Civitas Home Page
            &n bsp; 

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

We don't hear it much now, but following the Second World War (1941-1945), the philosophy of maintaining international peace through recognizing each major power's "sphere of influence" was given considerable credence.  Simply stated, the idea was this.  Each major power had the right to dominate its neighboring countries and it was their right to keep these countries in check.  Thus, the United States could control Cuba and all of Latin America (consistent with the Monroe Doctrine of 1823); the Soviet Union could control its "buffer states" such as Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, etc; and China had certain (though limited) rights in the "Asian theater."

We suspect that most of our readers are now aware of the fact that North Korea reported last Sunday (Oct. 8) that it had detonated an underground nuclear weapon.  Virtually all countries in the world condemned North Korea for the act, but few had ideas as to how "the world" should proceed from here.  Our question is, "Do you think that China should have primary responsibility for dealing with this issue since North Korea is a neighbor of theirs and therefore in their 'sphere of influence?'"  Please feel free to express any ideas you have regarding how to respond to this development.

LINK TO CIVITAS BLOG:

M.S. TEACHERS HOLD COUNTRY DRAFT!

In the largest country draft in Civitas' sixteen years, middle school teachers met Monday afternoon at the Richmond Heights Community Center to draft countries for nine Spring sessions.  They selected countries for March 14, March 15, April 25, April 26, April 27, May 2, May 3, May 4, and May 10, 2007.

Special congratulations are in order for the teachers who had to draft for more than one date because they have such a large number of students coming.  These include Brian Rockette and Bernadette Omri from North Kirkwood Middle School who between them had to draft for six sessions.  Monica Assareh and Susan Scharnhorst from Northwest Valley Middle School drafted for three sessions while Tim McGinnis of Hixson Middle School had two sessions.

The country rosters for each date should be on our web site (www.kidswhothink.org) by the end of the week.  We will definitely have the link for you in next week's newsletter.

Teachers can now move at their own rate in assigning countries to particular students.  The next important event for middle school teachers and students alike is the Fall workshop on Monday, November 13.  We are expecting nearly 1,000 students and teachers at the session.  It will be held in the Khorassan Room of the Chase-Park Plaza (map and directions) from 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM.

If you have any questions about anything that has taken place to date (most particularly the country draft), or any upcoming activities, please do not hesitate to contact Lisa Granich-Kovarik at [email protected]& nbsp;or (314) 865-4704.

FOURTEEN HIGH SCHOOLS PARTICIPATE IN COUNTRY DRAFT 

The high school Civitas country draft was held Saturday, September 30 at Crossroads School.  Fourteen schools sent representatives and thirty-seven countries were selected.  Students selected the countries that they wanted their school to represent in the first Civitas model U.N. of the year which will be held on Saturday, November 18 at the Radisson Hotel - Downtown from 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM.

The countries taken by the schools are as follows:

NOTE: Countries in bold red are on the Security Council.

School		Country
Bishop DuBourg		Romania
Cardinal Ritter		Cuba
Cardinal Ritter		Ghana
Cardinal Ritter		Madagascar
Chesterfield Day		China
Collinsville		Congo (Republic of)
Collinsville		France
Hazelwood Central		Costa Rica
Hazelwood Central		Denmark
Hazelwood Central		Liberia
Hazelwood Central		Sierra Leona
Hazelwood Central		Sweden
Incarnate Word		Israel
Incarnate Word		Japan
Incarnate Word		Venezuela
Lindbergh		Netherlands
Lindbergh		United Kingdom
Maplewood-Richmond Heights		Fiji
Maplewood-Richmond Heights		Greece
Maplewood-Richmond Heights		Norway
Metro		Germany
Metro		U.S.A.
Parkway North		Tanzania
Rosati-Kain		Argentina
Rosati-Kain		Czech Republic
Rosati-Kain		Lebanon
SLUH		Iran
SLUH		Ireland
SLUH		Qatar
SLUH		Russian Federation
SLUH		United Arab Emirates
Soldan International Studies		Colombia
Soldan International Studies		Mexica
St. Joseph's Academy		Cambodia
St. Joseph's Academy		Chad
St. Joseph's Academy		Peru
St. Joseph's Academy		Thailand

You can also access this list on-line by clicking here.    

We will have three committees of the General Assembly: (a) Political & Security; (b) Economic & Social; and (c) Human Rights.  Each country needs a representative in each of these committees.

