INTRODUCING

THE FUNDAMENTAL

PRINCIPLES

PART 1

INTRODUCINGHUMANITY

Out of the chaos

The flash of recognition

Of a human eye.

INTRODUCINGIMPARTIALITY

Seeing beyond

Clothes, religion, race, culture

To life’s beating heart.

INTRODUCINGNEUTRALITY

Embracing difference –

Seeing the whole repeated

In each of the parts.

INTRODUCINGVOLUNTARISM

The well of feeling

Rising above the surface,

Making new pathways.

INTRODUCINGINDEPENDENCE

Strong navigator –

Not swayed by fear or favour –

On course through the maze.

INTRODUCINGUNITY

From all directions,

Streams and rivers creating

Humanity’s sea.

Roots in all cultures,

The great tree of humanity

Unfurling new leaves.

INTRODUCINGUNIVERSALITY

PART 2

PRACTICAL

ACTION

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE CARE

We care. Everywhere.

In front page disasters and

In forgotten wars.

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE DELIVER

We deliver. In

Emergencies: food, shelter, hope,

Water, medicine.

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE STOP HUNGER

We stop hunger. Here

And now and for tomorrow,

Helping rebuild lives.

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE QUENCH THIRST

We quench thirst. Not just

Plastic bottles of water –

Tube-wells, irrigation.

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE TEACH

We teach. We explain

Humanitarian law

For every nation.

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE BRING HOPE

We bring hope. We reach

Behind locked doors and become

The prisoner’s friend.

PRACTICAL ACTION:WE UNITE

We unite the lost

Children of the aftermath

With their families.

PART 3

COMMUNICATING THE FUNDAMENTAL

PRINCIPLES

COMMUNICATINGHUMANITY

Humanity can

Never be bought or sold and

It is not a brand.

COMMUNICATINGIMPARTIALITY

Impartiality:

Don’t lose your meaning in

The cultural gap.

COMMUNICATINGNEUTRALITY

Neutrality: free

From political, racial,

Religious messages.

COMMUNICATINGINDEPENDENCE

Independence: not

To be manipulated,

Used, sold or traded.

COMMUNICATINGVOLUNTARY SERVICE

Voluntary service:

The act born of empathy

Is the pure message.

COMMUNICATINGUNITY

Unity: open

To everyone: the language

Of humanity.

COMMUNICATINGUNIVERSALITY

Universality:

One song of humanity

In every dialect.

PART 4

TALKING

HENRY DUNANT

TALKING HENRY DUNANT: SAMARITAN

Jean Henry Dunant:

Samaritan from Geneva:

World citizen.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:HOME TOWN

The White Gentleman:

He is from my home town: at

Least he seems to be.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:CONSCIENCE

The man of conscience

Cannot look away: he has

No choice but action.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:BLOOD

The uniforms were

Different but the blood is

All the same colour.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:MORTAL DIFFERENCES

Both sides bleed and die:

Mortal differences are

Not even skin deep.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:SOLFERINO

Solferino dawn:

Now they are fallen they have

So much in common.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:TUTTI FRATELLI

Chiesa Maggiore:

Five hundred men lie injured:

Tutti fratelli.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:MOTHERS

Enmity is death.

Castiglione mothers

Every injured son.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:WITNESS

The witness of war

Wrote the truth, paid the printer

And appealed for action.

TALKING HENRY DUNANT:INSTINCT

He did not wait to

Be asked, approved or sponsored:

He worked on instinct.

PART 5

TALKING

JEAN PICTET

TALKING JEAN PICTET:CEMENT

Red Cross actions like

Stones in an edifice. The

Cement: principles.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:FLOWER

The flower of action –

Once plucked by officialdom –

Will wither and die.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:BUREAUCRACY

We must not let the

Bureaucratic machinery

Destroy the garden.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:BEWARE

Beware invasive

Professionalism which

Kills initiative.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:DOCTOR

The caring doctor:

Not only curing sickness:

Promoting health.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:PREVENTION

Prevention is better,

Cheaper, happier than cure –

But makes no headlines.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:HAPPINESS

To give happiness

Is the greatest charity –

Free and contagious.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:NO MERIT

There is no merit

To be found in grey walls, sour

Faces, tasteless food.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:NEVER AN OBJECT

A human being

Is never an object or

A means to an end.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:ONLY CASUALTIES

For the Red Cross there

Are no just or unjust wars:

Only casualties.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:TRANSITION

The Red Cross journey:

PER HUMANITATEM AD

PACEM: transition.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:SYMBOL

The symbol of peace

In the midst of combat: a

Moral element.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:THE SWIMMER

Head above water –

Swimming in politics but

Never swallowing.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:THE COMPASS

The compass needle:

Selflessness. The Golden Rule:

Gold counts for nothing.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:LIGHT

If there is no light

Within us, how shall we find

The path in the darkness?

TALKING JEAN PICTET:SOLIDARITY

Solidarity:

The duty to help marries

The right to receive.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:KEEPING ON THE TRACK

A train of actions:

Not prepared to leave the track

Of the possible.

TALKING JEAN PICTET:TRUE AID

True aid consists in

Making the man who suffers

Into a free man.

