Around the WorldBoston

July - August 2003

Editor in Chief: Brandie E. Conforti                                                          Editor: Lorraine Goldstein - Communications

Our Mission: WorldBoston is a catalyst for global engagement that offers cultural perspectives and promotes international thinking in individuals and organizations.  WorldBoston provides a staging ground for issues-focused forums, one-on-one dialog, networking and personal and professional growth for residents, businesses and institutions of 

Greater Boston and around the globe.

FEATURES

  Gearing Up for a Busy Season

  World Affairs

  Emerging Leaders  

The WorldBoston Wish List

Corporate Membership at WorldBoston

  Contact Us

Gearing Up for a Busy Season

Brandie E. Conforti, Executive Director

Summer used to be a time when the WorldBoston staff could wind down its activities and sit back and relax.  Such times, undoubtedly, are over.  As we emerge from one of our busiest summers yet, we are gearing up for a very ambitious and exciting Fall.

Our Newest Staff Member.  I’d like to introduce you to Melissa McDonald, who joins us as Director of the World Affairs program.  Melissa brings with her not only an impressive background but also a sharp intellect and, most important, a love of international affairs.  I hope that each of you gets to meet Melissa in the upcoming weeks.

Exciting Programs.  This Fall our schedule hits the pulse of the issues at the forefront of international politics.  One needs only to pick up the morning paper or turn on the television set to take note of the contentious issues swirling about the globe.  Addressing these head on, WorldBoston will again take up the Korean peninsula debate, this time in grand form as we welcome both the Korean Ambassador to the United States, Sung-Joo Han, and the U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Thomas C. Hubbard, at a luncheon.

We will also be exploring the emerging Polish biotechnology sector, along with Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former President of Poland, Lech Walesa.  In other scheduled events, we will be examining international justice systems.  In addition, we’ll be leading trips to the Pentagon and to Hanscom Air Force Base.

Through all of these programs, we’ll be hitting the hard issues, building bridges among professionals from abroad and globally engaging Greater Boston in a spirit even stronger than before.

Last, but certainly not least, on November 4^th we will be honoring former U.S. Ambassador Charles Stith as the recipient of WorldBoston’s International Citizen Award.  Please mark your calendars to help us celebrate a man who in so many ways is worthy of this honor.  We anticipate that this year’s annual fundraiser will prove to be the social occasion of the season!  So be sure to join us.

Check Our Website. We are continually updating the WorldBoston website to keep you informed about our programs, upcoming events and visitors, and to make it easier for you to contact us. Please check out our website regularly.

WORLD AFFAIRS

Melissa McDonald, Director, World Affairs

World Affairs strives to educate, inform and foster understanding of international affairs; and to provide accessibility for the general public to participate in the discussion of global issues. 

I am very excited to have joined the talented staff of WorldBoston as the new Director of World Affairs and look forward to meeting each and every one of you this season.  I hope that I can meet all of your expectations to continue to provide engaging and provocative programming that meets and exceeds your expectations.

As noted above, World Affairs is busy preparing an exciting Fall lineup that includes speaker events, two Defense Forum tours, the Korea Caravan, the Polish Biotechnology Conference and, of course, the International Citizen Award dinner.  Please note all of these dates on your calendars and, more important, be sure to attend.

Speaker/Panel Discussions  

September 16            “International Justice Systems”:  Is an 

                                  international justice system the answer to  

                                  ensuring the safety of our global 

                                  community?”

Two Defense Forum Tours

September 18         Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, MA

October 21             The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Because Defense Forum Tours fill up quickly and are generally “sell-out” events, we encourage you to register as soon as possible in order to secure a place.

The Korea Caravan 2003

September 24          Business Panel Discussion and Luncheon

In cooperation with the Korea Economic Institute, WorldBoston will be hosting this half-day conference that will include a morning business panel discussion that will address “Korea’s Economic and Business Environment and the IT Industry.”  A luncheon will follow, with Ambassador Sung-Joo Han, Republic of Korea ambassador to the United States, and Ambassador Thomas C. Hubbard, United States ambassador to the Republic of Korea, speaking about “Security on the Korean Peninsula and U.S.-Korea Economic Relations.”

Polish Biotechnology Conference

September 25        “Why Poland?  Why Biotechnology? Why     

                              Now?”

WorldBoston is working with the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the Polish American Networking Organization (PANO), the U.S.-Poland Chamber of Commerce and White Eagle to sponsor this afternoon conference and banquet that will provide insights into the Polish biotechnology market.  The conference’s keynote speaker will be Lech Walesa, former President of the Republic of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner.  For more information about this event, please visit www.pano-boston.org/bio

International Citizen Award Dinner

November 4          Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel

We have also begun planning for this bi-annual award dinner.  More information about this gala event will be coming soon.

