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 By Nadine Hack I’ve been involved with Global Citizens Circle (GCC) for 40 of its 50 years, since 1984 when I met my husband Jerry Dunfey, its founding president. I love its inclusive, egalitarian mission to connect people of diverse sectors, ages, nationalities, ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic status. It champions intergenerational dialogue to find sustainable solutions for global problems that require multiple perspectives. GCC teaches us: We may not agree on every issue but we can respect and learn from each other. I cherish being in its worldwide community engaging in discussions, then joining in actions to promote social justice, equality and peace. I’ve helped organize and participated in many Circles over four decades. GCC has a credo, “Start young and stay at it.” When GCC connects us with young activists, it encourages us to remain connected to them for decades. It’s done this throughout the U.S., Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, South Africa, and wherever there are problems that need broad support for a sustained time.  At GCC's 2019 intergenerational Circle, "Building Movements for Change: Stories of Challenge and Success," with facilitator Jada Keye Hebra, SVP & Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Southern New Hampshire University; Lauren Hogg, co-founder, March for Our Lives; Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers; and Ramla Sahid, founder, Partnership for Advancement of New Americans  At a 1985 Boston Circle:: Thabo Mbeki, later to be president South Africa; Zodwa Sisulu; Oliver Tambo, ANC president; Themba Vilakazi, FREESA co-founder; Prexy Nesbitt, global anti-apartheid activist; Zwelakhe Sisulu, journalist, editor, New Nation newspaper founder In 1985, a Circle in Boston featured Oliver Tambo, the president of the African National Congress (ANC). Other exiled South Africans attended, including Zwelakhe Sisulu, a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard; Johnny Makatini, head of the ANC’s international arm; and Thabo Mbeki, a member of its executive committee. It was the first time many of them had seen each other since they’d gone into exile. So, not only was GCC introducing them to Americans who wanted to know more about the anti-apartheid movement but also reconnecting them to one another.  At 1990 Circle, GCC founding President Jerry Dunfey and Senior Advisor Nadine Hack present the Global Citizens Circle award to Nelson Mandela. Many Circles focused on how to end apartheid and, after it, how to support negotiations leading to South Africa’s free and fair elections. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Jerry and I presented the Global Citizens Award to him in Washington DC.  In 1986, GCC held a Circle in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the U.S. congressional vote on sanctions featuring social justice advocate and world-renowned performer Harry Belafonte and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate. Many senior legislative aides to members of the US Senate and House of Representatives said the decision to vote for sanctions was largely made based on Archbishop Tutu’s stirring words.  In 1998, GCC brought a delegation of 68 democracy activists from nine countries to South Africa for visits to and discussions with local activists including a group convened in Alexandria Township by Linda Twala, affectionately called ‘the father of the nation’ in Alex Town. Along the sagging banks at the outskirts of the shantytown, he had locals hold hands with us in a circle. There wasn’t a dry eye as he spoke about the importance of our international solidarity with them to end poverty and create opportunity for everyone in his nation.  In that same trip, Archbishop Desmond Tutu welcomed us to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Justices Albie Sachs and Richard Goldstone took us around the new Constitutional Court; Walter and Albertina Sisulu hosted us at her Creche after we attended a service at Ipeleng church in Soweto; Ahmed Kathrada showed us around the Robben Island prison where he and Mandela had been cell mates and Sisulu, who accompanied us on the boat ride there; we met with members of the new multi-racial Parliament and even with President Mandela. In 1999, at a Circle in Atlanta, we presented the Global Citizens Award to Coretta Scott King and to John Hume, a leading peacemaker in Northern Ireland, another region we’d focused on. We’d brought GCC delegations to Belfast and hosted numerous Circles on ‘The Troubles’ there and in the U.S. from the 1970s through the 2000s.  In 1999, Maria Freiburger, Jerry Dunfey, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Ambassador Andrew Young presented the Global Citizens Award to Coretta Scott King and to John Hume. Since COVID, online Circles have had an even greater global reach since anyone can join from wherever they are on the planet. Some of GCC’s recent Circles include:
In these and other Circles, discussion leaders conveyed how much they valued Global Citizens Circle, and how touched they were that we listened to their stories and pledged ongoing support of their causes. In our deeply divided world, Global Citizens Circle is needed now more than ever! Nadine Hack is the CEO of beCause Global Consulting, helping individuals and organizations connect to core purpose – creating synergy within entities, improving relations among internal and external stakeholders and enabling challenges to be overcome and goals become achieved – for nearly 40 years. She has worked with leaders globally in business, NGOs, academia and government, including Nelson Mandela. Nadine is a senior advisor to Global Citizens Circle, the first female Executive-in-Residence at IMD Business School, a Forbes Councils author, and a TEDx speaker, whose talk, “Adversaries to Allies,” is viewed worldwide. She has garnered many awards throughout her career, including Responsible CEO of Year Shortlist, Top Corporate Social Responsibility Leader, Top Ethical Business Influencer, Enterprising Woman of the Year, Catalyst for Change, an Inspiration Life Achievement presented at Säid Business School Oxford. She is currently writing a book, “The Power of Connectedness,” with a foreword by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
2 Comments
judy lawler
7/1/2024 10:24:34 pm
interesting 7/6/2024 02:01:24 pm
Nadine, Leave a Reply. |
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