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SERVAS INTERNATIONAL NEWS no. 41
Servas was born 50 years ago, just after the second world
war. At that time millions of human beings were coming out
of a dark tunnel of hate, mourning, mistrust and dishearten
ment.
A small bunch of good willed people welcomed and suppor
ted a simple, great and daring idea: let's open our hearts and
homes to other individuals like us.
Since then, thousands of women and men have had a chance
to share a mor@ent of their life with someone, a perfect
stranger with whom they. can truly share beliefs and dreams,
without any prejudice or bias.
Now, fifty years later, it's time to celebrate and maybe to
draw up a kind of balance as well.
In our statutes we read:
"Servas is a non-profit, nongovernmental. interracial and
international association of hosts and travellers which works
towards understanding, world peace and justice through
person-to-person contacts. It has consultative status as a
nongovernmental organization with the Economic and So
cial Council of the United Nations."
So world peace and justice are the key words of our
commitment, them same principles on which 50 Nations,
gathered in San Francisco in 1945, based and created the
United Nations.
Obviously our association cannot have as much influence as
the U.N., but as a grass roots movement we humbly but
strongly believe in the strength of ideas and coherent action.
We believe in building peace in the world, and we have to
consider and understand what causes injustice and wars
around the world.
Let's keep our eyes open to what is happening every day.
Desperate people drown trying to enter the so called For
tress Europe; racism and intolerance are still smouldering in
many heark and ignite new conflicts.
Servas succeeds in overcoming racism through personal
contacts and friendships, but eachof us should keep under
taking constructive deeds in order to remove the causes of
hatred and iniquity.
Just as a concrete example I would like to put forward a
proposal coming directly from our Servas founder,
Bob Luitweiler. "Boycotting the products of unjust
plantation owners and manufacturers is a time
honoured method of getting a strong message to the
owners and managers that we disapprove of their
treatment of their workers. Not only did Mahatma
Gandhi advocate boycotting English cloth, but the
textile workers in England when they met him gave
him an enthusiastic reception."
Personally I'd like to keep alive within Servas the
,feeling of sharing the same dream, so I suggest some
positive actions as well: organize local meetings not
only among hosts, but inviting former travellers and
friends involved in Social/Peace activities; create
and/or help the local Servas Newsletter by writing
articles, reports and positive ideas - this is very
important specially to hosts living in remote areas
with few visitors; create and/or organize a net of
local interviewers and/or officers - these key persons need
to be in frequent touch in order to compare ideas and
problems.
Recently we also celebrated the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed on December 10th,
1948 by the General Assembly of United Nations.
"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family'is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world."
Unfortunately I have discovered some cases of discriniina-
tion even within Servas. I have read in a few host lists 'no
hippie travellers' or 'no USA travellers' or simply 'only
Servas Hosts welcome'.
So please, let's be vigilant not to allow such phrases to be
published on any host list.
Finally, some words about my actual personal experience. I
have been working at the Italian school in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia since last February 1998. As. you know, last May
Eritrea and Ethiopia started a border dispute causing scores
of casualties. Since then, I personally witnessed many
Eritreans being deported out of Ethiopia. Even my own
pupils had tQ leave the country without any notice. These
deeds are made no less terrible by knowing that most
probably Eritrea is acting the same way towards Ethiopians
living there. I cannot yet understand what are the real causes
of this conflict, but I frequently.saw children happily
playing in the school yard regardless of their extraction.
Addis Ababa, December 1998
Daniele PASSALACQUA |
