2018
January
23
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

January 23, 2018
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We know US Attorney General Jeff Sessions took a turn in the Robert Mueller hot seat and the #MeToo movement likely influenced the Oscar nominations. But something else caught our attention today: the use of an ancient democratic tool.

Over the weekend, some 25 US senators helped break a political impasse that had shut down the federal government. When this “common sense coalition” arrived at Republican Sen. Susan Collins’s office, she pulled out a Native American talking stick.

This tool of aboriginal democracy has been effective for centuries in Cherokee, Arapaho, and Wampanoag (to name a few) tribal council meetings. The bearer of the stick has the sole right to speak. Each has an opportunity to hold the stick. But its power lies less in the right to talk than in each member of the circle practicing self-government by respectfully listening.

National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg told NPR that when Washington reaches a logjam like this politicians tend to address their core supporters, not each other. “And when you talk to your base, you're no longer in the business of persuasion. You're in the business of purity,” said Mr. Goldberg.

That’s why it’s noteworthy – and refreshingly effective – when the truly democratic ideal of listening is practiced.

Now to our five selected stories that illustrate paths to progress, trust-building, and stewardship at work.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Did you notice that President Trump had little direct involvement in resolving this past weekend’s shutdown of the US federal government? Our reporter looks at a possible shift in how business gets done in Washington. 

Peter Dejong/AP
Pete Hoekstra, new US ambassador to the Netherlands, and his wife, Diane, arrived at their residence in The Hague Jan. 10. Mr. Hoekstra was taken in a horse-drawn carriage to present his credentials to Dutch King Willem-Alexander. He was confronted the next day by Dutch reporters over controversial comments he made in 2015 suggesting that Islamic extremists were sowing chaos in the Netherlands.

When President Trump visits Switzerland this week, he can expect to be met by a relatively secular and liberal Europe that’s ready to challenge his statements and his positions on climate change and sexual harassment. 

Our next story is a remarkable portrait of a group of women in war-torn Syria who chose companionship and joy in response to the scarcity and suffering around them.

SOURCE:

Liveuamap

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

Where police take community engagement to heart

The city of St. Louis just hired a new police chief. One of his priorities is rebuilding trust between the public and the city’s 1,300 police officers. Monitor photographer Ann Hermes spent a day with Capt. Perri Johnson, one of the key officers in that effort to build community engagement, which involves mentoring kids, visiting schools, and speaking at public meetings. As a father of two black teenage boys, he knows that mistrust of cops isn’t a theoretical problem.  And Ann, who grew up in St. Louis, says she was struck by Johnson’s sincerity and his bluntly honest assessment of the challenge.

How to police a community

If you’re a hiker, you’re probably familiar with the “Leave No Trace” wilderness ethic. It reflects the golden rule, and respect for nature and others. Our next story asks whether such values should extend beyond this planet.


The Monitor's View

AP Photo
In this March 26, 2017 photo, people march against corruption and in support of the Car Wash investigation on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The prime minister of Norway made a welcome suggestion at this year’s World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. She asked that a #MeToo-style campaign be launched against corruption.

“We need to see who is taking money, who is bribing others, and show that this is unacceptable in all our societies,” said Erna Solberg, one of the co-chairs, who are all women, at Davos.

The #MeToo movement does indeed have three key aspects that inspire imitation: It is largely grass roots. It is global in scope. And it started with empathy (or “me too”) for a set of victims, specifically those who have experienced sexual misconduct.

In recent years, many countries, from Romania to South Korea, have seen popular uprisings against corrupt rulers. These national movements did not go global. Nor did they come with a catchy hashtag. Yet they were all grass roots. They reflect a rising expectation for honesty and transparency in government.

If there is any cross-border movement against corruption, it is in Latin America. Several countries such as Brazil and Guatemala have demonstrated dramatic shifts in public thought against graft in high places. One reason is that a regional construction firm, Odebrecht, has been caught bribing officials in several countries. Another is that Pope Francis has visited Latin America twice with an anti-corruption theme. “This is a battle that involves all of us,” said the head of the Roman Catholic Church on his latest visit.

And a survey last year by the watchdog group Transparency International revealed that 70 percent of people in the region believe ordinary people can make a difference in fighting corruption, which is defined as the abuse of public office for private gain.

Brazil has made the most progress in exposing corruption, even up to the presidency. “Impunity is no longer the rule,” writes Sérgio Moro, the judge overseeing the so-called Car Wash investigations that have felled dozens of top leaders, in Americas Quarterly.

Lately, Argentina has taken the spotlight. Since the election of Mauricio Macri as president in 2015, and after a renewed mandate in 2017, the country has seen social and economic reforms that reflect a popular demand against corruption. At least five prominent former officials, including a vice president, have been charged with corruption.

“People showed in [the] 2015 and 2017 elections that they were tired of decay, inefficiency and corruption but ready and hungry for a different and effective recipe for individual and national progress,” states Laura Alonso, the head of Argentina’s national anti-corruption office, in the same publication. Mr. Macri’s reforms are built on “a sustained social demand,” she adds.

This year, Argentina assumed the presidency of the Group of Twenty, a club of wealthy countries that has helped set higher global standards against corruption over the past decade. If Argentina can use the experience of Latin America to propel this cause into a truly global movement, then perhaps Norway’s prime minister might get her wish.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

In the spirit of evolving the Monitor Daily toward the best and clearest statement of the Monitor’s mission, we’ve made some changes to the Christian Science Perspective, beginning yesterday. Learn more here.


A message of love

Markus Schreiber/AP
Police officers stand guard Jan. 23 on the roof of a hotel near the congress center where the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is getting under way in Davos, Switzerland.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. Tomorrow we'll resume our Reaching for Equity series on gender and power. From Istanbul, Scott Peterson looks at how an increasingly authoritarian and conservative Turkey is backsliding from its once-promising push toward greater gender equality.

More issues

2018
January
23
Tuesday

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