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Gerald Durrell

Gerald Malcolm Durrell,  (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959. He wrote approximately forty books, mainly about his life as an animal collector and enthusiast, the most famous being My Family and Other Animals (1956). Those memoirs of his family's years living in Greece were adapted into two television series (My Family and Other Animals, 1987, and The Durrells, 2016–2019) and one television film (My Family and Other Animals, 2005). He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell.

Early life and education
Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, British India, on 7 January 1925. He was the fifth and youngest child (an elder sister having died in infancy) of Louisa Florence Dixie and Lawrence Samuel Durrell, both of whom were born in India of English and Irish descent. Durrell's father was a British engineer and, as was commonplace for a family of their status, the infant Durrell spent most of his time in the company of an ayah (nursemaid). Durrell reportedly recalled his first visit to a zoo in India and attributed his lifelong love of animals to that encounter.

The family moved to the UK after the death of his father in India. Durrell was enrolled in Wickwood School, but frequently stayed at home, feigning illness.

Corfu
Louisa moved to the Greek island of Corfu in 1935 with Leslie, Margaret, and Gerald, joining her eldest son Lawrence who had arrived there with his wife Nancy about a week earlier. On Corfu Durrell began to collect and keep the local fauna as pets.

The family lived on Corfu until 1939, and this interval became the basis of Durrell's books My Family and Other Animals; Birds, Beasts, and Relatives; and The Garden of the Gods; plus a few short stories such as "My Donkey Sally". The Corfu years also set the background for two TV series and one telefilm. Durrell was home-schooled during this time by various private tutors, mostly friends of his brother Lawrence.

Theodore Stephanides was a Greek-British doctor, scientist, poet, translator, and a friend of George Wilkinson, one of Durrell's tutors. He became Durrell's greatest friend and mentor, his ideas leaving a lasting impression on the young naturalist. Together, they examined Corfu's fauna, which Durrell housed in a variety of items including test tubes and bathtubs. Stephanides' daughter Alexia Mercouri (1927–2018) accompanied the two on their field trips. She stated that both families had hoped that she and Durrell would marry one day, but any such prospect was disrupted by the outbreak of war in 1939.

Other influences on Durrell during his formative years were the works of naturalists Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Jean-Henri Fabre and Gilbert White.

London and Whipsnade Zoo
Durrell, his mother, his brother Leslie and their Greek maid Maria Kondos moved back to Britain in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War. It was difficult to find a job in the war and post-war years, especially for a homeschooled youth, but the enterprising Durrell worked as a helper at an aquarium and pet store. Some of the difficulties that he faced in this period can be found in Fillets of Plaice.

His call-up for the war came in 1943, but he was exempted from military duty on medical grounds, and asked to serve the war effort by working on a farm. After the war, Durrell joined Whipsnade Zoo as a junior or student keeper. This move fulfilled a lifelong dream: Durrell claims in The Stationary Ark that the first word that he could enunciate with any clarity was "zoo". Beasts in My Belfry recalls events of this period.

Early animal expeditions
Durrell left Whipsnade Zoo in May 1946 to join wildlife collecting expeditions, but was denied a place in the voyages due to his lack of experience. His wildlife expeditions began with a 1947 trip to the British Cameroons (now part of Cameroon) with ornithologist John Yealland, financed by a £3,000 inheritance from his father on turning 21. The animals that he brought back were sold to London Zoo, Chester Zoo, Paignton Zoo, Bristol Zoo, and Belle Vue Zoological Gardens. He followed this expedition with two others, accompanied by fellow Whipsnade zookeeper Ken Smith: a repeat trip to the British Cameroon in 1949, and a trip to British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1950. On the first of these trips, he met the Fon of Bafut Achirimbi II, a West African chieftain who helped him organise future missions.

Durrell housed and fed his captives with the best supplies obtainable, not trapping animals having merely "show value" or those which would fetch high prices from collectors. These practices differed from those of other animal-collecting expeditions and he was in financial straits by the end of his third expedition. He had a falling-out with George Cansdale, superintendent of the London Zoo, and Durrell was blackballed by the British zoo community and could not secure a job in most zoos. He eventually found one at the aquarium at Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester, where he remained for some time.

Durrell started writing humorous autobiographical accounts to raise money with encouragement and assistance from Jacquie and advice from his brother Lawrence. He did this initially because he and Jacquie were in need of money after their wedding and he had no source of income, and later he wrote in order to fund his expeditions and conservation efforts. His first book The Overloaded Ark was a huge success, causing him to follow up with other such accounts. He only made £50 from British rights (Faber and Faber), but he obtained £500 from the United States rights (Viking Press) for the book, and thus managed to raise money for a fourth expedition to South America in 1954. This, however, was undertaken during a political coup d'état in Paraguay and was unsuccessful.

Foundations for the Jersey Zoo
The publication of My Family and Other Animals in 1956 made Durrell a notable author and brought him public recognition as a naturalist. Royalties from this book, which made best-seller lists in the United Kingdom, helped to fund Durrell's next expedition.

Durrell's growing disillusionment with the way zoos of the time were run, and his belief that they should primarily act as reserves and regenerators of endangered species, made him contemplate founding his own zoo. His 1957 trip to Cameroon for the third and last time was primarily to collect animals which would form the core collection of his own zoo.

This expedition was also filmed, it being Durrell's first experiment with making a cinematographic record of his work with animals. The success of the film To Bafut with Beagles, together with his autobiographical radio programme Encounters with Animals, made Durrell a regular with the BBC Natural History unit for decades to come, as well as generating funds for his conservation projects. He made the Jersey zoo in his backyard.

On his return from Bafut, Durrell and wife Jacquie stayed with his sister Margaret at her boarding house in the seaside resort of Bournemouth. His animals were housed in her gardens and garage on a temporary basis, while Durrell sought prospective sites for a zoo. To his dismay, both Bournemouth and Poole municipalities turned down his suggestion for a zoo. This experience provided material for his book A Zoo in My Luggage.

Zoo and the trust

Durrell founded the Jersey Zoological Park in 1959 to house his growing collection of animals. The site for the zoo, a 17th-century manor house, Les Augres Manor, came to Durrell's notice by chance after a long and unsuccessful search for a suitable site. Durrell leased the manor and set up his zoo on the redesigned manor grounds. In the same year, Durrell undertook another, more successful expedition to South America to collect endangered species. The zoo was opened to the public in 1959 on 26 March.

As the zoo grew in size, so did the number of projects undertaken to save threatened wildlife in other parts of the world. Durrell was instrumental in founding the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (now Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), on 6 July 1963 to cope with the increasingly difficult challenges of zoo, wildlife and habitat management.

The trust opened an international wing, the Wildlife Preservation Trust International, in the United States in 1971, to aid international conservation efforts in a better fashion. That year, the trust bought out Les Augres Manor from its owner, Major Hugh Fraser, giving the zoo a permanent home.

Durrell's initiative caused the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society to start the World Conference on Breeding Endangered Species in Captivity as an Aid to their Survival in 1972 at Jersey, today one of the most prestigious conferences in the field. 1972 also saw Princess Anne becoming a patron of the trust, an action which brought the trust into media limelight and helped raise funds.

The 1970s saw Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust become a leading zoo in the field of captive breeding, championing the cause among species like the lowland gorilla, and various Mauritian fauna. Durrell visited Mauritius several times and coordinated large scale conservation efforts in Mauritius with conservationist Carl Jones, involving captive breeding programmes for native birds and reptiles, ecological recovery of Round Island, training local staff, and setting up local conservation facilities. This ultimately led to the founding of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation in 1984.

Jacquie Durrell separated from and then divorced Durrell in 1979, citing his increasing work pressure, associated alcoholism and mounting stress as causes.

Durrell met his second wife, Lee McGeorge Wilson, in 1977 when he lectured at Duke University, where she was studying for a PhD in animal communication. In 1978, a year after they first met, Durrell wrote a love letter to his future wife. They married in 1979. She co-authored a number of books with him, including The Amateur Naturalist, and became the honorary director of the trust after his death.

In 1978, Durrell started the training centre for conservationists at the zoo, or the "mini-university" in his words. As of 2005, over a thousand biologists, naturalists, zoo veterinarians and zoo architects from 104 countries have attended the International Training Centre. Durrell was also instrumental in forming the Captive Breeding Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union in 1982.

Durrell founded Wildlife Preservation Trust Canada, now Wildlife Preservation Canada, in 1985. The official appeal, Saving Animals from Extinction, was launched in 1991 at a time when British zoos were not faring well and London Zoo was in danger of closing down.

In 1989, Durrell and his wife, along with David Attenborough and cricketer David Gower helped launch the World Land Trust (then the World Wide Land Conservation Trust). The initial goal of the trust was to purchase rainforest land in Belize as part of the Programme for Belize. Around this time Gerald Durrell developed a friendship with Charles Rycroft, who became an important donor of funds both for building works in Jersey (the Harcroft Lecture Theatre) and for conservation work in East Africa, Madagascar and elsewhere.

1990 saw the trust establish a conservation programme in Madagascar along the lines of the Mauritius programme. Durrell visited Madagascar in 1990 to start captive breeding of a number of endemic species like the aye-aye.

Durrell chose the dodo, the flightless bird of Mauritius that was hunted to extinction in the 17th century, as the logo for both the Jersey Zoo and the trust. The children's chapter of the trust is called the Dodo Club. Following his death, the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust was renamed the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust at the 40th anniversary of the zoo on 26 March 1999. The Wildlife Preservation Trust International also changed its name to Wildlife Trust in 2000, and adopted the logo of the black tamarin.

In A Zoo in My Luggage (1957), Durrell wrote:

"To me the extirpation of an animal species is a criminal offence, just as the destruction of something else that we cannot recreate or replace, such as a Rembrandt or the Acropolis, would be."

