Here!!! 
I am Finnish - my home country has about as many inhabitants as Care2 has members. Finns are a minority within Europe, and we have our own minorities in Finland too - like the indigenous Same people. (So I belong to a minority in Europe and majority in Finland, so in a way I have a foot in both camps... In a way I don't, because belonging to a majority in any way "removes" the right to call oneself minority.)
Minority rights is an important question in Finland because of these premises - we have always been forced to defend ourself sitting here between East and West, Russia and Sweden, and being an important military political area. Now we are speaking for minorities in European Union and holding forth the importance of the sovereignty, individuality and integrity of each countrie and each ethnicity.
Minority rights are important to me too. I have always been interested in languages and cultures, and minorities usually have a distinctively specific and unique language and culture. One of my favorites are the Basques, who are very specific European people. If I would be the sovereign allmighty ruler of the world, I would give independency to all these peoples.
Hugs,
Ket
Hello,
Here is Linda-maria.I am from the Netherlands.I do not feel like a Dutch person.I feel like a world citizen.I was born in the Netherlands from an Indonesian father and a Dutch mother.
In the Netherlands the is a regio that is called Fryslan.(Friesland)People have their own language that is being taught at primary schools.The government has aproved of this .Friesland has two languages ,Dutch and Frysian language.However we have also a government that does not have much respect for other minority groups.With fear hype on terrorisme and also the x treme nationalism that is fed by certain politicians they are taking "strange" decisions for groups of people .(i guess that is the same everywhere and in the Netherlands are there is a lot of freedom compared to other countries.Even so , we wish for it to be better not worse)
I think it is importand for the humanrace to recognise and support and respect all minority groups.If all would respect humanrights all over the world there would only be possitive in and output around the minority groups that would enrich the worlds colour in all forms.
I just read some mistakes in my writing......
Ayn Rand
Will Durant
I've just found this group, and decided to join because I believe that we are all interconnected - no matter who or where we are, and that every being deserves to be treated with dignity and grace.
I grew up being exposed to other cultures - living in Turkey, visiting Germany, Iceland, Greece, etc. My extended family is multi-cultural, with Native American, Afghani, Dutch-Indonesian, Portugese, Guatemalan and Mexican members. My circle of friends is even more diverse - and I love it! For myself, I belong to a minority within the minority of the disabled - I say that because my disabilities are non-visible.
I'm looking forward to my involvement here, and am eager to see the direction this group takes!
Blessings!
Cynthia
hope that this applies to memebers world wide and not just in the US. As a person with chronic illness thee ahs been and continues much discriminatin and now physically/brain disabled more, and that our own human rights commision discrimates in canada, on how you may make a complaint and the time period of only being 6 months and all they do aft4r, if foud to be true is lodge a letter on file regarding the facilitiy, hosptial, doctor, store, whatever, THAT'S IT. This includes our own government and medical establishment here in Canada as some of you know by reading my profile. A letter is not enough to make change, many perhaps from many people to the right people can and do. I find that Canadians on the whole are less active as activists, with some exceptions of course and our provinces of B.C. and Quebec leading the way.
Sunshine Ray
Welcome all to the group. Got a minority, animal, religion, or other rights to be discussed? Thats what were here for. Got a petition or Alert? Were here for that too.....
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GOOD MORNING EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO THE WELCOMING FORMAT! hOPE EVERYONE HAS BEEN WELL AND HEALTHY.
Sponsored by Groups Getting Togather and Meeting each other for a Picnic BrunchJul 2, 2006 09:00 AM to Jul 2, 2006 07:00 PM
Private Location
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contact host for more information
Groups getting Togather and meeting each other for Picnic Brunch:
WHO: Groups Getting Togather
WHAT: Picnic Brunch
WHEN: July 2, 2006
TIME: 9:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.
WHERE: Chain-O-Lakes State Park, Albion, Indiana
IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND, THAT IS FINE...JUST LEAVE US " IN SPIRIT ONLY" MESSAGE...
I AM HOPING IT WILL BE A GOOD TURN OUT AS HAS BEEN THESE PAST FEW YEARS...THIS IS WHERE EVERYONE THAT CAN MAKE IT COME TOGETHER FOR A SPECIAL GET TOGATHER...WHERE YOU MEET THE INSIDERS AND OUTSIDERS OF THE GROUP...
