Amy Edelstein interviews MP Ray Swark, leader of the South African anti-apartheid movement The dismantling of apartheid rule in South Africa is one of the recent decades’ greatest models of social evolution. It was as if the sleeping world stretched and heaved off a great weight, and did so without massive bloodshed, hatred, or deeper scars marked into the human psyche. … Read More
Helen Suzman: Politician, Social Revolutionary & Change Maker
“I didn’t take any risks!” was perhaps the most provocative thing politician, social activist, and radically independent thinking Helen Suzman could have said to me. In case you are not familiar with her history and accomplishments, the late Helen Suzman, member of South African Parliament for thirty-six years, was the sole Progressive Party member in opposition to the apartheid regime … Read More
Dr. Jose Cabezon on Gay Buddhist Ethics & Gender Identity
This article was originally printed in EnlightenNext magazine. On June 11, 1997, in San Francisco, gay Buddhist activists met with H.H. the Dalai Lama to take the revered Tibetan Buddhist leader to task for his position that gay sexuality was in violation of Buddhist sexual ethics. In his bookBeyond Dogma, the Dalai Lama cites Buddhist rules that classify homosexual activity … Read More