Personal life
On 26 February 1951, Durrell married Manchester resident Jacqueline ('Jacquie') Sonia Wolfenden after a lengthy courtship; they eloped when she was 21, because of opposition from her father. The couple initially lived in a small bedsitter in Durrell's sister Margaret's Bournemouth boarding house. Jacquie accompanied him on most of his following animal expeditions and helped found and manage the Jersey Zoo. She also authored two humorous, best-selling memoirs on the lines of Durrell's books in order to raise money for conservation efforts. They separated and then divorced in 1979, citing the pressure of his work and his alcoholism.

In 1979, Gerald married American Lee McGeorge Wilson, who met him when he gave a lecture at Duke University in North Carolina in 1977, where she was a doctoral student. He was 52 and she was 28 years old. Both were enthusiastic naturalists. They remained married until his death.

Death
By the 1980s Durrell was experiencing significant health challenges. He underwent hip-replacement surgery in a bid to counter arthritis, and he also suffered from alcohol-related liver problems. His health deteriorated rapidly after the 1990 Madagascar trip. Durrell had a liver transplant in King's College Hospital on 28 March 1994, and he died of septicaemia on 30 January 1995, shortly after his 70th birthday in Jersey General Hospital. His ashes are buried in Jersey Zoo, under a memorial plaque bearing a quote by William Beebe:

"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be re-conceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again. (The Bird, 1906)"

A memorial celebrating Durrell's life and work was held at the Natural History Museum in London on 28 June 1995. Participants included personal friends such as David Attenborough and Princess Anne.

Books
Durrell's books have a very loose style which pokes fun at himself as well as those around him. Perhaps his best-known work is My Family and Other Animals (1956), which tells of his idyllic childhood on Corfu and was developed into two TV series and one film. It is deprecating about the whole family, especially elder brother Lawrence, who became a famous novelist. Despite Durrell's jokes at Lawrence's expense, the two were close friends all their lives.

Durrell always insisted that he wrote for royalties to help the cause of environmental stewardship, not out of an inherent love for writing. He describes himself as a writer in comparison to his brother: "The subtle difference between us is that he loves writing and I don't. To me it's simply a way to make money which enables me to do my animal work, nothing more."

Durrell was a regular contributor to magazines on both sides of the Atlantic, including Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and the Sunday Times Supplement. He was also a regular book reviewer for The New York Times. A number of excerpts and stories from his books were used by Octopus Books and Reader's Digest Publishing, including in the Reader's Digest Condensed Books. His works have been translated into 31 languages and made into TV serials and feature films. He has large followings in Northern and Eastern Europe, Russia, Israel, and various Commonwealth countries, including India. The British Library houses a collection of Durrell's books as part of the Lawrence Durrell Collection.

Illustrators
Durrell was a talented artist and caricaturist, but worked with numerous illustrators over the years, starting with Sabine Baur for The Overloaded Ark (published by Faber and Faber). Two of his most productive collaborations were with Ralph Thompson (Bafut Beagles, Three Singles To Adventure, The New Noah, The Drunken Forest, Encounters with Animals, A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor) (published by Rupert Hart-Davis) and Edward Mortelmans (Catch Me A Colobus, Beasts in My Belfry, Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons) (published by Collins). The illustrations are mostly sketches of animal subjects. Ralph Thompson visited the Jersey Zoological Park during the sketching period for Menagerie Manor.

Other illustrators who worked with Durrell were Barry L. Driscoll, who illustrated Two in the Bush; Pat Marriott, who illustrated Look at Zoos; and Anne Mieke van Ogtrop, who illustrated The Talking Parcel and Donkey Rustlers.

Durrell wrote a number of lavishly illustrated children's books in his later years. Graham Percy was the illustrator for The Fantastic Flying Journey and The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure. Toby the Tortoise and Keeper were illustrated by Keith West. His Puppy board books were illustrated by Cliff Wright.

Honours and legacy

 * Durrell was awarded the Order of the Golden Ark by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1981.
 * In 1981, Durrell became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.
 * Durrell received the OBE in 1982.
 * The National Youth Music Theatre performed the musical theatre The Carnival of the Animals at Fort Regent, Jersey as a tribute to Gerald Durrell in 1984.
 * Durrell featured in the United Nations' Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement in 1988, becoming part of 500 people ("Global 500") to be given this honour in the period 1987–92.
 * The University of Kent started the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) in 1989, the first graduate school in the United Kingdom to offer degrees and diplomas in conservation and biodiversity.
 * The journal Biodiversity and Conservation brought out a special volume of the journal in tribute to Gerald Durrell, on the theme of "The Role of Zoos" in 1995, following his death.
 * The Gerald Durrell Memorial Funds, launched in 1996, are granted in the field of conservation by the Wildlife Trust every year.
 * The statue park in Miskolc Zoo, created a bust of Gerald Durrell in 1998. Whipsnade Zoo also unveiled a new island for housing primates dedicated to Durrell in 1998.
 * PomnikGerald Durrell stolicaKorfu — kopia.jpg town]]The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife, gives the Gerald Durrell Award for the best photograph of an endangered species, starting from 2001.
 * The Durrell School in Corfu, established in 2002, offers an academic course and tours in the footsteps of the Durrells in Corfu. Botanist David Bellamy conducted field trips in Corfu for the school.
 * The town hall of Corfu announced in 2006 that it would rename Corfu Bosketto (a park in the city of Corfu) Bosketto Durrell, after Gerald and Lawrence Durrell as a mark of respect.
 * Wildlife Preservation Canada established the Gerald Durrell Society in 2006 as recognition for individuals who have made legacy gifts.
 * The Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary in the Black River Valley in Mauritius, is the home of the Mauritius Wildlife Appeal Fund's immensely successful captive breeding programme for the Mauritius kestrel, pink pigeon and echo parakeet.
 * The Durrell Wildlife Park has a bronze statue of Gerald Durrell by John Doubleday, cast along with a ruffed lemur at his knee and a Round Island gecko at his feet.
 * Jersey brought out stamps honouring the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust and Mauritius brought out a stamp based on a race of a rare gecko named after Durrell.
 * The de-rodentification of Rat Island in Saint Lucia by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to create a sanctuary for the Saint Lucia whiptail lizard on the lines of Praslin Island has caused an official change in name for Rat Island. It is in the process of being renamed Durrell Island.
 * The Visitors' Centre at the Belize Zoo is named the Gerald Durrell Visitors' Centre in honour of Durrell.
 * Cornwall college Newquay's centre for applied zoology has two buildings, one the Durrell Building, opened by his wife Lee Durrell in 2007.

Species and homages

 * Salanoia durrelli: a carnivoran species related to the brown-tailed mongoose, from Lake Alaotra, Madagascar. (2010)
 * Centrolene durrellorum: A glassfrog of the family Centrolenidae from the eastern Andean foothills of Ecuador, discovered in 2002 and described in 2005. This frog was named in honour of Gerald Durrell and his wife Lee Durrell "for their contributions to the conservation of global biodiversity".
 * Clarkeia durrelli: A fossil brachiopod of the order Atrypida, from the Upper Silurian age, discovered 1982
 * Nactus serpensinsula durrellorum: The Round Island race of the Serpent Island gecko is a distinct subspecies and was named after both Gerald and Lee Durrell for their contribution to saving the gecko and Round Island fauna in general. Mauritius released a stamp depicting the race.
 * Ceylonthelphusa durrelli: Durrell's freshwater crab: A critically rare new species of Sri Lankan freshwater crab.
 * Benthophilus durrelli: Don tadpole-goby: A new species of tadpole goby discovered in 2004
 * Kotchevnik durrelli Yakovlev: A new species of moth of the superfamily Cossoidea from Russia
 * Mahea durrelli Kment 2005: A new species of shield bug of the family Acanthosomatidae from Madagascar

Autobiographical

 * The Overloaded Ark (Faber and Faber, 1953)
 * Three Singles to Adventure (Three Tickets to Adventure) (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954)
 * The Bafut Beagles (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954)
 * The New Noah (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1955)
 * The Drunken Forest (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1956)
 * My Family and Other Animals (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1956) – first in the Corfu trilogy
 * Encounters with Animals (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1958)
 * A Zoo in My Luggage (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1960)
 * The Whispering Land (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1961)
 * Menagerie Manor (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1964)
 * Two in the Bush (Collins, 1966)
 * Birds, Beasts, and Relatives (Collins, 1969) - second in the Corfu trilogy
 * Fillets of Plaice (Collins, 1971)
 * Catch Me a Colobus (Collins, 1972)
 * Beasts in My Belfry (A Bevy of Beasts) (Collins, 1973)
 * The Stationary Ark (Collins, 1976) (mainly non-fictional content)
 * Golden Bats And Pink Pigeons: A Journey to the Flora and Fauna of a Unique Island  (Collins, 1977)
 * The Garden of the Gods (Fauna and Family) (Collins, 1978) - third in the Corfu trilogy
 * The Picnic And Suchlike Pandemonium (The Picnic and Other Inimitable Stories) (Collins, 1979) (with some fictional short stories)
 * Ark on the Move (Coward McCann, 1982)
 * How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist (Collins, 1984)
 * Durrell in Russia (with Lee Durrell) (MacDonald (Publisher) (UK) / Simon & Schuster (U.S.), 1986)
 * The Ark's Anniversary (Collins, 1990)
 * Marrying Off Mother and Other Stories (Harper-Collins, 1991) (with some fictional short stories)
 * The Aye-Aye And I: A Rescue Journey to Save One of the World's Most Intriguing Creatures from Extinction (Harper-Collins, 1992)

Non-fiction

 * Island Zoo: The Animals a Famous Collector Couldn't Part with (photographs by W. Suschitzky) (Collins, 1961)
 * Look at Zoos (Hamish Hamilton, 1961)
 * A Practical Guide for the Amateur Naturalist (with Lee Durrell) (Hamish Hamilton (UK) / Alfred A. Knopf (U.S.), 1982)

