FOREGROUND
AUTHOR’S STATEMENT
You are about to embark on a journey of exploration and connection. Thanks to
the World Wide Web you can go almost anywhere, almost instantly. You can visit
countries you may know little about and meet people you would never otherwise
cross paths with. Your explorations may lead you to discover groups of people
who are doing amazingly creative things to address challenges you can barely
imagine having to face. You may even find hope for a better world.
The first stage of the journey is exploration, but it’s what happens next that really
matters. Finding new lands and people can be exciting, but connecting with them
can be even more rewarding. We can connect with people around the world,
sharing energy, stories, and resources. We can join virtual hands in friendship
and weave global partnerships to make the world a better place for all.
The World Wide Web is a tool we can use to create justice and peace, but it
requires our active participation to come alive. Each connection we make with
another person or group somewhere in the world adds a thread to our collective
weaving. Together these individual connections create a multi-layered network
we can use to create a better world for all.
The 7th Principle of the Unitarian Universalist Association in the United States
affirms “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a
part.” The Rev. Judith Walker-Riggs recalls: “The word "web" was chosen
because it is a perfect example of interconnectedness--i.e. anywhere you touch a
web, even slightly, the rest of the web is affected also. What happens anywhere
on the web ripples through the entire web, and it is all connected.”1
In the Global Literacy Project, we are focusing particularly on the web of
connections among U*Us2 around the world. When I first began working on this
project, an image came to me of the earth surrounded and supported by a
beautiful multi-colored web of connections bringing healing and justice to this
troubled world. I imagined we could begin by building and strengthening our U*U
global web, making the dream of a sustainable global village real, one thread,
one friendship, one partnership at a time.
Thank you embarking on this journey. I hope that by weaving our U*U global
village network, we will inspire others to join us and together create a future of
justice and peace for generations to come.
Rev. Dr. Dorothy May Emerson, Medford, MA, February 2008
1
Judith Walker-Riggs, email, February 1, 2008.
U*U is an inclusive format for talking about all variations on Unitarian, Unitarian Universalist and
Universalists from around the world, begun by the International Council of Unitarians and
Universalists. UU only refers to Unitarian Universalists. (Cathy Cordes, email, February 1, 2008.
2
INTRODUCTION
“Building the Global Village” was the theme for the last General Assembly held in
Canada in 1992. Understanding ourselves as part of a global village brings us
into a new kind of relationship with people around the world. If we think of all of
the people we connect with on a daily basis as our neighbors in this global
village, how does that affect our interactions with them?
In the fifteen years since that gathering in Canada, globalization has increasingly
brought us into interdependence with people around the world. We eat food
grown in New Zealand, wear clothes made in Malaysia, drive cars with parts
manufactured in Mexico, and use computers with components made in Thailand.
When we call our credit card companies, we are likely to talk with someone in
India. Mary Pipher describes this sort of interaction as “a global strip mall.” She
says, “It's tawdry, impersonal, and dull. Globalization means we all live in one
ugly company town.”3 We have become “part of a global village that is a
shantytown for most of us, with just a very few rich people living in mansions on
the hill.”4 Not a pretty picture. Not what we were envisioning at GA in 1992.
The term global village was made popular in the 1960s by Marshall McLuhan,
Canadian academic and writer on popular culture. He speculated that electronic
mass media would collapse space and time barriers in human communication,
enabling people to interact and live on a global scale. Today, the global village is
often used as a metaphor to describe the Internet and World Wide Web.
McLuhan warned that if we are not conscious of how technology impacts
cognition and society, the global village has the potential to become a place
where totalitarianism and terror rule. On the other hand, it could create a
problem-solving world-wide forum, enabling a new sense of world community.5
As with just about everything in life, we have a choice. We can continue to shop
for bargains at the global strip mall, oblivious of our impact on those with whom
we interact, or we can be conscious of our connections and seek to bring
ourselves into right relations with the people with whom we are connected
around the world. The Rev. Dr. James P. Wind, president of the Alban Institute,
describes right relations as "healthy, life-giving, respectful, loving, and open
relationships with one another," through which we seek a way of being that
fosters full human flowering.6
Our Unitarian Universalist principles call us to affirm the worth and dignity of
every person and to practice justice and equity in human relations within the
Mary Pipher, “In Praise of Hometowns: Staying Home in the Global Village,” UU World,
March/April 2003.
4
Mary Pipher, “Reflections: Toward a Gentler and More Enlightened Town,” UU World,
Nov/Dec 2000.
5 Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_village_
6 http://archive.uua.org/ga/ga06/2050.html
3
interdependent web that weaves us all into one global village. But what does it
mean to practice right relations in this global context?
First of all, we need to acknowledge that not everyone in the global village has
equal access to its resources. Some of us are far more privileged than others.
