World Views

Oasis changing lives through football.

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Oasis Founder Clifford Martinus has a contagious passion for sport and community. This is evident in the work done at Oasis Place with his belief that the connection to a team, fair play and sport can support an individual in overcoming the odds, both personal and social. This South African non-profit creates positive personal development opportunities for youth from marginalised backgrounds.

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Latest Posts in World Views

“Us” Versus “Them”: The Tribalism Trap

 
One of the great contradictions of human psychology is our notorious double-standard with respect to how we treat others, as a rule.  If a person is viewed as being one of “us” – a member of our group, or our religious faith, or our nation – we are predisposed to cooperate with them, to empathize with their hardships, come to their assistance if needed, and sometimes even sacrifice our lives for them.  Because they are members of our “tribe”, we view them as sharing a common fate.  

Pilgrimage

This is the year for me to plan a pilgrimage. It’s not that I want to go anywhere in particular. The pilgrimage could simply take place within the far reaching corners of my mind.  For some time, all of my life really, I have often pondered the notion of whether I have a destiny.  And deep down inside when I pose this question, I know I do. Destiny. Making my mark. It all belongs to me. And to all of you.


Global Governance from the Ground Up: A Biological Perspective

The most obvious and universally accepted goal for global governance -- to keep (or restore) the peace between nations -- is far too narrowly framed within the context of the emerging global challenges of population growth, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, and resurgent nationalism.   The ecological and political underpinnings for global governance and social peace in our increasingly interdependent global...


Interview with Rhonda Collard-Spratt and Jacki Ferro, Aboriginal Memoirists

Rhonda Collard-Spratt is a voice for the mission children of Australia’s Stolen Generations. Rhonda is an engaging performer, an Aboriginal dancer, singer-songwriter, poet, artist, and storyteller. She has worked in women’s prisons around suicide prevention, helping them reconnect with their Aboriginality. Jacki Ferro is a community development worker, writer and editor based in Brisbane. Since the 1990s, Jacki has run cross-cultural, unifying projects that promote self-determination, community education and social justice. As Community Relations Officer at Ipswich in 2000, Jacki instigated the Link Up! Multicultural Festival and the first Sorry Day March. Qualified in public relations, social planning, and writing, editing and publishing, in 2013 Jacki began co-writing and editing memoirs of inspirational, brave people.


The Evolution of “Zoon Politikon” (The Political Animal)

Aristotle, it seems, got it right.  Politics may have played a key role in human evolution as the classic primate pattern of male dominance hierarchies shifted to a pattern of consensual leadership for common goals and collective action.