Fiction

 * The Donkey Rustlers (Collins, 1968)
 * Rosy Is My Relative (Collins, 1968)
 * The Talking Parcel (Battle for Castle Cockatrice) (Collins, 1974)
 * The Mockery Bird (The Billion Dollar Brain) (Collins, 1981)
 * The Fantastic Flying Journey: An Adventure in Natural History (Conran Octopus, 1987)
 * The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure: A New Adventure in Natural History (Conran Octopus, 1989)
 * Keeper (Michael O'Mara Books, 1990)
 * Toby the Tortoise (Michael O'Mara Books, 1991)
 * Puppy's Wild Time ('Puppy Tales' No. 1) (Scott Ltd, 1993)
 * Puppy's Beach Adventure ('Puppy Tales' No. 2) (Scott Ltd, 1993)
 * Puppy's Pet Pals ('Puppy Tales' No. 3) (Scott Ltd, 1993)
 * Puppy's Field Day ('Puppy Tales' No. 4) (Scott Ltd, 1993)

Compilations

 * The Best of Gerald Durrell (edited by Lee Durrell) (Harper-Collins, 1996)

Unpublished

 * Animal Pie, an unpublished book of lighthearted animal poems and caricatures, written in the 1950s [referenced in the official Douglas Botting biography]

Contributions

 * (Foreword; the book is also dedicated to him.)
 * (Foreword)

Books edited by Durrell

 * My Favourite Animal Stories (Arrow Books, 1962)

Selected articles

 * "I am sort of caged in my own zoo"

In case of simultaneous releases in many countries, the UK edition is referred to, except for companion books to TV series where both the UK and US editions are referred to.

Biographies and other references

 * Himself and Other Animals: A Portrait of Gerald Durrell, David Hughes (1976)
 * In The Footsteps of Lawrence Durrell and Gerald Durrell in Corfu (1935–39), Hilary Whitton Paipeti (1998)
 * Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography, Douglas Botting (1999)
 * "Durrelliania": An Illustrated Checklist of Inscribed Books of Lawrence Durrell and Gerald Durrell and Associated Publications, Letters and Notes in the Library of Jeremy J. C. Mallinson, edited by Jeremy Mallinson (1999)
 * Amateurs in Eden: The Story of a Bohemian Marriage: Nancy and Lawrence Durrell, Joanna Hodgkin (2012)
 * The Durrells of Corfu, Michael Haag (2017)
 * Dining with the Durrells: Stories and Recipes from the Cookery Archive of Mrs Louisa Durrell, David Shimwell (2019)

Jersey Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust books

 * A Brush with Animals, Ralph Thompson (illustrations by author) (1963)
 * Okavango Adventure: In Search of Animals in Southern Africa, Jeremy Mallinson (1973)
 * Earning Your Living with Animals, Jeremy Mallinson (1975)
 * The Facts About a Zoo: Featuring the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, Jeremy Mallinson (1980)
 * State of the Ark: An Atlas of Conservation in Action, Lee Durrell (1986)
 * Travels in Search of Endangered Species, Jeremy Mallinson (1989)
 * Gerald Durrell's Army, Edward Whitley (1992)
 * Jambo: A Gorilla's Story, Richard Johnstone-Scott (1995)
 * The Touch of Durrell: A Passion for Animals, Jeremy Mallinson (2009)

Companion books to TV series not co-authored by Durrell

 * Ourselves and Other Animals: From the TV Series with Gerald and Lee Durrell, Peter Evans (1987)

Books and letters by family and friends

 * Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corcyra, Lawrence Durrell (1945)
 * Beasts in My Bed, Jacquie Durrell (1967)
 * Spirit of Place: Essays and Letters on Travel, Lawrence Durrell (1969)
 * Island Trails, Theodore Stephanides (1973)
 * Intimate Relations, Jacquie Durrell (1976)
 * Whatever Happened to Margo, Margaret Durrell (1995) (written in the 1960s)
 * The Durrell-Miller Letters: 1935-1980, Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller (1998)
 * Autumn Gleanings: Corfu Memoirs and Poems, Theodore Stephanides (2011) (apparently written in the 1970s)

Featuring the subject

 * Encounters With Animals, Radio series, BBC (1957)
 * To Bafut With Beagles, TV series, BBC (1958)
 * Look (Argentinian Expedition), Single episode in TV series, BBC (1961)
 * Zoo Packet, TV series, BBC (1961)
 * Animal Magic, early episodes in TV series, BBC (1962–1983)
 * Two in the Bush, TV series, BBC (1963)
 * Catch Me a Colobus, TV series, BBC (1966)
 * The Garden of the Gods, TV series, BBC (1967)
 * The Stationary Ark, TV series, Primedia (Canada) / Channel 4 (UK) (1975)
 * Animals Are My Life, episode in the TV series The World About Us, BBC (1978)
 * Ark on the Move, TV series, Primedia (Canada) / Channel 4 (UK) (1982)
 * The Amateur Naturalist, TV series, CBC / Channel 4 (UK) (1983)
 * Ourselves & Other Animals, TV series, Primetime Television and Harcourt Films (1987).
 * Durrell in Russia, TV series, Channel 4 (UK) (1986)
 * Durrell's Ark, documentary, BBC (1988)
 * A Day at the Zoo with Phillip Schofield, one-hour episode featuring Durrell and Jersey Zoo (1989)
 * Durrell and Other Animals, TV documentary with David Attenborough, BBC (UK) (1995)
 * Gerald Durrell – Himself and Other Animals, documentary, Green Umbrella Productions (1999)
 * Gerald Durrell – Jambo the Gentle Giant, documentary, Green Umbrella Productions (1999)
 * Gerald Durrell – To the Island of the Aye-Aye, documentary, Green Umbrella Productions (1999)
 * Safe Hands in a Wild World, documentary, Green Umbrella Productions (1999)
 * Inside Jersey Zoo, re-release, UK PC Advisor magazine (2001)
 * The Round Island Project, re-release, UK PC Advisor magazine (2001)
 * The Mauritius Conservation Mission, re-release, UK PC Advisor magazine (2001)
 *  My Family and Other Animals (Radio Play), BBC Radio 4 (2010)

On the subject

 * A Memorial Celebration for the Life of Gerald Durrell (1995)
 * World of Animals episode on Gerald Durrell and Jersey Zoo, Channel One, Moscow (2004)
 * The Wild Life of Gerald Durrell, BBC Four (December 2005)
 * Wildlife in a War Zone, using archival Durrell footage and examining the changes brought about by war in Sierra Leone, Animal Planet, May 2006
 * Archive Hour with Bridget Nicholls: Discover Your Inner Durrell, BBC Radio 4 (September 2006)
 * Fierce Creatures, a 1997 comedic film about a zoo in peril of being closed written by John Cleese, starring Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin, is dedicated to Gerald Durrell and British humorist Peter Cook in the closing credits, with their photographs and dates of birth and death.

Movies

 * The Talking Parcel, Animated movie, directed by Brian Cosgrove, Cosgrove Hall (1979)
 * My Family and Other Animals, 10-episode TV series, BBC (1987)
 * My Family and Other Animals, Radio drama, BBC Radio 4 (2001)
 * The Fantastic Flying Journey, Animated TV series, directed by Catherine Robbins and John Coates, Two Sides TV / TV Loonland (2001)
 * My Family And Other Animals, the film version of his autobiography as a child (2005)
 * The Durrells, 4-season TV series (26 episodes), inspired by Durrell's three autobiographical books about his family's time on Corfu, ITV (2016–2019)

Screenplays

 * Tarka the Otter, movie, directed by David Cobham (1979)

Time capsule
A time capsule buried at Jersey Zoo in 1988 contains the following popular quote by Durrell, often used in conservation awareness campaigns: We hope that there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you. We hope that your dawns will have an orchestra of bird song and that the sound of their wings and the opalescence of their colouring will dazzle you. We hope that there will still be the extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet with you to enchant you and enrich your lives as they have done for us. We hope that you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world.

Quotations
Gerald Durrell has one entry in the 8th Edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. "Many people think conservation is just about saving fluffy animals—what they don't realise is that we are trying to prevent the human race from committing suicide."

title: Gerald Durrell


text:
Agrippa

Agrippa may refer to:

Antiquity

 * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa
 * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century
 * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century
 * Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, Roman consul in 503 BC
 * Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63–12 BC), Roman statesman and general, friend and lieutenant of Augustus Caesar
 * Agrippa Postumus (12 BC–AD 14)
 * Gaius Fonteius Agrippa, father and son with the same name; the former an accuser of Libo, the latter suffect consul in AD 58
 * Decimus Haterius Agrippa, consul in AD 22
 * Marcus Asinius Agrippa, consul in AD 25
 * Vibulenus Agrippa, committed suicide in the Roman senate in AD 36
 * Herod Agrippa, (10 BC–AD 44) grandson of Herod the Great, king of Judea, friend of Claudius
 * Herod Agrippa II, (AD 27–100), his son
 * Agrippa Castor, Christian Roman writer of the 2nd century
 * Julius Agrippa, Centurion of the 2nd century
 * Marcius Agrippa, slave of the 3rd century who was eventually elevated to senatorial rank by Macrinus

Modern era

 * Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), occultist, philosopher, and theologian
 * Camillo Agrippa, sixteenth-century architect who applied geometric theory to the art of fencing
 * Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630), French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler
 * Agrippa Masiyakurima, Zimbabwean Engineer, and Entrepreneur.

