MANI Rama (Dr.)
Specialist in international conflicts prevention, and the role of culture in transitional justice.
Indian
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Biography
Established international practitioner and scholar who teaches, publishes and does policy work on issues of justice and human rights, conflict and peacebuilding, rule of law and the security sector, the UN and terrorism.
Faculty member at the GCSP (Geneva Centre for Security Policy). Director of the New Issues in Security Course (NISC).
Previously, she was the Senior Strategy Adviser to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva, from January to December 2002, addressing issues of humanitarian policy and conflict mediation.
From 1999 to December 2001, she worked with Oxfam (GB) in Africa as Africa Strategy Manager, based in Uganda.
Publications
- Responsibility to Protect: Cultural Perspectives in the Global south,avec Thomas G. Weiss, Routledge, 2011
- Beyond Retribution: Seeking Justice in the Shadows of War, Cambridge: Polity, 2002, 2007
Art is a human need
Art is a human need as ancient as our species and as vital as food or shelter, and humans suffer its deprivation.
- Topics : Art , Beauty , Human nature
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Art is life
Art is not and should not be distant from daily life. Art is life; creativity is survival.
Art, culture and civilization
Art has been relegated to museums and concert halls rather than being at the center of daily life. Formerly sovereigns not only were sometimes artists themselves but also were frequently active patrons; they recognized that culture and civilization could be preserved, enriched, and passed on by cultivating the arts...
Genocide and cultural ethnocide
Genocide is preceded by cultural ethnocide, or the gradual and deliberate erosion and manipulation of cultural values and practices by political authorities. The dissolution of this cultural foundation (...) makes people incapable of protecting themselves and their communities from the descent into the abyss of mass atrocities; it allows them to be manipulated to commit execrable acts counter to their own time-tested values and traditions.
- Topics : Conflict prevention , Ethics , Human values , Humanity , Political power , Unacceptable violence
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Governance and philosophy
In ancient times across Greece, China, India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, philosophy and politics were allies. Philosophical inquiry defined the polis and shaped political discourse. No king saw fit to rule without wise philosophers to counsel him; indeed, the ideal king was often himself a philosopher, in addition to being a spiritual guide and artist or poet...
- Topics : Education , Ethics , Human values , Political power , Wisdom
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The lack of creativity in problem solving
There is need in the praxis of politics and international relations to restore art, aesthetics, and creativity to a central place. The bureaucratic stagnation and lack of imagination that bog down problem solving in governments (...) can and should be overcome. Creativity, imagination, and innovation in problem solving would be potent tools to rejuvenate governance at all levels.
- Topics : Art , Humanization , Progress
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