Ovi magazine; Tuesday November 15th, 2022 – Day of Eight Billion

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday November 15th, 2022 – Day of Eight Billion

On 15 November 2022, the world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion people, a milestone in human development. This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries.

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U.N. Highlights Rape as a War Weapon in Ukraine by Rene Wadlow

Pramila Patten, the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on sexual violence in times of conflict reported mid-October 2022 that rape is increasingly used in the armed conflict in Ukraine as a weapon to humiliate and discourage the populations.  There had been an earlier 27 September report to the High Commissioner for Human Rights setting out many of the same facts and calling for international action.

In the past, sexual violence had often been dismissed as acts of individual soldiers, rape being one of the spoils of war for whom rape of women was an entitlement.  However, with the 2001 trials of war crimes in former Yugoslavia by the International  Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia, the first convictions of rape as a crime against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war were handed down against Bosnian Serb soldiers.  Bosnian Serb fighters were charged with mass rape and forced prostitution involving dozens of Muslim women and girls some only 12 years old.  The case had taken five years of investigations and more than 30 witnesses for the prosecution.  The three soldiers being tried were given a sentence of 12 years imprisonment.

Since then, we have seen patterns of systematic rape become part of International Humanitarian Law, and since 2002 one of the crimes that can be prosecuted within the International Criminal Court.

Continue reading HERE!

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Painting The World In Colours #poem & #photography by Nikos Laios

“In the afternoons 
I run around 
The harbour 
And I see 
Orange dripping 
On everything;
On the trees, 
On the grass,
On the horizon,
On boats 
Bobbing in 
The harbour.”

Continue reading HERE

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Ephemera #74 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Friday September 16th, 2022 – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday September 16th, 2022 – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

The ozone layer, a fragile shield of gas, protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the rays of the sun, thus helping preserve life on the planet. The phaseout of controlled uses of ozone depleting substances and the related reductions have not only helped protect the ozone layer for this and future generations, but have also contributed significantly to global efforts to address climate change; furthermore, it has protected human health and ecosystems by limiting the harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching the Earth.

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When the memory fades by Amir Khatib

Once I somehow tried to define homeland. Homeland is the tenderness our mothers gave us; it is the cold winter next to the warm stove and a cup tea waiting to go to school, it is running and playing with friends, it is that cart at the school door with the good seller who packs eggs and vegetables in bread and give them to us with a smile.

Homeland is all the memories of childhood.

And it is all the memories collected and stuffed in our head with or without our will. It is memories inserted to our conscious or unconscious from time to time and we do retrieve them, reflect the joyful moments more often than the painful ones. We bring back the rectangle of the contemplation in the buildings, the faces and events that passed and have solidified or calcified us; that have become thin layers of us that sometimes are difficult to browse through.

Among those memories, Yassin Ghaleb clutches and carries them with sincerity, joy and burdened. He carries them on all his long personal life journeys, a life that took him to the farthest point in the north of this earth.

Continue reading HERE!

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My grey shadow #poem by Bohdan Yuri

“Next to me is my grey shadow
the one that falls into a shade
and holds a candle when it rains.
its borrowed soul is from my own
but I never told it what to perform.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Ephemera #69 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Saturday August 27th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday August 27th, 2022

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BLESSING WAY & PRAYER of the INTERIOR FORMS of the EARTH by David Sparenberg

The Navajo (Dine) people of the American southwest practice sacred ceremonies and prayers of Hozho (Blessing) to renew the order of creation: confirm or reset the proper relationships between human communities and the other-than-human communities of our mutually inhabited biosphere. This is the Blessing Way, the way of respect, appropriate alignment, of coming into, or returning to, original at-onement. Within the elaborate Blessing Way Ceremony humans are not viewed or treated as a breed apart, but are significant participants in intricate, inter-related and interdependent, global, even cosmic, eco-systems. Within this interdimensional dynamic, sometimes called the Sacred Hoop of Creation, humans have a specific role, the role of embodying, articulating, memorializing, prayers of time-space renewals and ceremonies reenacting primordial appropriation (role and placement) and resulting harmony.

Within the Blessing Way is the prayer called the Navajo Prayer of the Interior Forms of the Earth, the shortened title of which is simply Earth Prayer. A visionary sensibility is required to be able to “know;” to be relational, even intimate, with the interior (spiritual/relationship) forms, present everywhere, of elaborately diverse Earth entities.

Continue reading HERE!

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The Innocence Of Youth #poem & #photography by Nikos Laios

“A hot summer afternoon,
A vivid blue sky,
The arching bridge,
The reeds bathed 
In golden sunlight “

Continue reading HERE!

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Fika bonding! #41 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Thursday July 7th, 2022 – World Chocolate Day

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday July 7th, 2022 – World Chocolate Day

World Chocolate Day, sometimes referred to as International Chocolate Day, or just Chocolate Day, is an annual celebration of chocolate, occurring globally on July 7, which some suggest to be the anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550. The observance of World Chocolate Day dates back to 2009.

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The Mouse that Growled: Liechtenstein and the Power of the Veto by Rene Wadlow

A remarkable question was recently posed by the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein via a Resolution broached for discussion at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly  which is scheduled to begin on the 13th of September 2022.

The Liechtenstein Resolution calls for the President of the General Assembly to invite a permanent member of the UN Security Council to come before the General Assembly and explain its stand within ten days of applying a veto. The resolution asks that these five permanent members  submit a special report at least 72 hours before the relevant discussions in the General Assembly.