Fictional characters

 * Mumboz Agrippa, a character from the Zork series of computer games
 * Salome Agrippa, a character from True Blood
 * Mighty Agrippa, Roman God of the Aqueduct, a character from The Tick
 * Agrippa, a character from the video game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, likely based on Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
 * Agrippa, a character from the 1845 children's book Struwwelpeter

Other uses

 * Agrippa (praenomen), a Latin personal name
 * Agrippa (crater), an impact crater on the Moon
 * Agrippa (A Book of the Dead), a 1992 work of art by William Gibson and others
 * A fictional space destroyer in the Earth Alliance Civil War in the Babylon 5 television series
 * Pedestal of Agrippa in Athens

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Agrippa


text:
Easter Road

Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of, which makes it the fifth-largest football stadium in Scotland. Easter Road is also known by Hibs fans as "The Holy Ground" or "The Leith San Siro". The venue has also been used to stage international matches, Scottish League Cup semi-finals and was briefly the home ground of the Edinburgh professional rugby union team.

Hibs first played at the present site of Easter Road in 1893. The ground holds the record attendance for a Scottish match outside Glasgow, when 65,860 attended an Edinburgh derby on 2 January 1950. The size of the terracing was greatly reduced in the 1980s. After the publication of the Taylor Report, Hibs considered leaving Easter Road and moving to a different site (Straiton, near Loanhead was mooted), but these plans were abandoned in 1994. Redevelopment of the stadium began in 1995 and was completed in 2010. The Easter Road pitch had a pronounced slope until it was removed in 2000.

Early history (1893–1945)
Hibernian played its first match on the Meadows, on 25 December 1875. The club first moved to the Easter Road area in 1880, to a ground known as Hibernian Park. This location had the advantage of being equidistant between their two main sources of support, the Irish immigrant communities in the port of Leith and the Old Town of Edinburgh. When Hibs suffered financial difficulties in the early 1890s, the lease on Hibernian Park expired and developers started building what would become Bothwell Street. The club was reformed in 1892 and a lease on a piece of land called Drum Park was secured. The site had restricted access from Easter Road, a pronounced slope and was in close proximity to Bank Park, the home of Leith Athletic. There was a sense of continuity from the previous ground, however, and the supporters were keen to get started again. The first match at Easter Road was played on 4 February 1893, a friendly against Clyde.

Easter Road staged its first Scottish League match when Hibs joined the league in 1893. Hibs were only renting Easter Road, which Edinburgh city planners had designated for future development. This meant the club were unwilling to develop the ground and looked for alternatives. Hibs considered relocating to Aberdeen in 1902, a year before Aberdeen FC was formed by a merger of three local clubs. In 1909, work began on a potential new ground in the Piershill area of Edinburgh, but the North British Railway company won a court order allowing them to build a railway line over the ground. No line was ever built, but Hibs' interest in moving to the site was thwarted. The long-term future of Easter Road was only secured in 1922, when the club agreed a 25-year lease on the ground. Two years later, three banks of terraces were raised, while a main stand seating 4,480 people was built on the west side of the ground. The redeveloped stadium had a capacity of 45,000. The pitch was also moved 40 yards to the east, providing space for the main stand. The slope was reduced to approximately 6 feet as part of this work.

Post-war (1945–1991)
Hibs enjoyed great success in the period immediately after the end of the Second World War, winning three league championships between 1948 and 1952. The club's participation in the (inaugural) 1955–56 European Cup meant that Easter Road became the first British ground to host European Cup football. A record attendance of 65,860 was set by an Edinburgh derby against Hearts played on 2 January 1950. This is also a record for any football match played in Edinburgh. As the fans had been tightly packed on the terraces to achieve this record attendance, the size of the East Terrace was increased further. The club even drew up plans to expand the overall capacity to nearly 100,000. This would have been done by raising each end terrace to the same height as the east side, but these plans were never realised.

Hibs were one of the first clubs to install corner floodlight pylons, rather than the roof-mounted lights used at Ibrox. The Easter Road floodlights were installed by a local company, Miller & Stables, who would construct similar leaning gantries in many other Scottish grounds. They were first used for an Edinburgh derby played on 18 October 1954. A roof was put over the North Terrace in the early 1960s, but the ground was largely unchanged through the 1960s and 1970s. The capacity was reduced in 1975 to 30,000, due to the regulations of the Safety of Sports Grounds Act. Hibs became the first club in Scotland to install undersoil heating, in 1980. Benches were installed in the North Terrace in 1982, but this was only because they were cheaper than replacing the terrace crush barriers. Soon afterwards, Hibs chairman Kenny Waugh admitted that the stadium was a "mess".

The height of the East Terrace was greatly reduced and a roof was erected in the mid-1980s. This work reduced the capacity to 27,000. Hibs was taken over by a consortium led by David Duff in 1987. The new regime spent approximately £1 million on executive boxes and refurbishments, but their policy of diversifying the business into property and public houses crippled the club financially when there was an economic downturn in the late 1980s. Hearts chairman Wallace Mercer attempted a takeover of Hibs in June 1990, with the intention of merging the two major Edinburgh football clubs. The Hibs fans protested against this and Mercer was prevented from gaining the 75% shareholding that was needed to close Hibs.

Redevelopment (1991–2010)
Sir Tom Farmer took control of Hibs in 1991, but the club was still faced with the need to develop a stadium that would meet the requirements of the Taylor Report. Hibs entered talks with Edinburgh District Council about sharing a new stadium with Hearts, but the proposed site of Ingliston was in the wrong part of the city for Hibs. The club was more interested in the possibility of playing at Meadowbank Stadium, only a few hundred yards from Easter Road, but there were planning difficulties with adapting Meadowbank into a large football stadium. The reorganisation of the club after Farmer took control meant that there was no real pressure to move, as he also owned Easter Road. The Hibs board made an assessment, however, that the ground could not be renovated in a cost-effective fashion before the August 1994 deadline set by the Taylor Report. Hibs proposed in January 1992 to sell Easter Road and move to a site owned by Farmer in Straiton. Hibs also invited Hearts to share this stadium, as their proposal for a site in Millerhill had been rejected by planners. Those plans were scaled down in 1993 when Lothian Regional Council refused to allow the rest of the Straiton site to be used for commercial development. The Hibs board continued to back the Straiton proposal and they insisted the installation of bucket seats in the uncovered South Terrace was merely to comply with the Taylor Report deadline. This measure also reduced the capacity of Easter Road to 13,500.

Later in 1994, however, the Straiton proposals were abandoned and Easter Road underwent major redevelopment in 1995. Stands behind each goal were built at a cost of £8 million, increasing the capacity to 16,531. The ground was made all seated by the installation of bucket seats in the East Terrace during 1995. Views of the pitch from this stand were somewhat restricted by supporting pillars. The Easter Road slope, which meant that the north end of the pitch was 6 feet lower than the south, was removed at the end of the 1999–00 season. The West Stand was built in 2001 to replace the ageing main stand, increasing capacity to 17,500.

Despite this development work, a move to a shared stadium in Straiton was again proposed in 2003. Hibs hoped that selling the Easter Road site would allow them to clear their debts and reduce costs. Club director Rod Petrie commented that any decision would be based on financial grounds and after consultation with the fanbase, as the club were not being forced to move. Farmer expressed support for further redeveloping Easter Road, if it could be part of a viable business plan. During the consultation, Farmer said that his main priority was ensuring the club's survival and denied that any deal had been concluded. The consultation found that the fans were largely opposed to the Straiton proposal, which the club eventually abandoned. To remove part of the debt, the club sold some land to the east of the stadium that had previously been used for car parking. Selling players, including Steven Whittaker, Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson and Steven Fletcher, also funded these debts and further work.

The club first obtained planning permission to replace the East Stand in 1999, and this was renewed in 2005. Hibs started a consultation with supporters on its redevelopment in 2007. The development was put on hold until sufficient cash resources were obtained to finance the project. The consultation process found that a single tier stand would be most popular with the fans. Petrie announced at the 2009 annual general meeting that the club would enter negotiations with contractors to establish the cost of rebuilding the stand. After these negotiations were concluded, Hibs announced in February 2010 that work would immediately begin on a new East Stand, increasing capacity to. Demolition of the old stand began in early March, and the stand was opened a month ahead of schedule in August 2010.

Recent developments (since 2020)
Large video screens were installed into the corners between the East Stand and the two end stands in 2021. Hibs announced in January 2024 that rail seats would be put into the lower tier of the Famous Five stand, with a view to introducing safe standing from the 2024–25 season.

Structure and facilities
Easter Road is an all-seated stadium, split into four geographic sections, known as the Famous Five (formerly North), East, South and West stands. The Famous Five and South stands are the oldest part of the present stadium, built in 1995. Each stand has two tiers, a cantilevered roof and a capacity of nearly 4,000. To keep within the boundaries of the site, the upper deck of each stand angles toward the centre. When the stands were built, the Famous Five Stand was above pitch level and the South Stand was below, but this was corrected when the natural slope was removed. Each stand also stretched beyond the east touchline, which was corrected by widening the pitch when the East Stand was rebuilt. Between the two tiers of the Famous Five Stand there are function suites and lounges. Before the stands were rebuilt in the 1990s, the north and south ends of Easter Road were known as the Cowshed and Dunbar End respectively. The southern end was called the Dunbar End because there was a lemonade factory named Dunbar's located behind it.

The West Stand, which initially had a capacity of 6,500, was built in 2001. A reception area, club offices, media centre, banqueting suites, hospitality area and changing rooms are located in the West Stand. The capacity of the West Stand was reduced slightly when the new East Stand was constructed in 2010, as the pitch was widened during this development. The East Stand, which is the newest part of the stadium, was built in 2010. It is the only stand that is not split into two tiers and has a capacity of 6,400. The decision to build the East Stand as a single tier was taken to maintain the character of the old terrace, which had been a simple viewing area without many facilities.

Other football matches
Kirkcaldy club Raith Rovers used Easter Road as a home venue once, for the home leg of a UEFA Cup tie against Bayern Munich in 1995. The match was moved from Rovers' normal home ground of Stark's Park due to Easter Road's greater capacity. Easter Road has sometimes played host to Scottish League Cup semi-final matches, such as in the 1996, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2013 and 2014 competitions. Team managers Terry Butcher and Gus MacPherson objected to playing semi-finals at Easter Road, on the grounds that their players should have the chance to play at Hampden Park, or that playing against Hearts in Edinburgh gives them a form of home advantage. The 2014 Scottish Challenge Cup Final between Raith Rovers and Rangers was hosted at Easter Road.