According to the “State of the Village Report,” of which there are many versions
on the Internet:
If you woke up this morning healthy ... you are more blessed than the
million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the fear and loneliness
of imprisonment, the agony of torture,
or the pain of starvation ... you are better off than 500 million people in the
world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead
and a place to sleep ...you are more comfortable than 75% of the
people in this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish
someplace ...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If you can read this, you are more blessed than over two billion people in
the world who cannot read at all.7
How do we begin to deal with such inequities? When I was a child I wished I
could bury my lima beans (which I hated) deep in the ground and they would find
their way through the core of the Earth to the starving children in China. But it’s
not that simple, is it? It takes a lot more than sending our cast offs to those living
in extreme poverty to bring justice and equity to the global village.
At the dawn of the new millennium, the largest gathering of world leaders in
history met to formulate the Millennium Development Goals, eight measurable
goals that could significantly change the economic status of a significant portion
of the world’s people. Gender equality and justice are key to the successful
achievement of these goals. Riane Eisler, recipient of the UU Women’s
Federation 2007 Ministry to Women Award and author of The Real Wealth of
Nations, observes that “where the rights of women and children are protected,
nations thrive.”8 Muhammed Yunus, honored with the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
for his work as a founder of microfinance, explains why women are essential in
moving families and communities out of poverty: "Women have plans for
themselves, for their children, about their home, the meals. They have a Vision.
A man wants to enjoy himself."9
The issue of Women’s Rights Worldwide led to the creation of the Global
Literacy Project as part of the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist
Women. Women produce 75-90% of global food crops, do most of the
7
http://www.odt.org/Pictures/popvillage.pdf
Riane Eisler, “Spare the Rod,” Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures, Winter 2005: 32
9 Muhammed Yunus, http://www.gdrc.org/icm/wind/wind.html.
8
housework, and care for the children.10 Nevertheless, 70% of the people living on
less than $1 per day are women.11 Many leading experts on social and economic
change believe women are the key to ending poverty and dealing with related
social issues.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, “Gender equality
is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of
reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good
governance.”12 Seventy leading government officials attending a 2007
international conference on maternal health issued this statement: “Investing in
women pays off in terms of social and economic benefits to the family, the
community and society at large. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are
central. … Efforts need to include education of women and girls, economic
empowerment, including access to microcredit and micro-finance and legal
reforms to deepen a woman’s power of choice over her reproductive health.”13
The Economist magazine claims that “women are now the most powerful engine
of global growth.”14 Looking at the challenges that face our world today through
the lens of women gives us a focus that is in line with a great deal of international
work.
Recognizing the limitations of most people’s knowledge of global concerns, the
planners of the International Convocation of U*U Women decided we could
prepare ourselves to meet in an international context by creating a teachinglearning community among those who would be coming to the Convocation, so
that we might learn about each other and the challenges we face in our different
communities and life situations before we meet in person. Too often those of us
in the United States think we have all the answers, that we’re far ahead of
women in other countries and our role is to “help” them achieve their rights and
improve their economic circumstances. Yet there are many problems in the
United States. For instance, a woman is beaten every fifteen seconds; and four
women are killed by their batterers every day. 15 And poverty rates among singleparent families headed by women are almost twice that of similar families headed
by men.16 Clearly, we all have a lot to learn and work to do. The planners hope
the Global Literacy Project will prepare us to come together as equal but different
partners in the struggle. Since we all come to this with some knowledge, we have
created this process as an ongoing project, in which we are all teachers and all
learners, rather than as a set program or curriculum.
Northoff, 1998, from “Women’s Rights” by Anup Shah, 2004.
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, CEDAW Working Group Report (2004), 40.
12 Quoted on http://www.thp.org/reports/family/2006/jan/
13 Statement from the Ministers’ Forum, Women Deliver Conference, London, 19 October 2007
http://www.womendeliver.org/pdf/MinistersForumStatementFinal.pdf
14
“Women and the World Economy,” The Economist, April 12, 2006.
15 “Violence Against Women - No Longer a Secret,” One World, October 1991, 5.
16 National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/
10
11
In addition, by creating teaching-learning communities in the context of our home
congregations and organizations, we include in the Convocation process those
who might not physically be able to come to the gathering and invite all genders
to participate in weaving our UU global village network. It is our hope that the
process of educating ourselves about global concerns and weaving an everstronger web of connections among U*Us around the world will continue long
after the Convocation gathering in 2009.
Just after we received a grant from the Fund for International Unitarian
Universalism to develop these resources, the term global literacy appeared in a
July 2007 issue of Newsweek, with a goal that seemed to parallel our own: “to
start a conversation about what we are calling Global Literacy—facts and insights
about the world (some objective, some subjective) that we think are worth
knowing.”17 Although the term can also be used to denote programs that teach
reading skills, the larger meaning can be found as early as 1998 as the title of a
high school curriculum developed by the American Forum for Global Education to
educate youth leaders to face global challenges. That’s what we want to do—
educate ourselves to face global challenges.