The Charter of the UN is very clear in outlining the organization’s mission of saving“succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, whereby the Security Council has been granted the power to act on the General Assembly’s behalf in achieving this aim through Article 24 of the UN Charter. Ironically, the veto power granted to P-5 members has been  applied to block various peace-keeping initiatives. By their continued use of the veto, the P-5  have left the nations of the world in paralysis  many times.

Continue reading HERE!

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Fried Eggs & Ham #poem & #photo by Nikos Laios

“The eggs are
Popping in the pan,
The coffee pot is hot,
The blinds are flapping
And the leaves are
Crumpled and dry.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Ephemera #63 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Tuesday June 21st, 2022 – World Humanist Day

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday June 21st, 2022 – World Humanist Day

World Humanist Day is a Humanist holiday celebrated annually around the world on the June solstice, which usually falls on June 21. According to Humanists International, the day is a way of spreading awareness of Humanism as a philosophical life stance and means to effect change in the world. It is also seen as a time for Humanists to gather socially and promote the positive values of Humanism.

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World music day by Dr Elsa Lycias Joel

Inspite of knowing that world music day is celebrated on June 21 since 1982 I happened to think over it for the first time today.  One of my favourite childhood memories include waking up and going to bedlistening to one particular Tamil song named that goes as ‘ Deva pidhaenthanmeipanallo’ .  This was not only my most loved song but the one that rang in my ears all the time. I consider this my all-time special due to the following reasons

1- This is the first Tamil song I learnt as a kid

2- If not in our house, this song was still heard from some part of my hometown Neyyoor.

3- Soon after I began to decipher the lyrics, I understood the song was not just honey to my ears but it also encouraged my soul.

4- It was nothing but Psalm 23rd taking the shape of a song only to offer me a peace that passeth all understanding.

5 – I could tell between music lovers and others from the way they sang this particular song.

Continue reading HERE!

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The Surfer #poem & #photo by Nikos Laios

“It’s cold and the wind
Is howling along the coast,
The smell of the ocean
Hangs in the air
And the sound of
Rustling eucalyptus trees
Bending in the breeze.”

Continue reading HERE!

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A Day of Balance and Harmony by Rene Wadlow

The 21st of June, the Summer Solstice, is in many cultures the cosmic symbol of balance and harmony: balance between light and dark, between the universal and the local, between giving and receiving, between women and men, and between our inner and outer worlds. History records humanity’s preoccupation with the sun’s annual cycle.  Sites such as Stonehenge in England are thought to have been erected specifically to trace the path of the sun through the heavens.

The sun has always had symbolic meaning.  As that most ancient Sanskrit prayer, the Gayatri tells us, the sun is a disc of golden light giving sustenance to the universe.  Plato used the image of the sun to represent the idea of the One, the Good. In the age of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt, the concept of harmony, order, and balance were personified by the goddess Ma’at, the winged woman who replicated on earth, the celestial balance of order and beauty.

Continue reading HERE!

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Mika Toxica #28 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi magazine; Friday March 11th, 2022

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday March 11th, 2022

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The Putin Prophecy by Bohdan Yuri

Plain and Simple: When Putin invaded Ukraina he signed his own death warrant.

Yeah, I understand. Just another stab at sensationalism without any concrete evidence to support such a generic statement. I get it. But this is a prophecy, if there were solid evidence then this wouldn’t be a prophecy.

There are many ways to look at this from a wish to a fact….and with all the weirdness in-between.

No, it probably won’t happen today, but perhaps a future tomorrow may embrace that prophetic day. Footsteps emerging from shadows past that might be seeking revenge.

Continue reading HERE!

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“Next Spring” #poem & #photo by Nikos Laios

“The flames are burning,
And the tear-stained cheeks
Huddle in ancient subways”

Continue reading HERE!

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Robert Muller: Crossing Frontiers for Reconciliation by Rene Wadlow

Robert Muller, whose birth anniversary we mark on 11 March, was the former Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Service of the United Nations, and, after his retirement, he served as Honorary President of the Association of World Citizens.  He was brought up in Alsace-Lorraine still marked by the results of the First World War.   As a young man, he joined the French Resistance movement during the Second World War when Alsace-Lorraine had been re-annexed by Germany.  At the end of the War, he earned a Doctorate in Law and Economics at the University of Strasbourg. Strasbourg was to become the city symbolic of French-German reconciliation and is today home of the European Parliament.

Continue reading HERE!

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Mika Toxica #020 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

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Ovi today

Musharraf's end game by Thanos Kalamidas
The first one has gone and it was about time. Pakistan's dictator Pervez Musharraf resigned under the pressure of facing charges. Obviously he proved to have a bit of brain and just like Pinochet a few years ago he chose to leave power graciously.

The Anger, the Longing, the Hope by Gush Shalom
One of the wisest pronouncements I have heard in my life was that of an Egyptian general, a few days after Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem.

Photography By Mari Hokkanen by Alexandra Pereira
Mari Hokkanen (b. 1979) is a fantastic young Finnish female photographer: talented, original and technically skilled. Mari appreciates nostalgic places or environments where she feels she can start telling a story.

South Ossetia: The Guns of August by Rene Wadlow
As the eyes of much of the world was focused on the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing on 8/8/08, Georgian troops moved into the province of South Ossetia to restore Georgian control.