Scotland have played seven full international matches at Easter Road. These have been friendly matches against less attractive opposition where a relatively small crowd was expected, and it has therefore been unnecessary to play the match at Hampden Park. The Scotland under-21 team has also sometimes played matches at Easter Road, such as when Scotland played Iceland in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification play-offs. The most recent full international played at the stadium was a friendly match between Scotland and Canada in March 2017. One full international was played at Easter Road that did not involve Scotland, a friendly match between South Korea and Ghana that was played in advance of the 2006 World Cup.

Scotland women played their first match at Easter Road in August 2019, a Euro 2021 qualifying match against Cyprus.

Men's
Between 1988 and 2017, eight full men's international football matches have been played at Easter Road.

Women's
Easter Road hosted its first of two women's international matches in August 2019.

Other sports
Easter Road was briefly the home ground for Edinburgh Rugby, a professional rugby union team, in the late 1990s. Heineken Cup matches against Ebbw Vale and Toulouse were played at the ground during the 1998–99 season, with attendances of a few thousand. Edinburgh again expressed interest in using Easter Road in both 2004 and 2006, but this was opposed by Hibs manager Tony Mowbray, who was concerned that playing rugby would damage the pitch. The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) included Easter Road in a bid for Edinburgh to host the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup finals in 2014. In June 2015, the SRU chief executive indicated that trial matches could be played at Easter Road with a view to Edinburgh Rugby moving there for a longer term. It has since been announced that the team will move to Myreside from January 2017.

One of the hospitality suites within the stadium staged an amateur boxing show on 15 November 2009.

Uses other than sport
Elton John performed Easter Road's first rock concert on 25 June 2005. The international headquarters of the Homeless World Cup is based in the South Stand of the stadium.

Transport
Edinburgh Waverley, the main railway station in Edinburgh, is approximately 1.5 mi from the stadium; the walk between the two sites takes approximately 20 minutes. An extension to the Edinburgh Trams system, which serves the stadium via the McDonald Road tram stop on Leith Walk, began operating on 7 June 2023. There was a railway halt immediately beside the ground, part of the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway, which was opened in 1950 and closed in 1967.

Easter Road is served by several Lothian Buses routes. Services 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 22, 25 and 49 run down Leith Walk; services 1 and 35 run down Easter Road itself; services 4, 5, 15, 19, 26, 34 and 44 run along London Road and routes 34 and 49 serve Lochend Road. Several of these routes were affected by the tram construction works. East Coast Buses routes X5, X7, X24/124, 104 and 113 also serve the area. Visitors to the ground travelling by car can park in the surrounding streets.

title: Easter Road


text:
Talk:North Korea–United States relations

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Tcevidanes.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 05:24, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Public Opinion on current handling of North Korea
I was wondering if anyone could look at what I want to add

Polling on North Korea
“Most Americans Trust U.S. Military Leaders, Not the President, to Handle North Korea.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 Oct. 2017, Q: Do you think North Korea does or does not pose a threat to the United States? IF DOES POSE THREAT: Would you say it's a serious threat, or not serious?

Untitled
This article should be part of a larger, US policy toward North Korea article. --Uncle Ed

Or better, United States-North Korea relations. DanKeshet

Revert
I suggest we revert to this version (before addition of PD text). I don't think the new text (at the top of the article, notabene) is suitable for Wikipedia. Maybe we can take some information from there, but I consider this POV. Kokiri 22:08, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * The original version was shallow, uninformative, and also slanted in its own way. If you think it is POV, state how. Attacking the source is not an option. Flag and explain and we'll try to make it un-POV. Similar text was copied at Sino-American relations at one time. --Jiang 11:18, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Fair point. I will try to state reasons.
 * The United States supports the peaceful reunification of Korea--divided following World War II--on terms acceptable to the Korean people and recognizes that the future of the Korean Peninsula is primarily a matter for them to decide. The U.S. believes that a constructive and serious dialogue between the authorities of North and South Korea (Republic of Korea, R.O.K.) is necessary to resolve the issues on the peninsula.
 * This, to me, sounds like a propaganda leaflet. The actual policies seem (IMHO) to contrast this.
 * On his inauguration in February 1998, R.O.K. President Kim Dae-jung enunciated a new policy of engagement with North Korea dubbed "the Sunshine Policy." The policy had three fundamental principles: no tolerance of provocations from the North, no intention to absorb the North, and the separation of political cooperation from economic cooperation. Private sector overtures would be based on commercial and humanitarian considerations. The use of government resources would entail reciprocity. This policy eventually set the stage for the first (and only) inter-Korean summit, held in Pyongyang June 13-15, 2000. The summit produced a Joint Declaration noting that the two governments "have agreed to resolve the question of reunification independently and through the joint efforts of the Korean people.
 * Now, firstly there's an article on the Sunshine Policy (I have linked it now), so there's quite some overlapping. Secondly, this is South Korean- North Korean relations, not exactly what the title of the article suggests. Thirdly, the statement given at the end was merely repeated in 2000.
 * The nuclear issue (should be) is covered at North Korea nuclear weapons program. This issue makes up much of the PD text...
 * North Korea policy under George W. Bush [...]
 * No mentioning of the Axis of Evil...
 * In 2002, the Administration also became aware that North Korea was developing a uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons purposes.
 * They actually accused North Korea first (in public). And breached the 1994 agreements unilaterally. Note, I'm probably not NPOV here, but the text consistently tells it from one (biased) source.
 * During the August 2003 round of six-party talks, North Korea agreed to the eventual elimination of its nuclear programs if the United States were first willing to sign a bilateral "nonaggression treaty" and meet various other conditions, including the provision of substantial amounts of aid and normalization of relations. The North Korean proposal was unacceptable to the United States, which insisted on a multilateral resolution to the issue, and refused to provide benefits or incentives for North Korea to abide by its previous international obligations.
 * A non-agression treaty is unacceptable to the US... Maybe some historical background (such as the US couldn't sign an official end to the Korean War...) wouldn't go amiss?
 * The current text reads like a propaganda leaflet to me. Maybe not every text is suitable for copy/paste into Wikipedia..., but more crucially, I think most of what the text mentions is already covered in Wikipedia, just in other articles. --Kokiri 22:19, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I say go ahead and delete whatever is not relevant, but some stuff, such as "U.S.-D.P.R.K. talks beginning in June 1993 led, in October 1994, to the conclusion of the U.S.-D.P.R.K. Agreed Framework. The Agreed Framework called for the following steps..." is relevant and should be kept. Also keep in ming that it's good to leave some context. The axis of evil comment is mentioned by wikipedia, and that text should be incorporated into the relevant section. It's better to fix than to delete. Feel free to add a neutrality dispute header in the meantime. --Jiang 22:52, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I prefer not to do this edit. I don't consider myself in a neutral enough position here. Maybe somebody else? --Kokiri 23:32, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The article needs to be updated to cover recent 6-party peace talks in China. --Jiang 11:19, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I merged the two articles that were here, but do not have enough information to do the 6-party peace talks in China information. --Wolf530 19:46, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)

U.S. Misled Allies About Nuclear Export
This article give an insightful observation why Condoleezza Rice is travelling to East Asia. Apparently, US government played a trick on them by reporting to them that North Korea sold weopons directly to Libya. When US allies discovered the omission, they were apparently not impressed. Anyway, its a nice read.

Bush administration on North Korea
The outline of events in 2002 is a bit misleading if the series of events are incorrect. Bush's state of the union address took place on january 29, 2002. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil when did the united states discover that North Korea was involved in a unranium enrichment program. Secretary of State pushed North Korea on a visit in October, 2002, (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2604437.stm#2002), but when did these suspicions become apparent to the united states? a more specific outline of events with dates needs to be applied to this part of the article, specifically if the linear history of events are incorrectly listed.

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:44, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
 * DMZ Crossing 2015.jpg

Public opinion section
The 'public opinion section' seems like a real mess! Lots of   tags. Also, the section contains tables extracted from a single survey. I suggest rephrasing the most important data into readable prose, instead of copy-pasting them. -- M h hossein   talk 07:18, 19 March 2023 (UTC)


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Soka Gakkai

Soka Gakkai (創価学会) is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhist groups.

The organization bases its teachings on Nichiren's interpretation of the Lotus Sutra and places chanting Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō at the center of devotional practice. The organization promotes its goals as supporting "peace, culture, and education".

In Japan, it heads a financial, educational and media empire, including newspapers, publishing houses, financial holdings and a network of schools. Komeito, a conservative party allied with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was founded by members of the Soka Gakkai.

The movement was founded by educators Makiguchi and Toda on 18 November 1930, and held its inaugural meeting in 1937. It was disbanded during the Second World War when much of the leadership was imprisoned for violations of the 1925 Peace Preservation Law and charges of lèse-majesté. After the war, its expansion was led by its former third president Daisaku Ikeda.

According to its own account, Soka Gakkai has 11million members in 192 countries and territories around the world. However, this figure is not supported by any independent count. According to the work of American academic Levi McLaughlin, membership in Japan is closer to 2–3% of the country's population, or between 2.4 and 4million people.

Moving the group toward mainstream acceptance, the organization is still viewed with suspicion in Japan and has found itself embroiled in public controversies     Komeito, a political party closely aligned with Soka Gakkai and founded by elements of its lay membership, entered a coalition agreement with the Liberal Democratic Party in 1999 and is currently a junior partner in government. Soka Gakkai has been described as a cult.

Beliefs
The beliefs of Soka Gakkai center on recognizing that all life has dignity with infinite inherent potential; this immanent Buddhahood exists in every person and can be awakened through the Buddhist practice prescribed by Nichiren. Further, a person's social actions at every moment can lead to, or the creation of value (the theory of the interdependence of life). Societal change is facilitated through "human revolution", a way of living in the world that creates value.