PART 6

A QUESTION

OF QUALITY

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:CHOICE & INVOLVEMENT

Is it generous

To give pork sausages

To hungry muslims?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:COMPETENCE & ACCURACY

Will the food arrive

If the driver is lost and

Cannot read the map?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:EFFECTIVE ACCESS

Is the open sign

Contradicted by a closed

Unwelcoming face?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:EFFECTIVE REDRESS

Are you too busy

To answer questions? And too

Proud to delegate?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:EMPATHY

When you meet can you

Feel the other heart beat, stand

In the other’s shoes?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:EQUITY

Is it a question

Of how long the string is or

How long it needs to be?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:INFORMATION

Do you stop to check

You are heard and understood

Or broadcast regardless?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:RELIABILITY

Are your words really

Foundations for building

Or castles in the air?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:REPRESENTATION

Do representatives

Tell you how it feels

On the receiving end?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:RESPONSIVENESS

Is there a keyworker

To open the door

Of co-operation?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:SECURITY & SAFETY

Can you be trusted?

Are vulnerable people

Quite safe in your hands?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:TANGIBLE ISSUES

Is the reception

As comfortable as

The director’s office?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:USER STATUS

Do you show respect?

Or do you look down on the

Person you’re helping?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:PARTICIPATION

Did you think that you

Could make the jigsaw with half

The pieces missing?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:ORCHESTRATION

Is our ensemble

A concerted harmony

Or a cacophony?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:IMAGINATION

Can you imagine

If she was in your shoes and

You were barefooted?

A QUESTION OF QUALITY:UNDERSTANDING

The barefoot Red Cross:

Must start from where people are,

Build on what they know.

PART 7

COMMUNICATION

BATTLING BABEL:BATTLE

Battle of language:

Principles are hostages,

Prisoners of thought.

BATTLING BABEL:HI-JACK

Empty, hi-jacked words

- justice, human rights, charity -

stolen from humanity.

BATTLING BABEL:SNOW TYRES

They cannot buy you

Credibility by

Selling you like snow tyres.

BATTLING BABEL:TEN PER CENT

Adding ten per cent

Of black to all your colours

Does not help you care.

BATTLING BABEL:THE OTHER SIDE

Waiting for posters:

Wrong messages but the backs

Are virgin paper.

BATTLING BABEL:MISSING THE POINT

Word processed papers,

Power point presentations,

Miles from reality.

BATTLING BABEL:MINUTES

Minutes of meetings.

Tick. Tock. Worlds apart from the

Minutes of agony.

BATTLING BABEL:BRIDGES

We can only travel

On bridges built from

Both sides of the river.

BATTLING BABEL:MEANING

Say what you mean and

Mean what you say. In that way

We know where we are.

BATTLING BABEL:LISTEN!

Have you come here to

Tell me what I need or to

Ask me what I want?

BATTLING BABEL:TWO-WAY

Communication

Is a two-way process

Or a waste of time.

BATTLING BABEL:TOUCH

The touch of your hand

Can communicate hope if

You have hope to give.

BATTLING BABEL:TONE

The tone of your voice

Can offer more shelter than

The refugee tent.

BATTLING BABEL:LOOK

The look in your eye

Can offer more strength than the

Food you are serving.

BATTLING BABEL:SECRETS

Beware protocols,

Locked doors, closed files, dark secrets,

Red tape inertia.

BATTLING BABEL:THINK!

Acting without thought

Compounds disaster. Think! And

Think and think. Then Act.

BATTLING BABEL:RESPONSIBILITY

Everyone is

Responsible to everyone:

Eyes, ears, hands, heart, brain.

PART 8

TODAY’S

DILEMMAS

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:WHEN TO SPEAK

To understand when

To speak out and when to work

Anonymously.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:HOW TO SPEAK

To avoid the tricks

Of advertising: to give

Real information.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:BRIDGING THE GAP

To bridge the gap

Between clean theory and

Muddy reality.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:LOST FOR WORDS

To communicate

In this strange world of spin and

Stolen languages.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:ORIENTATION

To keep our bearings

When the compass swings wildly

And the sky is dark.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:RESISTING POLITICS

To resist the lure

Of politics, slippery slope

To partisanship.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:CONTINUING TO CARE

To keep caring in

Disasters which threaten to

Overwhelm reason.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:STRIKING A BALANCE

To strike a balance

Between helping others and

Living our own life.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:INSPIRED BY LOVE

To continue to

Be inspired by love and not

By selfish motives.

TODAY’S DILEMMAS:PERSPECTIVE

To stand back from the

Single thread we weave and see

The entire fabric.

PART 9

THE KEYS TO

THE FUTURE

THE KEY OFHUMANITY

Humanity.

Respect for others. The key to

A human future.

THE KEY OFIMPARTIALITY

Impartiality.

The key which opens borders

In lands and minds.

THE KEY OFNEUTRALITY

Neutrality. The

Key which opens prison doors

And must never be sold.

THE KEY OFINDEPENDENCE

Independence. The

Key to the kindergarten,

Research lab and truth.

THE KEY OFVOLUNTARY SERVICE

Voluntary service.

Key to connectedness and

Gateway to action.

THE KEY OFUNITY

Unity. The key

To symbiosis, synergy,

Co-operation.

THE KEY OFUNIVERSALITY

Universality.

Cultural diversity.

The key to liberty.