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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 3.01

01/01/97 - 01/12/97

CONTENTS


* VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public

    Keep Ebonics and Get Rid of the Oakland Unified School District
    By Kevin Weston
    Date: 01-06-97
    A former student of the Oakland public schools argues that from slavery's spirituals to today's hip-hop, black English has been critical to black Americans' survival. What's needed now is to revamp the educational system in Oakland so it serves the community. PNS commentator Kevin Weston, an associate editor of YO! (Youth Outlook), is an editor at Bay View, a weekly black newspaper in San Francisco. This article also appeared in the Sunday Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times.

    For One Guatemalan Mother in the City -- Peace Means Raising a Son Not to Be a Brute
    By Maria de Carmen Perez, As Told to Mary Jo McConahay
    Date: 01-07-97
    The signing of Guatemala's peace accords in late December marks the first time in over four decades when all of Central America is at peace. But what does that word mean to the millions of people who have fled war, unemployment and landlessness in the countryside to make a life in the city? Maria de Carmen Perez, an illiterate, 44-year-old mother of six, earns $13-$16 a week washing clothes for vendors in Guatemala City. She explains that the key challenge in her life -- like that of most of her female neighbors -- is to raise her son to respect women and not abandon the family. Her words were recorded and edited by PNS associate editor Mary Jo McConahay, a writer and journalist who has lived in Guatemala for over a decade. Photographs of de Carmen Perez are available on request from Pacific News Service.

    The Selling of MLK
    By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
    Date: 01-10-97
    The moral contradictions and inconsistencies between Martin Luther King's public image and private lifestyle have fueled a veritable industry of commentaries and books -- as have the various theories about who killed him and why. Far less noted is the one theme on which he was utterly consistent: he abhorred personal wealth and ownership of property. PNS commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a Los Angeles-based writer and scholar whose books include "The Mugging of Black America."


* HERESIES: Thinking the Unthinkable About the Future

    Will There be Two Human Races in the Future? -- Life Enhancement Makes it Seem Possible
    By Walter Truett Anderson
    Date: 01-08-97
    New discoveries and advanced techniques in medicine show promise of bringing basic change -- not only increasing length of life but improving the quality of that life. But even if that promise is realized, vexing questions of equity will not go away: who will enjoy the "enhancements" as they become available? PNS associate editor Walter Truett Anderson, author of the book "Evolution Isn't What It Used To Be" (W.H. Freeman), is a political scientist who writes widely on technology and global governance.


* VECTORS: A Regular Column on the Ideas and Directions Behind Today's News

    Why the World Seems to Be Getting Better and Worse at the Same Time
    By Franz Schurmann
    Date: 12-31-96
    Of the three great revolutionary -isms of the past two centuries, it is capitalism that has managed to secure a level of material affluence that has improved even the condition of the world's poor from where it was fifty years ago. Yet there is a widespread sense that things are getting worse. Capitalism's great failure is to create or sustain a moral order that is essential to people's well being. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, a professor emeritus of history and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, is author of "American Soul" (Mercury Press).


* CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World

    Four Truths About the Ebonics Debate
    By Joan Walsh
    Date: 1-2-97
    The ebonics debate has become almost as indecipherable as trying to follow an argument in a foreign language. Depicted as yet another battle in the confrontation of black and white America, in fact it reflects rising multiminority tensions over resources and respect. PNS associate editor Joan Walsh writes widely on urban issues. Her new report, "Stories of Renewal: Community Building and the Future of Urban America," has just been published by The Rockefeller Foundation.


* CIVIL CONFLICTS: Interpretive Reports on Ethnic, Religious, and Inter-National Conflicts Worldwide

    A Global Network -- Tupac Amaru Guerrillas Linked to Japanese Red Army Faction
    By Yoichi Clark Shimatsu
    Date: 01-03-97
    The consensus of the world's elites is that the Tupac Amaru hostage seizure in Lima is the last gasp of 60s-style domestic insurgencies. In fact, the group commands an international network that includes Japan's notorious Red Army Faction and feeds off the global drug trade. PNS associate editor Yoichi Clark Shimatsu is a Tokyo-based investigative reporter and former editor of the English-language Japan Times Weekly.

    Koreans Strike to Level the World's Economic Playing Field
    By David Bacon
    Date: 01-09-97
    The South Korean general strike is fast moving toward a turning point. As union after union joins the strike, President Kim Young-san has decided to crush it by arresting union leaders now holed up in the Myongdong Catholic cathedral. Whatever the outcome, the Korean unions have already shown the general strike can be a powerful weapon to resist the wave of downsizing now washing away hard-won worker benefits throughout the advanced industrial world. PNS associate editor David Bacon writes widely on labor and immigration issues.


* YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes

    God(dess) is Green -- Youth Pagans Turn to Eco-Spirutuality for a Sense of Purpose
    By A. Clay Thompson
    Date: 12-30-96
    As parents and peers look towards the cybertopia of the twenty-first century, a movement of youthful pagans is turning to ancient wisdom and nature for a sense of spiritual purpose. Some are working within the social and political realms to save the natural systems they hold dear, while trying to avoid modern habits they see as part of a high-tech, money-oriented lifestyle. A. Clay Thompson is on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about Bay Area youth produced by Pacific News Service.

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