The doctrine of Soka Gakkai derives from Nichiren, who promulgated the Lotus Sutra as he perceived its application to the epoch in which he and people today live. Soka Gakkai gives significance to Nichiren's writings, referred to as, and refers especially to the collection of Nichiren's writings that was compiled by Nichiko Hori and Jōsei Toda, published as in 1952.

T'ien-t'ai (538–597), a Chinese Buddhist scholar who upheld the Lotus Sutra, developed a theoretical system to describe the infinite interconnectedness of life translated as "the principle of the mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena" or "three thousand realms in a single moment of life" (Japanese: ). This theory demonstrates that the entire phenomenal world exists in a single moment of life. Soka Gakkai members believe that because Nichiren made actualizing this possible by inscribing and teaching the invocation, their prayers and actions can in a single moment pierce through limitations.

"Life force" and "Human Revolution"
Soka Gakkai teaches that this "self-induced change in each individual" – which Josei Toda began referring to as "human revolution" – is what leads to happiness and peace.

Josei Toda studied a passage from the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra (considered the introduction to the Lotus Sutra) that describes Buddhahood by means of 34 negations – for example, that it is "neither being nor non-being, this nor that, square nor round". From this, he concluded that "Buddha" is life, or life force.

Toda considered that the concept of "Buddha as life (force) means that Buddhism entails transforming society. Ikeda has been quoted as saying "Faith is firm belief in the universe and the life force. Only a person of firm faith can lead a good and vigorous life[...] Buddhist doctrine is a philosophy that has human life as its ultimate object, and our Human Revolution movement is an act of reform aimed at opening up the inner universe, the creative life force within each individual, and leading to human freedom."

The concept of life force is central to the Soka Gakkai's conception of the role of religion and the application of Nichiren's teachings. Ikeda states that "[o]ur health, courage, wisdom, joy, desire to improve, self-discipline, and so on, could all be said to depend on our life force".

Oneness of mentor and disciple
The Soka Gakkai liturgy refers to all of its first three presidents – Tsunesabura Makiguchi, Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda – as "the eternal mentors of ". The organization's current leader, Ikeda, is revered by members. The relationship between members and their mentors is referred to as "the oneness of mentor and disciple". The mentor is to lead and thereby improve the lives of his disciples. The mentor's actions are seen as giving disciples confidence in their own unrealized potential. The role of disciples is seen as supporting their mentor and realizing his vision using their unique abilities and circumstances.

Since the mid-1990s, the issue of the oneness of mentor and disciple has received more prominence in Soka Gakkai. There is a strong emphasis on "cultivating all members[...] in discipleship" through forging "affective one-to-one relationships with Ikeda".

"On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land"
Nichiren wrote a treatise "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land" in 1260 and submitted it to the regent. Soka Gakkai members believe that it is one of his most important writings. In it, he claimed that the source of the natural disasters Japan faced at that time was due to the weakened spirit of its people, caused by attachments to religions that disavow the primacy of the people themselves. He called for the leaders and people to base their spiritual life on the Lotus Sutra, "the correct teaching", which would, in turn, lead to "the peace of the land".

Five "Eternal Guidelines of Faith"
In 1957, Josei Toda proclaimed three "Eternal Guidelines of Faith". In 2003, Daisaku Ikeda added two more guidelines. The Five Guidelines of Faith are:

 * 1) Faith for a harmonious family;
 * 2) Faith for each person to become happy;
 * 3) Faith for surmounting obstacles;
 * 4) Faith for health and long life;
 * 5) Faith for absolute victory.

Relation to the Lotus Sutra
Soka Gakkai members pray to Nichiren's (see section on Gohonzon), which "embodies Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the essence of the Lotus Sutra". The includes the Sutra's teaching that all life inherently possesses dignity when "illuminated by the light of the Mystic Law". , and depicts the ceremony in which bodhissatvas embrace "their mission to teach and preach to suffering people the path to happiness and freedom".

Soka Gakkai's history is closely intertwined with the study of the Lotus Sutra. Josei Toda began the postwar reconstruction by lecturing on the sutra, the study of which led to what Soka Gakkai considers his enlightenment (see "Life Force and Human Revolution"). After Soka Gakkai's excommunication by Nichiren Shōshū, Daisaku Ikeda conducted dialogue sessions on the Lotus Sutra which resulted in the publication of a six-volume work called The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra.

Karma (as "changing karma into mission")
The concept of karma is based on the law of causality. It refers to consequences created through one's actions, words or thoughts. Both early Buddhists and Hindus believed that to redress karma accumulated over the course of many eons, one must be reincarnated numerous times. The concept of karma then often became a source of despair as well as a tool for Buddhist clergy to instill fear and guilt in the minds of believers. Soka Gakkai Nichiren Buddhism, however, believes that the fundamental cause for revealing the ultimate potential of life, or Buddha nature, can diminish the influence of negative karma in the present lifetime.

Ikeda explains that negative karma is subsumed in the world of Buddhahood and is purified by its power. Importantly, Soka Gakkai members believe effects are determined simultaneously with causes, though they remain latent until the right external influences bring them to fruition. Soka Gakkai Buddhism teaches that even the most stubborn karma can be overcome as one reveals one's Buddha nature in this lifetime.

Practices
The practice of Soka Gakkai members is directed to "oneself and others".

Chanting
The words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (also called Daimoku) is the main practice of the organization, which is claimed to express the true nature of life through cause and effect. Soka Gakkai members believe that chanting releases the power of the universal life force inherent in life. For some members, chanting for material benefits is a first step toward realizing the ultimate goal of Buddhahood.

The believers of the organization chant these words reputed to change their lives, including the natural environments in which they live. Accordingly, the intended goal is to produce an internal change that serves as the motivator for external social change. Furthermore, the organization teaches that chanting cannot be divorced from action.

Gohonzon
The Gohonzon Soka Gakkai members enshrine in their homes and centers is a transcription by the 26th High Priest Nichikan Shonin. The central main syllabary of characters reads Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo (Kanji: 南 無 妙 法 蓮 華 經). The lower portion reads "Nichi-Ren" (Kanji: 日 蓮). On the corners are the names of the Four Heavenly Kings from Buddhist cosmology, and the remaining characters are names of Buddhist deities reputed to represent the various conditions of life.

The organization teaches that in contrast to worshiping the Buddha or Dharma as anthropomorphized personifications, Nichiren deliberately made a calligraphic mandala, rather than Buddhist statues as the central object of devotion. American author, Richard Seager explains the following:

"'...In total, it is not a sacred image in the traditional sense but an abstract representation of a universal essence or principle. Nichiren wrote: 'I, Nichiren, have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so believe in the Gohonzon with your whole heart.' He further stated: 'Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.'"

The Soka Gakkai often uses Nichiren's metaphor of a mirror to explain its faith in the Gohonzon. The Gohonzon "reflects life's innate enlightened nature and cause it to permeate every aspect of member's lives". Members chant to the Gohonzon "to reveal the power of their own enlightened wisdom and vow to put it to use for the good of themselves and others". The organization teaches that a member is considered to be practicing the Lotus Sutra when chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon.

Faith, practice, and study
The primary practice of the Soka Gakkai, like that of most Nichiren sects, is chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is the title of the Lotus Sutra, and simultaneously considered the Buddha nature inherent in life and the ultimate reality of existence. The supplemental practice is the daily recitation of parts of the 2nd and 16th chapters of the Lotus Sutra. Unlike other Nichiren sects, the Soka Gakkai stresses that practice for enlightenment entails actual "engagement in the realities of daily life", while including the happiness of others in one's own practice.

Believers claim that the Lotus Sutra contains principles or teachings that are not readily apparent. Furthermore, the Soka Gakkai claims that Nichiren revealed these teachings as The "Three Great Secret Laws" namely the following:.
 * 1) The "Object of Devotion" (Gohonzon mandala) used and designated by the Soka Gakkai
 * 2) The incantation (of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo) by united Soka Gakkai believers
 * 3) The sanctuary or place where Buddhism is practiced.

Soka Gakkai practices Nichiren Buddhism as it has been expounded by its three founding presidents, and so also studies their speeches and writings, especially those of third President Daisaku Ikeda. His novelized histories of the movement, The Human Revolution (and its sequel The New Human Revolution) have been said to have "canonical status" as it "functions as a source of inspiration and guidance for members". Study meetings are held monthly. "The tenor of the meetings is one of open discussion rather than didactic teaching..." Discussions on Nichiren's teachings are welcomed, "dictatorial edicts on moral behavior are not."

The Soka Gakkai practice also includes activities beyond the ritualistic, such as meetings, social engagement, and improving one's circumstances; these also have significance as religious activities in the Soka Gakkai.

Discussion meetings
Gakkai meetings have been called "formal liturgies" in that their format – "chanting, relatos (experiences), teachings, inspiring entertainment" – is identical from place to place. Discussion meetings are among the most important activities of the Soka Gakkai.

At discussion meetings, participants are encouraged to take responsibility "for their own lives and for wider social and global concerns". The format is an example of how the Soka Gakkai is able to "dispense with much of the apparatus of conventional church organization".

Proselytizing
The Soka Gakkai's expansion methods have been seen as controversial, as it employed a Buddhist method called shakubuku, a term employed by Nichiren, translated as "break and subdue (attachments to inferior teachings)."

The reason for propagation, as explained by Josei Toda, is "not to make the Soka Gakkai larger but for you to become happier ... There are many people in the world who are suffering from poverty and disease. The only way to make them really happy is to shakubuku them."

In 1970 Ikeda prescribed a more moderate approach, "urging its members to adopt an attitude of openness to others"; the method Soka Gakkai prefers since then is called shoju– "dialogue or conversation designed to persuade people rather than convert them", though this is often referred to still as "shakubuku spirit".

