Danielle Levy

The anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall unleashed many recollections, tributes, promises. It was an occasion to remember human rights and those who still can’t live under them. Several heads of state had choice words while many columnists and pundits had theirs. Of all that was said the words of Sen. John McCain in a Financial Times’ article captured the significance in a particularly pithy way, and to my mind at least placed its importance in a forward context that may perhaps foretell the Wall’s legacy. “The fall of the Berlin Wall made history, but that history was made by countless men and women over many decades who longed for a world in which their rights would be protected too. Those impatient dreamers are still out there today, in Iran and Cuba, Zimbabwe and Burma and beyond. States like these, hostile to human dignity, may look stable, but they are actually roting inside—for they have only fear and force to sustain them, and people will not be afraid forever.”

“Peace is not just the absence of conflict,’ said former President Clinton speaking at the American University in Dubai, “it is the presence of opportunity and co-operation and a sense of justice and fairness and movement.” It’s far from a new thought, I remember it from graduate school many years ago. But when someone with the stature Bill Clinton has come to have says it, it ceases to be academic and begins to become real, and in context of his speech, makes the meaning that much more undeniable. “What leads people to suicide bombings?” He asked in the same speech, and then answered his own question. “They believe they have more to gain in the next world than in this one.” He went on to say that he saw this feeling as what he called the major danger in front of Palestinians and Israelis.
Whether Mr. Clinton’s thoughts help solve the Middle East crisis or some other crisis in is probably open to question. What is important is that these thoughts now become part of the diplomatic vocabulary and arsenal.

There’s a new campaign in rural India, “No loo? No, ‘I do’.” Young women and their mothers are insisting that a potential groom have a toilet or there will be no wedding. Getting people to have toilets has been an uphill battle and recent efforts have failed. Now that the campaign has reached the radio as well as TV serials, it is beginning to make an impact. One reason is due to the abortion of female fetuses. Though illegal, girls are seen as a drain since eventually they will need dowries. The result is there is now more male than females and many young women are feeling empowered. Add to that the experience of those women who have access to toilets. They no longer have to get up early to go relieve themselves in open fields, or use public toilets. The in house toilets by being more sanitary also prevents many chronic urinary tract and other infections.
We think of progress as something having large impact, like computers or the automobile. But often progress is in the nitty-gritty of small things which make a large difference, its minutia being all the more inspiring and powerful.