For schools that have a country that is on the Security Council, they will need a fourth delegate to be a representative in that committee.

• Link to roster of General Assembly countries (192).
• Link to 2006 Security Council countries (15).

The next step is for students to research their countries and to begin studying issues that may come before their committee.  During the country draft, we brainstormed ideas for resolutions for each committee.  The lists are below.  We encourage students to look for issues that interest them and to write resolutions on those topics.  Delegates must keep in mind that the resolutions must bear a fair resemblance to their country's likely stand on each issue!

    

Political & Security	Economic & Social	Human Rights
Effects of colonialism & imperialism	Alternative Energy	AIDs Research
Election reform	Contraception	Child Soldiers
Illegal Immigration	Disposing of Chemical Waste	Equality for GLBT persons
Not stockpiling arms	Drug Trafficking	FGM
Nuclear proliferation	Genetically Altered Crops/Livestock	Genocide
Occupation of Iraq	International Debt	Police Brutality
Reconstruction of war-torn countries	Invasive Species Control	Refugee Status
Separatist Movements	Propaganda	Slavery
Space (the final frontier)	Public Education	Torture/Geneva Conventions
War on terrorism	Religious Conflict
	Sexual Education
	Universal Health Care

 

Listed below are excellent links to access information on countries that students will be representing.  Next week we will include links to issues likely to be discussed in the model U.N.

• CIA World Factbook
  
• http://www.countryreports.org/
  
• http://www.eldis.org/country/
  
• http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/

February Conference Topics Announced

Our next high school student meeting is a regular discussion group this Saturday, October 14.  It will once again be at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.  The world is being very generous with us, providing us with blockbuster topics almost every day.  Too bad that the price of this is the suffering of a number of people.

As published last week, we are excited to announce that Professor Joe Davis has agreed to work with both Civitas students and local college and university students on an international simulation.  Professor Davis, in consultation with Civitas and university staffs, will create a hypothetical international issue for students to deal with.  The issue will be one in which there will be numerous "players," most of whom have their own unique ideas about how to deal with the problem.  As the evening progresses, students will have to wrestle with the task of trying to reach some sort of a consensus as to how to solve the problem (from past experience, the students may or may not be able to do this.).  You can expect that alliances will be made and broken; that conflict will exist within each individual's mind as well as within the group.  The key question will be whether or not students will be able to "give a little (or a lot) in the hope of gaining a lot (or a little).  Past reviews of Dr. Joe Davis' simulations are extremely positive.


We will have it on a Friday evening, most likely from 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM.  We'll have plenty of food and other goodies.  Right now we need to figure out what date works best the group.

Our choices are:

• Friday, November 10
• Friday, November 17

We need your feedback to help us settle upon a date.  If you are interested in the simulation, please e-mail us and tell us so and also indicate which of the two dates above work best for you.  If you have any questions, please e-mail us at [email protected] or call us at (314) 367-6480.

   

Reminder to High School Seniors and Juniors
about upcoming conference in Washington, DC.

Deadline: October 15, 2006 .

Click here for more details

10^th Annual St. Louis Coalition for HUMAN RIGHTS
Essay Contest

Open to all Middle & High School Students in the Metro St. Louis Area

HS: 1^st Prize $200 � 2^nd Prize $100 �3^rd Prize $50

MS: 1^st Prize $100 � 2^nd Prize $50 � 3^rd Prize $25

Honorable Mentions

"In a democracy, what is the relationship between human rights and religious freedom?"

Essay must be no more than 500 words (preferably typed) on the above theme.

Discussion questions for thought are: How is religious freedom protected in a democracy? What are the areas of conflict and how do you see them being resolved? When is religious freedom in violation of other human rights? Is separation of church and state the best way to address freedom of religion? What do you personally do to respect and protect the religious freedom of others? Can a democracy work without freedom of religion? What specific practices or laws need to be changed or strengthened to protect religious freedom?

Deadline for essays is October 31, 2006!

Mail essay entries to P. O. Box 5277, St. Louis, MO 63115 or email to [email protected]. Include a cover page that gives full name, address, grade and school of student. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Winning essays will be read by their authors on December 10 2006 at the Celebration for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 4:00 p.m. at Forest Park Community College

For more information, call the St. Louis Coalition for Human Rights at (314) 652-7663

Reinventing U.N.Conference Home Page