Foundation
In 1928, educators Tsunesaburō Makiguchi and Jōsei Toda both converted to Nichiren Buddhism. The Soka Gakkai officially traces its foundation to November 1930, when Makiguchi and Toda published the first volume of Makiguchi's magnum opus on educational reform, Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei (創価教育学体系, The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy). The first general meeting of the organization, then under the name Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (創価教育学会, "Value Creating Educational Society"), took place in 1937. The membership eventually came to change from teachers interested in educational reform to people from all walks of life, drawn by the religious elements of Makiguchi's beliefs in Nichiren Buddhism. The group had a focus on proselytization growing from an attendance of 60 people at its first meeting to about 300 at its next meeting in 1940.

Repression during the war
In 1942, a monthly magazine published by Makiguchi called Kachi Sōzō (価値創造, "Creating values") was shut down by the government, after only nine issues. Makiguchi, Toda, and 19 other leaders of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai were arrested on July 6, 1943, on charges of breaking the Peace Preservation Law and lèse-majesté: for "denying the Emperor's divinity" and "slandering" the Ise Grand Shrine. The details of Makiguchi's indictment and subsequent interrogation were covered in July, August, and October 1943 classified monthly bulletins of the Special Higher Police.

With its leadership decimated, the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai disbanded. During interrogation, Makiguchi had insisted that "The emperor is an ordinary man ... the emperor makes mistakes like anyone else". The treatment in prison was harsh, and within a year, all but Makiguchi, Toda, and one other director had recanted and been released. On November 18, 1944, Makiguchi died of malnutrition in prison, at the age of 73.

Jōsei Toda was released from prison on July 3, 1945, after serving two years of imprisonment on the charges of lèse majesté. He immediately set out to rebuild the organization that had been repressed and dismantled by the government during the war.

The reconstruction of the organization
Toda officially re-established the organization, now under the shortened moniker Sōka Gakkai ("Value-creation society"), integrated his prison awakenings into the doctrine of the Soka Gakkai, began locating members who had dispersed during the war, started a series of lectures on the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren's letters, undertook business ventures (largely unsuccessful) to provide a stream of revenue for the organization, provided personal encouragement to many members, launched a monthly study magazine Daibyaku Renge (大白蓮華), and the newspaper Seikyo Shimbun, launched propagation efforts, and involved the active participation of youth including Daisaku Ikeda who was to become his right-hand man and successor.

Noah Brannen, a Christian missionary writing in 1969, describes the Soka Gakkai's study program at this point as "the most amazing program of indoctrination Japan has ever seen". New members attended local study lectures, subscribed to weekly and monthly periodicals, studied Toda's commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, took annual study examinations, and were awarded titles for their achievements such as Associate Lecturer, Lecturer, Associate Teacher, or Teacher.

"The Great Propagation Drive"
The drive began with the 1951 inauguration speech of Josei Toda when he assumed the presidency of the organization. Before 1,500 assembled members, Toda resolved to convert 750,000 families before his death. The accuracy of this figure was never confirmed by outside sources. The primary vehicle of the propagation efforts were small group discussion meetings.

There are several competing narratives that attempt to explain how the Soka Gakkai was able to achieve this rapid growth. One narrative portrays a drive powered by the "seemingly unlimited enthusiasm" of its members that was masterminded by Toda and channeled by his younger followers. The organization's own publications articulate this narrative.

A second narrative examines the Soka Gakkai's expansion through a sociological lens. White, in the first English-language sociological work on the Soka Gakkai, attributes the growth, cohesion, and sustainability of the organization to the organizational skills of its leaders, its system of values and norms that match the individual needs of members, and its ability to adapt to changing times. According to Dator, the organizational structure of the Soka Gakkai, which values individual participation within small heterogeneous groups and parallel peer associations by age, gender, and interests, fulfills members' socio-psychological needs.

A third narrative tracks criticisms of the Soka Gakkai in the popular press and by other Buddhist sects. This narrative implies that the propagation efforts succeeded through intimidating and coercive actions committed by Soka Gakkai members    such as the practice then of destroying the household Shinto altars of new members. There were reports of isolated incidents of violence conducted by Soka Gakkai members but also incidents directed toward them.

Jōsei Toda was succeeded as president in 1960 by the 32-year-old Daisaku Ikeda. Ikeda urged, from 1964, a gentler approach to proselytizing. Under Ikeda's leadership, the organization expanded rapidly, both inside and outside Japan during the 1960s.

Soka Gakkai's own narratives argue that within the first 16 months of Ikeda's presendency the organization grew from 1.3 million to 2.1 million members. By 1967 it grew to 6.2 million families according to its own reporting. By 1968, the daily Seikyo Shimbun newspaper is supposed to have attained a circulation of 3,580,000. Today, the Soka Gakkai claims it has a circulation of 5.5 million copies, but the number is controversial and impossible to verify since Seikyo Shinbun does not belong the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association nor the 日本ABC協会 who are officially in charge of the circulation numbers of Japanese newspapers.

International growth
In October 1960, five months after his inauguration, Ikeda and a small group of staff members visited the United States, Canada (Toronto), and Brazil. In the United States he visited Honolulu, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, meeting with members, the vast majority Japanese war brides, at discussion and guidance meetings, setting up local organizations, and appointing leaders to take responsibility.

Ikeda also expanded the scope and pattern of the Gakkai's activities. In 1961 he created an arm of the organization, the Culture Bureau, to accommodate nonreligious activities. It had departments for the study and discussion of Economics, Politics, Education, Speech, and, later in the year, the Arts.

Ikeda and his team visited countries in Europe and Southeast Asia in 1961 and the Near and Middle East in 1962. By 1967 Ikeda had completed 13 trips abroad to strengthen the overseas organizations.

The Gakkai's first overseas mission, called Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA), grew rapidly and claimed some 200,000 American adherents by 1970. Ikeda founded Soka Junior and Senior High Schools in 1968 and Soka University in 1971. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was formally founded in 1975, on Guam.

Founding of the Komeito
In 1961 Soka Gakkai formed the Komei Political League. Seven of its candidates were elected to the House of Councillors. In 1964 the Komeito (Clean Government Party) was formed by Ikeda. Over the course of several elections it became the third largest political party, typically amassing 10–15% of the popular vote. The New Komeito Party was founded in 1998 and has been allied with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1999.

In 2014 the New Komeito was renamed Komeito again. Komeito generally supports the policy agenda of the LDP, including the reinterpretation of the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, proposed in 2014 by LDP Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to allow "collective defense" and to fight in foreign conflicts.

1969: Crisis and transformation
In response to criticism, Ikeda made major shifts to the Gakkai's message. He committed the organization to the rights of free speech and freedom of religion, admitting it had been intolerant and overly sensitive in the past.

In the 1970s Ikeda helped transition the Soka Gakkai from an internally focused organization centered on its own membership growth to one adopting a focus on a motto of "Peace, Culture, and Education". On October 12, 1972, at the official opening of the Shohondo at Taiseki-ji Ikeda announced the start of the Soka Gakkai's "Phase Two" which would shift direction from aggressive expansion to a movement for international peace through friendship and exchange.

"Citizen diplomacy" by Ikeda
Ikeda initiated a series of dialogues with prominent political, cultural, and academic figures which he labeled "citizen diplomacy". In 1970 he held a dialogue with Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi centered on east–west issues and future directions the world could take. Ikeda conducted ten days of dialogue with Arnold J. Toynbee between 1972 and 1974 which resulted in the publication of the book Choose Life. In 1974 he conducted a dialogue with André Malraux. Today, the number of his dialogues with scholars, leaders, activists and others has reached 7,000.

In 1974 Ikeda visited China, then the Soviet Union, and once again to China when he met with Zhou Enlai. In 1975 Ikeda met with then Secretary-General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Ikeda presented Waldheim with a petition, organized by Soka Gakkai youth, calling for nuclear abolition and signed by ten million people.

Former relations with the Nichiren Shoshu sect
Generally speaking, Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū worked in harmony before 1990, although there have been moments of tension. An early example of strained relations came during World War II, in 1943, when the Nichiren sect's headquarters at Taiseki-ji was willing to comply with Japanese government demands to enshrine a Shinto talisman of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu inside the temple. Makiguchi and Toda, on the other hand, angrily rebuked Taiseki-ji for doing so, and the two were jailed for refusing to do the same (Makiguchi would also die while in prison).

Nikken Abe excommunicated Soka Gakkai and its senior leaders in November 1991, citing doctrinal deviations, the Soka Gakkai's usurpation of rites such as the Higan-e equinox ceremonies and funerals without Nichiren Shoshu priests officiating, its defiant staging of Ode to Joy concerts that, for their Christian themes, were incongruent with Nichiren Shoshu doctrine, and a speech (which became public when a recording was leaked) by then Soka Gakkai President Daisaku Ikeda. In response, the Soka Gakkai countered by outlining Nichiren Shoshu's deviation from their own interpretation of Nichiren's doctrines, along with accusations of simony and hedonism among its ranking priests. It also condemned Ikeda for abandoning the aggressive propagation style (shakubuku) that led to some social criticism of the lay group, though not the priesthood.

The priesthood further accused the organization of impiety and sacrilegious behavior, citing the song "Ode to Joy" along with the promotion of its musical performance, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, as evidence for non-Buddhist teachings.

In 2014, the Soka Gakkai rewrote its bylaws to reflect that it no longer had any relationship with Nichiren Shoshu or its doctrine.

Outreach
In the 1970s, the Soka Gakkai began to re-conceptualize itself as an organization promoting the theme of "Peace, culture, and education." In later years, the three themes were institutionalized within the 1995 charter of the Soka Gakkai International. SGI has been in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 1983. As an NGO working with the United Nations, SGI has been active in public education with a focus mainly on peace and nuclear weapons disarmament, human rights and sustainable development. Each year, Ikeda publishes a peace proposal which examines global challenges in the light of Buddhist teachings. The Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research has published a compilation of topical excerpts.

