Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we鈥檝e always been transparent about that.
The church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we鈥檝e aimed 鈥渢o injure no man, but to bless all mankind,鈥� as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.
Here, you鈥檒l find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences 鈥� a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.
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Kurt Shillinger
In 1999, South Africa was one of the founding nations (and the only one from Africa) of the Group of 20, a bloc of wealthy and developing countries assembled to promote global equality and honest governance. Without South Africa, this forum might not have been conceived. In the country鈥檚 transition from apartheid to nonracial democracy five years earlier, longtime enemies defined and divided by ethnicity forged a common new national identity through shared values. Their achievement gave their country unrivaled moral standing in the world.聽
The country poised this month to host the first G20 summit on African soil, however, is a very different story. After three decades of one-party rule, the potholes run deep and the disillusionment runs deeper.
We turned to Terence McNamee, a longtime resident observer of South Africa, to help us understand how the stories that nations tell about themselves are lodestars 鈥� and, when necessary, a basis for renewal.
At their best, newspapers nourish independent thinking. Terry鈥檚 essay is vigorously told. The conclusions are yours.聽
