Gino Bartali, Italian Cycling Legend, Saved Jews During WWII

Bartali’s decision to act was heroic not because he felt no fear but rather because he did not let his fear prevent him from doing what he felt was ethically right. 

Gino Bartli is best known as a cycling legend who holds the record for the longest time span between victories at the Tour de France –ten years– a feat made all the more impressive by the Tour’s status as one of most grueling endurance competitions in the world and the fact that Bartali was an old man (by cycling standards) when he made his comeback in 1948. Looking beyond the marvel of his athletic stamina, Bartali’s life provides a powerful lesson in how moral endurance can empower from within.

Born in a poor town near Florence in 1914, Bartali grew up in a world of grinding poverty. Day laborers like his father earned the modern equivalent of about a dollar an hour, and the average male life expectancy was forty years old, due to diseases like malaria and pneumonia. With few career options, Bartali dedicated himself to cycling: from sunrise to sunset, he rode around the Tuscan hills and built up his physical endurance –his capacity to confront painful fatigue and pedal through it. Bartali’s relentless training paid off, and he made a meteoric rise in the cycling world, turning professional only a few years after his first race.

Then cycling took the one person dearest to him.

To the Crazy Ones...

New Report Shows How the Crisis in Europe and Rising Xenophobia Limit Healthcare of Vulnerable Groups

PICUM Report

11 April 2013

The organisation Doctors of the World held a conference on “Access to health care in Europe in times of crisis and rising xenophobia” in Brussels on 9 April 2013. The aim of the conference was to present a report summarising the outcomes of a study carried out in 14 cities in seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Spain and the UK) in 2012 which shows the impact of the EU crisis and rising xenophobia  on access to healthcare for people facing multiple vulnerability factors. The report also provides background information particularly on the situation of access to healthcare for undocumented migrants in each of the seven countries.

The results were presented by four of the organisation’s national members.  Thierry Brigaud (France) and Michel Degueldre (Belgium) presented the results of the European survey, addressing the social determinants of health, the barriers to health care and the health status of the population in the 14 cities studied. In this frame, they also invalidated myths such as the perception that migrants are “health tourists” or the idea that migrants do not contribute to financing the public health system. 

Álvaro González, president of Doctors of the World Spain, addressed the situation in his country in relation to imposed austerity measures and how this is destroying the public health system. The Royal Decree Ley 16/2012 established the copayment of medication and the exclusion of adult irregular migrants from access to health care. According to González, the health system model is changing from universal healthcare to an insurance system where healthcare is limited to the participation in the labour market.  He noted that the Millennium Development Goals have established universal health care as a political objective. Instead, Spain limits the number of groups receiving treatment, the number of health services and overall spending.  This development directly affects migrants in an irregular situation and is untenable from different points of view: it violates human rights treaties, it is more expensive since the costs of emergency treatment are higher than the costs of preventive care, it is unethical and it leads to public health problems. He stressed the important role of civil society mobilizations to fight these tendencies.

Every Child is a Unique Human Being

This video reminds us that each child is a unique human being.  It is inspired by the poem “Animal School”, originally written by George Reavis in 1939. 

It is so easy to get caught up in a curriculum-driven agenda, particularly in the current climate of educational “accountability” and drive for standardized testing. Standardized (but often overstuffed) programs are designed around what society at large, and particular interest groups argue, that all people need to know. 

“Many people have a hard time understanding the concepts of independence vs. interdependence, inclusion, multiple intelligences and cooperative learning. I thought a revision of The Animal School by George Reavis might explain it all.” Mary E. Ulrich

Life and Legacy of Cesar Chavez

Lesson Plan: LIFE AND LEGACY OF CÉSAR CHÁVEZ

COMPLETE THE STORY: Fill in the blanks using words from the word bank.

BOYCOTT       CAMPS        CIVIL RIGHTS        DOLORES HUERTA     
FARM         GRAPE        NONVIOLENT        LABOR UNION     
MIGRANT        SACRAMENTO        STRIKES      
UNITED FARM WORKERS                       GANDHI

César Chávez was an activist who worked to improve the lives of ……………….…………………. workers. He knew about the problems these people faced because he was a ……………………………..……. worker from the time he was a teenager. Forced to leave school and work after his father was injured, César moved around the country harvesting seasonal crops. Migrant workers often had to live in government …………………….……………. without clean water or bathrooms and they didn’t make much money.

Chávez returned to field work after serving in the military and became the leader of a Latino-

American group. With the help of …………………………………….…….. he founded the National Farm Workers Association, a ………………………………….. that sought to improve wages and working conditions for its members.

The ………………………………….. tactics Chávez used to accomplish his goals were inspired by …………………………………… These tactics included ……………………………………, boycotts and protest marches. In 1965, the National Farm Workers Association joined with striking ……………………………………. pickers in California. Chávez organized a protest march on …………………………………….., California's capital. He convinced millions of Americans to ……………………………………… grapes in support of the workers. When the strike finally ended in 1970, the workers had achieved their goal of improved working conditions. Other farm workers across the country formed unions and held ·strikes. Several unions eventually joined together to form the ……………………………………, which still exists today.

Chávez continued to work for farm workers' rights until his death in 1993. Today his birthday is celebrated as a holiday in eight states.

See the Video about César Chávez's Life, answer the questions below and debate:

1 May: International Workers' Day

International Workers' Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour movement. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other countries.

International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket massacre in Chicago. The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at them. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators. "Reliable witnesses testified that all the pistol flashes came from the center of the street, where the police were standing, and none from the crowd. Moreover, initial newspaper reports made no mention of firing by civilians. A telegraph pole at the scene was filled with bullet holes, all coming from the direction of the police."

In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891.

Subsequently, the May Day Riots of 1894 occurred. In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on "all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." The congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."

In many countries, the working classes sought to make May Day an official holiday, and their efforts largely succeeded. May Day has long been a focal point for demonstrations.

In the United States and Canada, however, the official holiday for workers is Labor Day in September.

In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated May 1 to "Saint Joseph The Worker". The Catholic Church considers Saint Joseph the patron saint of workers and craftsmen.

However, do our students know why 1^st May is a day off?

Lesson Plan: 1 May, International Workers' Day