To keep abreast of these and other future events, be sure to check our website often or call World Affairs (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 112).  If there are any topics that you would like us to address in the future or if you would like to offer feedback on events you have attended, please send an email to wac@worldboston.org.

EMERGING LEADERS

Julie Harmon, Community Connections Project Associate

Kate Harvey, Director, International Visitors

Natasha Palmroth, Director, Emerging Leaders

The mission of Emerging Leaders is to engage and develop dynamic thinkers from around the world who will drive global change in the future.  It involves the administration of two United States Department of State programs:  the International Visitor Program and Community Connections.  

9/11:  Some Impressions From Our Visitors.  With the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the immediate horizon, we thought it would be meaningful to open a dialogue with some of our international visitors in order to get a global view of “why 9/11” as well as its aftermath.

A perfect opportunity to do this came in early August when WorldBoston, through the Emerging Leaders Program, hosted a group of six journalists from South Asia.  Their program, titled “Post 9/11 Engagement in the US,” was focused on learning about life in America since September 11, 2001.  As part of the program, WorldBoston organized a roundtable discussion involving both the visitors and a small group of Boston community members with diverse backgrounds, including lawyers, consultants, educators and government officials, in order to solicit a range of personal perspectives on 9/11.

The discussion began with the community members describing their initial reactions to the attacks in the hours and days following 9/11, noting their feelings of extreme sadness and fear.  When Mr. Bandyopadahyay of India asked these individuals “Why did 9/11 happen?”, some of them responded that because of the United States’s position of power in the world, such an attack was inevitable.  Others said they felt that the attacks were due to a breach in U.S. security.  Still others suggested that 9/11 was provoked by a growing anti-American sentiment abroad.

The visitors then offered their own interpretations, stating that U.S. policy is very one-sided and often hypocritical, citing, for example, Iraq.  They noted that in the early 1980s the United States supported Iraq and provided it with the means to defeat Iran; yet today the U.S. is at war with Iraq.  They noted that this action and others lead them to believe that the United States cares only about what happens to itself and its interests, and not the rest of the world where events such as 9/11, though perhaps on a more limited scale, happen every day.

Building on this comment, Ms. Barakzai from Afghanistan commented on living conditions in Afghanistan, noting that the lives of every-day Afghanis have not improved since the Taliban was removed from power.  In fact, she stated that when a few thousand of its own people died on 9/11, the United States, enraged, felt justified in entering Afghanistan to fight its enemy.  She also noted that more Afghanis have died since U.S. intervention began in her country than previously, yet U.S. words and actions seem to indicate that U.S. lives are more valuable than Afghani lives, regardless of the great loss of life among the Afghan population.

In closing the conversation, Mr. Zamir from Bangladesh suggested that Americans need to gain a better perspective and understanding of world affairs by reading newspapers from abroad and making the effort to learn about the issues and events of concern to the rest of the world.

Although the discussion ended with everyone not in accord, all of the participants agreed that the exchange that took place was mutually beneficial.  As the Fall season begins, we hope to offer more opportunities for these types of candid discussions with our visiting international professionals. 

If you would like to get involved with the International Visitor Program, please contact Kate Harvey.  Be sure to check our website for up-to-date listings of our International Visitors.

If you are interested in becoming a homestay host or business internship host for our Community Connections professionals, please contact Julie Harmon, Community Connections Project Associate, or Natasha Palmroth, Director of Emerging Leaders. 

THE WORLDBOSTON WISH LIST

We hope that you will consider making a donation to WorldBoston.  Please visit our website and click on Give a Gift to see the kinds of activities your gift will support, as well as a donation form.

Other things on our Wish List are:

   * Volunteer part-time bookkeeper

   * Volunteer part-time computer consultant

   * Color printer (PC compatible, 14ppm color;

      installation software must be included)

   * Event sponsors and space

If you are able to donate your time or a top-quality color printer, or are interested in event sponsorship, please contact Brandie Conforti. 

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP at WORLDBOSTON

WorldBoston is able to provide high-quality programs to its members thanks to the help and support of its corporate members.  Corporate membership at WorldBoston not only helps us, it help you as well.  As a corporate member, you will receive: 

• Members-first opportunities for professional, business and social contact with emerging leaders from abroad who come to Boston each month through WorldBoston, giving you the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with a global audience.

• Early notice of international affairs speaker forums, conferences and trips, all offering premier networking opportunities where you can rub shoulders with experts in many fields.  

• Preference for exclusive by-invitation-only events, giving you access to foreign policy elite.

• Listing as a major WorldBoston supporter on our website and in our print materials, giving your organization additional PR plus opportunities to underwrite events for wider acknowledgement.

If your company is interested in learning more, please contact Brandie Conforti, Executive Director.