The Communitarian Update

Number 30
September 11, 2000

Amitai Etzioni in Tucson, etc.
Dr. Etzioni will be speaking at the University of Arizona College of Law on privacy and the fourth amendment this Thursday, September 14 at 3:00 p.m.

He will also participate in the Labor Party fringe meeting on the topic "How to build a community: The state of families first?" on Monday, September 25th at the Sussex Arts Centre in Brighton, UK.

Dr. Etzioni will join a UNESCO discussion on "Ethics for the 21st Century." The meeting will be held September 21-22 in Paris.

Anyone wishing to contact Dr. Etzioni regarding the above events, please contact our office at (202) 994-8190 or by e-mail at comnet@gwu.edu.

A Communitarian Ticket
Senator Joe Lieberman has participated in several communitarian events as has Vice President Al Gore. On the lighter side: Senator John Breaux (D.-La.) responded to concerns about the fact that Lieberman is an Orthodox Jew by stating, "We don't care what church he goes to as long as he goes to church."

Sunshine
The movie Sunshine draws on Jewish history to suggest that Jews should never get into positions of power but stick to producing knowledge. One hopes that Lieberman pays no mind. . . .

Subscribe to the Responsive Community
Visit The Responsive Community on our web: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq. If you would like to receive a FREE sample of our publication for yourself or your organization, please let us know at comnet@gwu.edu, or call (800) 245-7460. Same--to subscribe.

Curfew Conquers ACLU Challenge
The West Virginia Supreme Court has upheld Charleston's juvenile curfew ordinance against numerous challenges mounted by the ACLU. The court rejected the claim that teenagers have a "fundamental right to move about freely at night." Noting an increasing volume of youth crime during nighttime hours, the court found that the curfew was rationally related to Charleston's legitimate interest in reducing victimization. (Source: CCI FridayFax, 8/25/00)

A Communitarian Update Clarification
Several Update readers questioned the figure we provided of adult Americans in prisons or jails. The figure is actually a reflection of adult Americans under some form of correctional care, inside or out of prison. The number is 6.9 million or 3.1%, of the entire United States adult population. See http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfile2-1.txt

Be an endorser!
Since being reopened this March we have had 70 new endorsers to the platform! To read and endorse the platform, go to: http://www.communitariannetwork.org

College Undergraduates Volunteering but not Political
60 percent of students have been actively involved in community service but only 16 percent had joined a political or issues-related organization and only 7 percent had volunteered or said they planned to volunteer in a political campaign according to a survey conducted by the Harvard University Institute of Politics. The study is available at: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/iop/

International Communal Studies Association Conference
Plans are well advanced for the next triennial conference of the International Communal Studies Association (ICSA) which will take place in June, 2001, at ZEGG commune, near Berlin, Germany. For more information see the conference website: http://www.antenna.nl/icsa/

The International Scope Review
The International Scope Review is focusing its next issue (January 2001) on the divorce between political class and society as it appears in a number of countries, with a special emphasis on corruption phenomena. See www.internationalscope.com

No More Throw Away People
Edgar Cahn, founder of the Time Dollar Institute in the USA, will be on 17th Oct. 7-9 p.m., at The London School of Economics. Contact For information contact: karen.smith@neweconomics.org.

New Publications
Autonomy and Order: A Communitarian Anthology, Edward W. Lehman (ed.), (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000) This anthology of original essays by prominent philosophers, political scientists, and sociologists about the new communitarian paradigm. (Etzioni's The New Golden Rule serves as the guidepost for organizing the volume).

The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil by James Davison Hunter (Basic Books, 2000) A study of the roots of the values debate, by the author of Culture Wars. An inquiry into the moral life and education of young Americans based on an empirical study of the children themselves.

The New Rules of Corporate Conduct: Rewriting the Social Charter by Ian Wilson (Quorum Books, 2000). Wilson argues that corporate social responsibility is not only a peripheral public relations activity but an integral part of corporate strategy.

"A Long-Term Plan To Prevent Violence in Society" by Judy Pokras
A school-related long-term plan to prevent violence and alienation in society. Available at http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/browse/view_article.gsp?c_id=85978

What's God Got to do With the American Experiment, E.J. Dionne, Jr. and John J. DiIulio, Jr., eds. (Brookings Institution Press, 2000) This collection of essays explores the unsettled--and often unsettling--question of organized religion's role in contemporary public life.

The Communitarian Update is compiled by Jennifer Ambrosino. Send RELEVANT news items to comnet@gwu.edu. Please consider forwarding the Update to others who may be interested.

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