Published Articles and Stories | Art DeFehr Biography

Click on item of interest for greater detail….or scroll down and the same list is repeated below with a short description of each item.

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1. Imagining a New Future for Mexico
Published in Spanish in Letras y Libros in Mexico in 2007. The article looks at the potential for using the Isthmus of Tehuantepec as a container bridge and scramble as an alternate to the Panama Canal. Much of the emphasis of the article is the potential impact on Mexico in terms of re-orientation of the country to the south and as an alternative to the reliance on the United States connection. Read more>>

2. El Futuro Cruza el Istmo de Tehuantepec
The Spanish translation and published version of the article titled “Imagining a New Future for Mexico”. Read more>>

3. 1980 Thai-Cambodia Border
A letter to friends describing the border situation and the landbridge project. It was written near the end of hte project but just prior to the attack of the Vietnamese Army that effectively shut the program. It is written in the current tense while the project is still full active and reflects those sentiments. Read more>>

4. Landbridge and Cambodia
A document written primarily for an Academic Conference. The document describes the project and the politics. It is also an apologetic for my point of view regarding the different and controversial views as to the role of our agency, other players at the border and the role of the various international agencies. Read more>>

5. A Weekend in Geneva
A description of the events surrounding the attendance by myself and a small group (including Joan Baez) at the May 1980 special conference on Cambodia in Geneva. It describes the political environment driving international policy regarding Cambodia, how we experienced that policy and our efforts to influence the outcome of the Conference. Read more>>

6. Asia Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative
A report prepared for David Emerson and the Government of Canada to recommend actions that could enhance the role of Canada in the Trans-Pacific movement of goods with an emphasis on the role of containers. The report coincided with the opening of the new container terminal in the Port of Prince Rupert. My personal role in the report including scripting most of the portions of the report other than the parts related to air and airports. Read more>>

7. Christmas, Peace and Other Subjects
Political travelogue based on travel to Burma/Myanmar, Laos and Ho Chi Minh December 2013 on the occasion of sponsorship by the DeFehr Foundation of a Peace-Building event in Yangon and related travel. Read more>>

8. One Saturday Morning
A personal description of life in San Miguel de Allende (Winter 2013) that combines personal experience with a travelogue of this wonderful city where we spend our winters. Read more>>

9. My First Chapter in book “LCC a Work in Progress” written by Leona DeFehr
Written in 2001 as the first chapter of a book on the occasion of the 10^th anniversary of LCC (Lithuania Christian College). The book was titled “Lithuania Christian College – A Work in Progress”. The book was published by Leona DeFehr and edited by Sarah Klassen. The article deals with the political and historical background that led to the founding of LCC in 1991. Read more>>

10. LCC in the Crossfire of Religion and Politics
Chapter 6 in the 10^th anniversary book of LCC and deals more particularly with the political challenges that faced LCC in the initial period. The chapter gives a good example of the challenge of moving from one kind of society to another in terms of changes in philosophical perspectives for society and Government. Read more>>

11. Reflections from a Revolution
The opening chapter of a book titled “20 Years of History” on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of LCC International University (the current name of the University). The book was published by the University with many contributors and focuses more on student outcomes and more recent history. Read more>>

12. How the Potato Changed my Life
Published in May/June 2008 in the MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) magazine named Marketplace. The story is based on a particular experience in 1972 when I was serving as Director of MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in Bangladesh immediately following the end of the 1971 Civil War. This story is factual and is a single dramatic event based on the late arrival of a ship of Dutch potato seed and its salvage at sea. Read more>>

13. A Bible Story
Published in “Marketplace” November/December 2011 edition together with photos. A series of events that took place during the period 1989-1992 when I spent a great deal of time in the Soviet Union. The events are linked by the common theme of activities around promoting a religious play, printing Bibles inside the Soviet Union and in the end smuggling an antique bible out of the country with the assistance of the KGB.Read more>>

14. How the KGB Helped me Smuggle my Bible
As published in the MEDA magazine Marketplace with pictures and Minor revisions” Read more>>

15. Globalization: A Response
A speech written for delivery at the 75^th Anniversary of MCC in Fresno, California. The paper is a response to two longer essays on the subject of Globalization and its impact and message for the church and MCC. Read more>>

16. Nutritional Self-sufficiency as a National Objective
Written in late 1972 or early 1973 as the philosophical basis for the new MCC program of recovery in Bangladesh. It constituted a radical alternative to the Government policy of simply more rice rather than seek a diversity of crops to promote a better nutritional balance. The program later became the basis of the next Bangladesh 5 year plan. Read more>>

17. Biharis and Bangladesh
An essay written to assist MCC and other agencies to understand the politics and refugee situation of the Bihari refugee population inside Bangladesh. They were politically unpopular and were not well understood outside of a very small circle of agencies although there were an estimated 1 million in very dire circumstances. Read more>>