海角大神

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2018
January
26
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

January 26, 2018
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Clayton Collins
Director of Editorial Innovation

Another hard week for choosing where to focus.

A partial government shutdown ended. American gymnasts tasted justice. Earth鈥檚 crust got active. Another school heard gunfire.

We had a distracting flurry about texts and the FBI. More infighting about a border wall. The was threatened by floodwaters, a .

The so-called hit two minutes to midnight.

At week鈥檚 end the news energy moves to a Swiss alpine enclave where helicopters sit in a row as though valet-parked. At Davos 鈥� which banking executive Jamie Dimon famously called the place where 鈥渂illionaires tell millionaires what the middle class feels鈥� 鈥� an American president stiff-armed news reports concerning a special prosecutor and made a pitch for fair and reciprocal trade. (More on that in today鈥檚 first story.)

Davos is not just about fanfare for the uncommon man. But writer Felix Salmon that the forum tends to nurture a brand of globalism that鈥檚 better for the world鈥檚 very rich and very poor than it is for the global middle.

In a shift, at least some Davos attendees might be to those in the middle,聽those who form the vital centers of national economies. Said Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund and a forum co-chair, 鈥淚 find that more and more world leaders are concerned about excessive inequality.鈥�

Now to our five stories for today, highlighting shifts in thought, shifts in power, and the value of compassion.聽

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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Evan Vucci/AP
President Trump (l.); Joe Kaeser, president and chief executive of the German firm Siemens (c.); and Kirstjen Nielsen, US Secretary of Homeland Security (r.) have dinner with European business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 25.

Trump calibrates tone on trade, as big decisions on China loom

( 5 min. read )

The US president鈥檚 speech Friday at the World Economic Forum may have exposed the dawning of a practical reality: Pugnacity gets attention, but multilateralism gets things done.聽

By Laurent Belsie
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In California, political thought turns to life after Jerry Brown

( 6 min. read )

You might come to the topic of Jerry Brown 鈥� or of California, for that matter 鈥� in whatever way you happen to come at 鈥減rogressivism.鈥� This piece looks at the operating style of the four-term governor (and political fixture) and finds more pragmatist than ideologue.

By Jessica Mendoza , reporting from Los Angeles
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Joel Kouam/Reuters
In Douala, Cameroon, demonstrators voice their opposition or support for independence (or greater autonomy) for the Anglophone regions of the country in October 2017. The banners read: 'I am not Francophone' (r.), 'I am not Anglophone' (l.).

In Cameroon conflict, echoes of a continent鈥檚 broader test

( 5 min. read )

A conflict over English-speakers鈥� rights in Cameroon, long dominated by French-speakers, is threatening to boil over. Yet it echoes a trend across Africa: the effort to better represent minority groups long pushed to societies鈥� edges 鈥� a legacy of their countries鈥� colonial pasts.

By Ryan Lenora Brown , reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa
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Elbow grease: Jordanian women break some vocational barriers

( 6 min. read )

Deeply held notions about which jobs women 鈥渙ught to be鈥� doing are being successfully challenged in Jordan as in much of the world. This report is about equality, possibility, and power.聽鈥淎 hard day鈥檚 work has no gender,鈥� says one tradeswoman, 鈥渙nly results.鈥�

By Taylor Luck , reporting from Irbid and Zarqa, Jordan
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Difference-maker

Deploying hockey in the fight against veteran suicides

( 5 min. read )

Here鈥檚 another example of a power play. A coed ice hockey club composed of veterans takes a team approach to fighting hopelessness.聽

By Hannah Schlomann , reporting from Bedford, Mass.
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The Monitor's View
Retuers
A former train station in Paris has been converted into "Station F," a place for startups, multinationals and investors to start new businesses.

Humility as an asset in France

( 2 min. read )

Not many world leaders would pitch the virtue of humility as a strategic asset for their country鈥檚 competitiveness. Yet that is what French President Emmanuel聽Macron聽did this week at a gathering of the global elite in Davos, Switzerland. He claimed his reforms since being elected last year are helping the French 鈥� especially its rising number of entrepreneurs 鈥� to learn from mistakes in business.

鈥淚n France, it was forbidden to fail and forbidden to succeed,鈥� he said at the World Economic Forum. 鈥淣ow it should be more easy to fail, to take risk.鈥�

Mr. Macron seeks to create 鈥渂reakthrough聽innovation鈥� in France that will help the country to produce more world-class technologies. But he realizes this will take a 鈥渃ultural change.鈥� France has a long tradition of people relying on workplace stability and the state. He said too many workers still fear globalization.

One solution for such fear lies in humility, or a willingness to recover from trials and errors. As French statesman Georges Clemenceau once said: 鈥淟ife gets interesting if you聽fail because it means we鈥檝e surpassed ourselves.鈥�

Macron has pledged money to retrain workers and provide more venture capital 鈥� which will balance new labor reforms. He has given more freedom for schools to experiment in ways that would teach critical thinking.

He also seeks to link up French entrepreneurs with other hotbeds of innovation, such as California鈥檚 Silicon Valley and China. And he has proposed an 鈥渋nnovation聽agency鈥� for the European Union to rival the Pentagon鈥檚 research agency.

Macron represents the latest model of what is called 鈥渇ailure-tolerant鈥� leadership. Such leaders must show humility and compassion in allowing people to learn from dead-end experiments in order to come up with better concepts for success.

In electing Macron, the French showed they were willing for a shift in thinking. His new political party defeated the country鈥檚 two well-established parties in the 2017 elections.

He now dubs France as a 鈥渟tart-up nation.鈥� But he says that with some humility 鈥� just in case some of his reforms fail.

By The Monitor's Editorial Board
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A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥� in its various forms 鈥� is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥� The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥� whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Foot condition healed

( 2 min. read )

In today鈥檚 column, a woman shares how her son was healed through prayer when 鈥渘obody ever imagined that he would walk again.鈥�

By Stella Soko
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A message of love

Ahmer Khan
Nuns assemble early each day at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Abbey in Kathmandu, Nepal, to practice martial arts. In most Buddhist orders, monks lead prayers and occupy powerful positions, while nuns are assigned menial jobs. But in 2008, the leader of the 1,000-year-old abbey changed that. Nuns here learn a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of empowerment. The convent is now home to about 400 women from Nepal, India, Tibet, and Bhutan.

View gallery

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( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks, as always, for being here today. Among the stories we鈥檙e working on for next week: a report on what the "sharing economy" means in different social contexts 鈥� in particular, in societies that have vast wealth gaps. Enjoy your weekend.聽

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More issues

2018
January
26
Friday

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