in the Domodedovo airport.
Vincent Mwashumbe (Kenya, AC 10-12)
The perpetrators of the post-election violence that rocked Kenya’s reigning peace and shocked the international community were named by the ICC (International Criminal Court) chief prosecutor in December. The six named are considered to bear the greatest responsibility for the violence that erupted in 2007.
Morag Naledi McKenzie (Botswana, AC 10-12)
Rae McGrath is a former engineer for the British Army, where he worked for eighteen years. After working in the British Army, Rae worked in Sudan for Band-Aid before working as a food distributor in Darfur, it was at this time that Rae decided to stay working in the field. In 1997 and 1998 Rae was working in Afghanistan and it was here where a Treaty banning anti-personnel mines was drafted and ratified in 1999. In 1997 Rae accepted the Nobel Peace Price for MAG (Mines Advisory Group) and their Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Rae continued his non-profit work and in 2008 a new treaty was written named Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) banning cluster munitions. This was ratified in 2010. Currently, Rae is working for Save the Children as a Senior Programme Manager in Emergency Response Personnel.
Yuexin Zeng (China, AC 10-12)
In the past two days, the campus has been filled with an atmosphere of enthusiasms and excitements – the Atlantic College Peace conference, a program of workshops and lectures related to global issues, has been successfully held during the 25th and 26th January.
Marton Miklos Jalkoczi (Hungary, AC 09-11)
Last summer I took part in the 3-week-long Malaysia Summer Project in Borneo, Sarawak which involved one week living deep in the jungle, in a small village called Ulu Mongkos with the Bidajuh indigenous tribe. The remaining two weeks were spent in the Twintech College Sarawak as part of a student exchange program with Malay students, many of whom joined us to live with the Bidajuh tribe to see their everyday life in the jungle.
Two Atlantic College students, Laura and Lindsay, are attending the COP16 conference in Cancun. They have kindly allowed United Words to publish their blog entries from before, during and after the conference. The original entries can be found on http://atlanticcollegeatcop16.blogspot.com/.
Laura Emily Rigell (USA, AC 09-11), Lindsay Riddoch (Scotland, AC 09-11)
December 10
Knowing what to do during the last days was a challenge. The meetings where decisions were being made were all closed to observers. So I spent most of my morning waiting for plenaries to begin, they were repeatedly delayed for a few hours at a time, because negotiations were not yet complete.
Hajar El Fatihi (Morocco, AC 10-12)
Identity, diversity and global justice are three thematic workshops that critical engagement has emphasized in this 2nd mission period. Critical engagement is a program of workshops based on discussions and forums. It intends to help students learning other ways of thinking about different aspects of life in general, critical thinking, and constructive communication.
William Brian Holt (USA, AC 09-11)
In 2008, the Democrats were in control of both houses of Congress in the United States of America, and won the White House with what seemed a veritable mandate from voters across the country. It seems to be a common refrain in U.S. history: Economic crash followed by a sharp return of the majority to Big Government liberalism. Two years later, however, a considerable number of Americans are royally pissed off at the direction our country has taken under President Barack Obama and the Democratic congressmen they voted into office. Not only is the Democratic establishment the enemy, but government itself is now the enemy. Many Republicans–spurned on by fringe groups such as the Tea Party which have dismayingly moved into the mainstream–have taken Ronald Reagan’s words at his first Inaugural Address as literal policy: “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.”
Two Atlantic College students, Laura and Lindsay, are attending the COP16 conference in Cancun. They have kindly allowed United Words to publish their blog entries from before, during and after the conference. The original entries can be found on http://atlanticcollegeatcop16.blogspot.com/.
Laura Emily Rigell (USA, AC 09-11), Lindsay Riddoch (Scotland, AC 09-11)
Another day the Conference of the Youth and my first day at the UNFCCC negogiations and how do I feel? Exhausted, to say the least. But simaltaneously wierdly excited. We managed to get 350 on board with our campaign, which is exciting stuff, almost finished our report, and I spent a lot of yesterday writing emails to encourage people to take notes for delegationsupport.
Ken Corn (Director of Outreach at Atlantic College)
One aspect of working at Atlantic College which I find most motivating is the idea that an AC/UWC education is not just something for two years, but rather for a lifetime. With this in mind, it was very gratifying to welcome back 8 ex-students to Atlantic College from the years 2004 & 2005, as facilitators for their own self-developed educational outreach programme entitled, Critical Engagement. Continue reading
Ho Wang (Adrian) Leong (Hong Kong, AC 10-12)
The past three days were most enjoyable. In the morning, we engaged ourselves in heated debates on a chosen theme; in the afternoon, workshops held by ex-AC students generated fascinating discussions; in the evening, an award-winning documentary related to the theme of day was shown. Continue reading
Kevin Steve Sathyanath (Indonesia, AC 10-12)
One of the best parts of being in the Atlantic College is the exposure we as students experience. To enable us to make the best out of each experience, we have certain periods of time devoted to the achievement of this very essential part of the AC “experience”. Thus, I recently had the good fortune to attend one of the most unique conferences I had ever been to. Continue reading
Ho Wang (Adrian) Leong (Hong Kong, AC 10-12)
A group of 14 students from Atlantic College went to Birmingham University for Shared Planet 2010 Conference from 6th to 7th November. It was organised by People & Planet, the largest student campaigning organization in the UK. Continue reading
Two Atlantic College students, Laura and Lindsay, are attending the COP16 conference in Cancun. They have kindly allowed United Words to publish their blog entries from before, during and after the conference. The original entries can be found on http://atlanticcollegeatcop16.blogspot.com/.
Laura Emily Rigell (USA, AC 09-11), Lindsay Riddoch (Scotland, AC 09-11)
We’re slightly too excited by the idea of having a blog to form a coherent passage on our impending departure.
So a little bit of background. I (Laura) am going to COP16 with the US youth delegation- Sustain US. I am slightly intimidated by the concept of attending a UN negotiation, though I have always been excited by model UN and the UN building in NYC. Fear: that the youth/realistic people’s opinion will not be taken seriously; and that I will be emotionally overwhelmed (this is certain). Hope: that I will learn from the experience, so that I will have a better ability to have a positive impact on addressing climate change in the next few years of my life.
And I, Lindsay, (I can tell this is going to get confusing) am attending the conference with the UNfair play delegation. We have been kindly sponsored by Global Changemakers (http://www.global-changemakers.net/) in order to help the underrepresented delegates have their voices heard in Cancun. Along with a number of other United World College students I plan on doing anything I can to help make the United Nations system as fair as possible. Fear: that we will fail to secure any kind of deal at what could be our last opportunity. Hope: That I will learn enough to teach idealistic young people how to have influence in the real world.
Blue skies.
-United World Colleges Student Magazine-
Lin Mortensgaard (Denmark, AC 09-11)
It seems to be happening all around Europe. In the Netherlands the Party for Freedom with Geert Wilders at the forefront has managed to obtain a powerful position in government, in the UK Nick Griffin is proudly spreading the voice of his beloved BNP (British National Party) and in Switzerland the Swiss People’s Party has an estimated 23% of the popular vote. Xenophobia is definitely, and has been for a while, a factor in European politics and it is one which plays a major role in elections all over the continent.