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CAMP, SO THAT WE MAY LET THE PROPER AUTHORITIES KNOW...It IS FUN TIME AT THE GET TOGETHERS,,,YOU MEET NEW AND OLD FRIENDS...WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED AS THE EVENT GETS CLOSER, AT THE GROUP PAGE....http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/shipoffriendship1
So please feel free to contact me at network messaging, or my home address email..."WALK HAND IN HAND WITH EARTH MOTHER AND FOREST SPIRIT"! TomH
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Fort Wayne, IN, USA
male, married, 7 children
More Info: http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/shipoffriends...
Thanks for the Invite Tom! Its good to be here!Let me know if you need any xtra help I am capable of giving.
Big Hugz to all!
Joelle
I wish each of you a very Happy New Year for 2007 from the beautiful City of Memphis, TN the home of rock n roll Graceland & Beale Street.
Let this be the year of our Lord that God reins his will to end this war in Iraq, and bring our troops home.
Thanks for inviting me to join this group. I hope that by working together we can impact a change in our American society.
My focus is to concentrate on securing the rights of each Veteran Soldier in the United States. The latter is a tremendous task for me to achieve. As such, I hope to acquire a large network of friends.
Anything that anyone needs to know about me, good, bad or otherwise is published in My Paper Trail book.
I have included an intro of my family's prodigious background heritage in the State of Tennessee. I need your faith that I am an honorable Veteran Soldier born in a faithful Christian home.
Rest assured that whatever testimony that I render to our group has been fully documented in my file cabinet of exhibits.
My ambition in life is to testify before a Senate Investigation Hearing to give accounts to the indignation and disgrace of our noble citizenship that my family and I have endured as prodigious African American citizens residing in the State of Tennesee.
Hopefully, through the grace of God, my testimony will finally bring relief to the millions of Veteran Soldiers and/or civilians, who have suffered the same indignation and disgrace of our citizenship.
May God truly bless each of you and your family!
A friend for life
I am a "Queer Quaker" Universalist and Constructive Anarchist/Socialist idealist with the heart of a poet and the mind of a pragmatist. I am both fiercely independent and a people person, who is honestly frank, sensual and a romantic. I am a natural empath and healer connected in my soul with the Creator and all humanity and all creatures and the created great and small.
I am a community and social justice activist, poet, writer and editor with professional personnel management, communication, consensus building and fundraising experience and skills.
Light & Peace,
Thomas
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom... Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppresor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else."
--- Malcolm X
hello everybody I just joined. I hope to learn a lot from this group!
ps my name is Zelda
Please help save the most historic Romani (gypsy) site in the world which is currently under threat by greedy developers in Turkey who want to destroy the homes of the Rom so that they can gentrify the area and make millions.
Here's a picture of the site under threat:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p16/biglinmarshall/sulukule.jpg[/IMG]
My name is Anitra; I'm in Seattle Washington USA, where I am active in homelessness and poverty issues. One of the root causes of poverty is racism, and all the way that "the in group" shuts out "outsiders" who are "different" from access to resources, opportunities, participation in decision-making and social institutions. Of the people in Seattle who have been homeless for many years, 80% or more are Native Americans. A large number of homeless youth are non-heterosexual -- gay, lesbian, transgendered or questioning -- often kicked out of home as young as eight years old for being "not normal."
I have mixed feelings even about using the term "minority." Variety in a society has survival value. Our society will be the strongest when we learn to value every individual for their own uniqueness, no matter how few or how many other people are like them.
In the meantime, I look forward to finding ways to work with the rest of you to open more doors to those who are now shut out, anywhere.
Thank you very much for the invitation into this group, Laura! Finally, among Care2 members, I feel less of a minority than I ever felt in my life. Over the past month, I have met people online who have a sincere commitment to bettering the world and promoting human rights and justice for all, as well as a wide range of issues that affect us all, like the protecting the environment. I am reminded that people all over the world, no matter what race, ethnic group, religion, or other separate identities we have, share so very much and have common issues and goals.
I advocate for the incarcerated mentally ill in America, which number 1.25 million persons! Please visit my Care2 page sometime and I look forward to visiting yours to get to know you better.
My website is http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com. Check it out!
Thanks again for membership in "Minority Rights"!
Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
P.O. Box 7222
Atlanta, GA 30357
