Back to the Blog!

After a long (Aussie) winter slumber from blogging, I'm back online and hope to be hit with a few spells of automatic writing to make up for all those blogless months!

I'm currently back in Tokyo and just starting my third month of graduate studies at ICU on what's known as a "Rotary World Peace Fellowship".

ICU is one of 6 Rotary Peace Centers around the world, and here in Japan there are 9 of us from the Netherlands, Zambia, Thailand, USA, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Mexico and Australia, who enrolled in the masters program on peace and conflict studies (via a MA in Public Administration).


Being back at university and studying full-time without having to be too worried about a regular income flow is a damn nice privilege, and I feel really lucky to be where I am just now. While I'm studying a range of subjects (including Conflict in the Middle-East; NE Asian Political Economy; Peace Studies; Public Administration; Philosophies on Peace + two Japanese classes), I'm looking to focus my research efforts in the second year on Burma. More specifically, the role of women in civil society and the contribution they are making to the democracy movement, as well as the application of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" to Burma.

Well, there's plenty more ideas in my head about other approaches to take on Burma (eg. IDPs & refugees; corruption; sexual violence; ASEAN; corporate accountability for armed conflict etc etc) so how to start refining my ideas? I guess I need to start talking to more activists in the field about what kind of topic would be most useful and valuable to them, as well as something that is academically purposeful.

Right now though -- I'm spending this weekend writing essays to hand in later this month. Autumn term finishes for me on November 18. Topics so far: Analysis on Japan's defense budget; Gandhi's Hind Swaraj and contemporary interpretations; and something about Co-optation and local participation perhaps..? Hmm. Still have to find something fascinating to write about in Public Administration -- which has so far been a rather dry and uninspiring subject. But I realise it has so much potential!!

Other news is that I'm doing some work for a new Japanese NGO called Human Rights Now. This organization was established just a few months ago by a group of activist lawyers, journalists, academics etc and there are plenty of very enthusiastic people involved -- including a growing number of volunteers -- to help ensure that it gets off to a very solid start. So far I've been involved with editing a position paper on the Khmer Rouge Trials (Phnong Phemn, Cambodia), translating for the English website, and researching for the ODA project team for upcoming NGO-governmental consultations.