Because we cannot deal with the whole world at once, this Global Literacy
Project has chosen to begin by strengthening the connections within our own
Unitarian Universalist global village. Consider what we might be able to
accomplish by weaving a strong network of support among communities with a
U*U presence around the world.18 Becoming active, conscious participants in
our U*U “interdependent web” can help us become more responsible and
effective global citizens.
We invite you to begin weaving this interdependent web though the Global
Literacy Project and the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist
Women. This six session program, with accompanying Internet resources,
provides a process for educating ourselves and each other in global and cultural
literacy. We encourage participants to develop additional sessions and resources
about other aspects of global literacy.
This is only the beginning. We hope this program will inspire you to on-going
learning, and to building your own connections within the global village.
Yahya Kamalipour, editor of the website myglobalvillage.com believes we need
to make a commitment to establish the global village as “a relatively harmonious
and peaceful place in which we can all enjoy a decent standard of living, respect
for human rights, and freedom of expression. … [where] most, if not all, of its
inhabitants can have access to healthcare, education, food, clean water, and
17Jon
Meacham, What You Need to Know Now,” Newsweek, July 9, 2007.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19389357/site/newsweek/
18 Well established and developing Universalist and Unitarian groups exist throughout the world.
A list of these can be found at www.icuu.net.
information. A village that our children would be proud to inherit from us!” He
points out that “The Global Village is much like our communities, neighborhoods,
towns, cities, or nations in which we live. Hence, as responsible inhabitants or
citizens, we need to collectively dedicate the same energy, enthusiasm, and
attention to the affairs of the Village. The reality is that whatever happens in the
Village—regardless of its geographical location—often touches our lives in some
ways.”19
By joining together we can enhance the positive qualities of our Global Village
and eliminate the negative or counterproductive tendencies. After all, the Village
belongs to you and me--it's OUR GLOBAL VILLAGE!
RESOURCES
Who Lives in the Global Village, by Donella Meadows,
http://www.empowermentresources.com/info2/theglobalvillage.html
State of the Village Report, developed & maintained by Lloyd C. Russow, Philadelphia
University, updated as of 2005, http://faculty.philau.edu/russowl/villageof1000.html
Global Village News and Resources
http://www.empowermentresources.com/info2/theglobalvillage.html
Global Village, by Brian Skinner
http://gumption.org/2002/village/village.htm#geography
Lesson Plans for various grade levels, by National Geographic
www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/03
Global Literacy: Challenges, Culture and Connections, compiled by Donald
Bragaw, http://www.globaled.org/globalLiteracy/activities/glIndex.html
If the World Were a Village—A Book about the World’s People, by David J Smith,
illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong (Kids Can Press, updated 2007). Also available
as a DVD.
http://www.mapping.com/village.html
The Miniature Earth
http://www.miniature-earth.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v9xJPiIlQU (great for kids)
19
Adapted from http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/mgv/
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank all of those who have made this project possible:
 Developers and supporters of the Women’s Rights Worldwide study-action
initiative for launching the discussions that led to the International
Convocation of U*U Women and the Global Literacy Project
 Advisory Committee of the International Convocation of U*U Women
among whom the idea for this project arose
 Southwest UU Women for agreeing to include this project in its grant
proposal and for managing the project funds
 Unitarian Universalist Funding Program for providing financial support
 A number of UU ministers for contributing their understandings of global
literacy
 Eric Cherry and the UUA Office of International Resources for providing
numerous, invaluable resources
 Cathy Cordes and the UU Partner Church Council for their partnership
materials
 International Council of Unitarians and Universalists for their excellent
website and resources, especially for the Global Chalice Lightings
 Nita Penfold for reviewing an early version of the project and suggesting
ways to vary the activities to incorporate to a variety of modes of learning,
and for designing and producing three of the slide shows
 Laura Nagel and Helen Bishop for reviewing the manuscript and
suggesting changes
 Donna Clifford, my spouse, for proof-reading and for supporting me
through the process of developing this project
 Our company, Rainbow Solutions, for providing additional financial
support
 Peter Menzel, for giving permission to use his incredible photographs in
one of the slide shows (www.menzelphoto.com)
 Laura Nagel for photographs of Arkos, Romania
 Christine Nielsen for photographs of the Philippines and for her concept of
the Four Pillars of Women’s Development
 John Hewerdine for photographs of the Khasi Hills, from Meghalaya
Revisited (1995)
 John Sommers for granting permission to include excerpts from his book,
Empowering the Oppressed: Grassroots Advocacy Movements in India
(2001)
 Lenna Desuasido, Elissa Courtney Goss, Krisztina Pall, and Zsófia
Sztranyiczki for sharing their stories
 Zsófia Sztranyiczki and Laura Nagel for technical assistance
 Mary Overton, Laura Nagel, and Gail Tittle for presenting workshops at
district conferences to introduce the Global Literacy Project and the
International Convocation of U*U Women
 Ten UUA districts, the Large Church Conference, and the Canadian
Unitarian Council for providing us with a forum for introducing this work

All of you who use this program to increase your awareness of global
concerns and become more effective and active global citizens