The Soka Gakkai's subsidiary organizations also have a social presence. Several educational institutions were either founded by the Soka Gakkai or were inspired by the educational writings of the Soka Gakkai's three presidents. The Min-On Concert Association is a subsidiary of the Soka Gakkai which Ikeda established in 1963. It claims to sponsor over 1100 concerts each year. Ikeda also founded the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in 1983. It houses collections of western and oriental art, and has participated in exchanges with museums around the world. Soka Gakkai considers dance and other genres of performance art to be a major aspect of its peace activities. It has a long tradition of "culture festivals", originating in the 1950s, which take the form of group gymnastics, marching bands, traditional ensembles, orchestras, ballet, or choral presentations. The Soka Gakkai perceives these activities as vehicles for its members to experience the skills of cooperating with others, opportunities to engage in the personal discipline that performing arts provide, and occasions to overcome obstacles and to undertake one's own "human revolution". They enhance peer networks and understanding of and commitment to the goals of the organization. In addition, they are viewed as expressions of Buddhist humanism and are aligned to the Soka Gakkai's ideals about creating a peaceful and more humane society.

The tradition, which began in Japan, has been copied in other Soka Gakkai organizations in the world.

The Soka Gakkai uses its financial resources for a number of civic activities. It has participated in many activities and exhibitions in conjunction with the UN. The Soka Gakkai has established multiple institutions and research facilities.

Organization
Formally, the Soka Gakkai International is the umbrella organization for all national organizations, while Soka Gakkai by itself refers to the Japanese arm.

The basic functional organizational unit is the Block – a group of members in a neighborhood who meet regularly for discussion, study and encouragement. A number of Blocks form a District, and Districts are grouped into Chapters. From there the Soka Gakkai is organized into Areas, Regions, Prefectures and, finally, Territories – all under the umbrella of the national organization. Discussion and study meetings, the basic organizational activities, are conducted mainly at the Block level, though there are occasional meetings held at every level.

Membership
Soka Gakkai International claims a total of over 12 million adherents. The majority of these belong to the Japanese organization, whose official membership count is 8.27 million households. However, this is the figure put forward by the organization itself, and is not supported by any independent count. According to the work of American academic Levi McLaughlin, membership in Japan is closer to 2-3% of the country's population, or between 2.4 and 4 million people.

In a 1996 NHK survey, it was found that Soka Gakkai adherent made up somewhere around 3.2% of the Japanese population, or somewhere around 4 million individuals. According to statistics from the Agency for Cultural Affairs (a body of the Japanese Ministry of Education), the Japanese organization had 5.42 million individual members in 2000.

In a 2002–2003 survey of 602 Soka Gakkai adherents living in Sapporo, Hokkaido who had at least one child over the age of 18, it was found that 65.9% of those members' adult children were also themselves active members. Additionally, it was found that among the siblings of 418 second-generation members, collectively speaking, 69.5% of all those siblings were also active members. A further analysis found that "higher degrees of parental religiosity, better family relationships, and higher levels of participation in youth groups" contributed to higher degrees of religiosity among Soka Gakkai children during middle school years, although this effect was more pronounced in women than in men.

A study in Europe found that most of new members joined because of the personalities of the people they met within the organization; but the biggest reason for continuing is the positive changes they see in their own lives.

List of Soka Gakkai presidents
The following are the list of the presidents of the Soka Gakkai:

 * 1) Tsunesaburō Makiguchi – (18 November 1930 – 18 November 1944)
 * 2) Jōsei Toda – (3 May 1951 – 2 April 1958)
 * 3) Daisaku Ikeda – (3 May 1960 – 24 April 1979) +  (Honorary President of the Soka Gakkai International: 1979 – 2023)
 * Hiroshi Hōjō – (24 April 1979 – 18 July 1981)
 * 1) Einosuke Akiya – (18 July 1981 – 9 November 2006)
 * 2) Minoru Harada – (9 November 2006 – incumbent)

Economic and social influence
The Soka Gakkai is the head of a media, political and financial empire. Levi McLaughlin writes that "exerts considerable influence in the fields of education, media, finance, and culture throughout Japan". According to the magazine Shûkan Daiyamondo (June 2016), the assets of the organization include fourteen corporations, investments in 331 other companies for 18 billion yens, holding overseas, and real estate holdings. Forbes magazine estimated (2004) that the organization has an income of at least $1.5 billion per year. In 2008, religion scholar Hiroshi Shimada has estimated the wealth of the Soka Gakkai at ¥500 billion. Daisaku Ikeda's writings are the roots of a massive publishing and media enterprise, centered on the Gakkai's newspaper, Seikyō shinbun. The newspaper has an important readership base. It is only sold in Soka Gakkai's venues, and mainly bought and read by Soka Gakkai's members, though its print run is impossible to verify.

In Japan
Today, Soka Gakkai is rarely criticized in mainstream news media. Since the Komeito Party joined the ruling government coalition in 1999, widespread criticism by the media of the Soka Gakkai has abated and the Soka Gakkai is gaining acceptance as part of the Japanese mainstream. There has been a "fractured view" of the Soka Gakkai in Japan. On the one hand it is seen as a politically and socially engaged movement; on the other, it is still viewed with suspicion by Japanese people.

Some scholars who utilize the Bryan R. Wilson typology of newly emerging denominations categorize it as "gnostic-manipulationist", a category of teachings holding that the world can improve as people master the right means and techniques to overcome their problems.

International perception
In 2015, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi signed an agreement that recognizes the Soka Gakkai as a "Concordat" (It: "Intesa") that grants the religions status in "a special 'club' of denominations consulted by the government in certain occasions, allowed to appoint chaplains in the army – a concordat is not needed for appointing chaplains in hospitals and jails – and, perhaps more importantly, to be partially financed by taxpayers' money." Eleven other religious denominations share this status.

Controversies
In 1969, prominent university professor Fujiwara Hirotatsu authored the book I Denounce Soka Gakkai (Soka Gakkai o kiru) in which he severely criticized the Gakkai. The Gakkai and Kōmeitō attempted to use their political power to suppress its publication. When Fujiwara went public with the attempted suppression, the Soka Gakkai was harshly criticized in the Japanese media.

Cult status
Soka Gakkai has been described as a cult. Particular controversies have arisen around its entry into politics with the New Komeito and an alleged cult of personality surrounding former leader Daisaku Ikeda. Seizaburo Sato, deputy director of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, described Soka Gakkai as "a dictatorship built around the person of one man." Soka Gakkai members have made arson attacks and bomb threat against rival groups, as well as wiretapping the house of the Communist Party of Japan leader. Soka Gakkai have distanced themselves from these members and attributed their actions to mental illness. Rick Alan Ross, cult specialist and founder of the nonprofit Cult Education Institute, considers them a "destructive cult" and claims to have "received serious complaints from former members and from family members."

Sexual assault allegation
In June 1996, Nobuko Nobuhira, a long-time Sokka Gakkai member, filed a 75 million yen civil suit against Ikeda, alleging that he raped her on three occasions, including at the sect's facilities and on a street in Hokkaido. Sokka Gakkai lawyers denied these claims, calling them "groundless fabrications motivated by personal resentment" and alleging that Nobuhira had extorted money from Soka Gakkai members. The lawsuit was dismissed in 1996, and an appeal was denied in 2006.

Books

 * Strand, Clark: Waking the Buddha – how the most dynamic and empowering buddhist movement in history is changing our concept of religion. Strand examines how the Soka Gakkai, based on the insight that "Buddha is life", has evolved a model in which religion serves the needs of its practitioners, rather than the practitioners adhering to dogma and traditions for their own sake. Middleway Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-9779245-6-1
 * Editors of AERA: Sōkagakkai kaibai (創価学会解剖: "Dissecting Sōkagakkai"). Asahi Shimbun-sha, October 1995. ISBN 978-4-02-261286-1. AERA is a weekly investigative news magazine published by one of Japan's leading news organizations; this book attempts to present a dry, fair assessment of Sōkagakkai and Daisaku Ikeda and contains several interviews with Gakkai leaders.
 * Shimada, Hiroki: Sōkagakkai no jitsuryoku (創価学会の実力: "The true extent of Sōkagakkai's power"). Shinchosha, August 2006. ISBN 4-02-330372-0. Argues that the Sōka Gakkai is not (or is no longer) as powerful as many of its opponents fear, and that it is losing ground internally as all but the most dedicated are turned off by the leadership and fewer members need the organization for social bonding. Also notes that it is becoming more like a civic rather than a religious organization, and that inactive members do not resign because they want to avoid the ostracism and harassment that can result.
 * Shimada, Hiroki: Kōmeitō vs. Sōkagakkai (公明党vs.創価学会: "The Kōmeitō and the Sōka Gakkai"). Asahi Shinsho, June 2007. ISBN 978-4-02-273153-1. Describes the relationship between Kōmeitō and Sōka Gakkai and the development of their history. Touches on the Sōka Gakkai–Nichiren Shōshū split, describing it as the result of a power struggle and financial constraints, as well as on the organized harassment of opponents by Sōka Gakkai members, the organization's use of its media vehicles to vilify opponents, and Ikeda's demand for unquestioning loyalty.
 * Tamano, Kazushi: Sōkagakkai no Kenkyū (創価学会の研究: "Research on the Sōkagakkai"). Kodansha Gendai Shinsho, 2008. ISBN 978-4-06-287965-1. This book is an attempt to review scholarly studies of Sōka Gakkai from the 1950s to the 1970s and shifts in perceptions of the organization as journalists took over from scholars. Tamano takes the perspective of a social scientist and describes Sōka Gakkai as a socio-political phenomenon. He is also somewhat critical of some views Shimada expressed in the latter's recent publications.
 * Yamada, Naoki: Sōkagakkai towa nanika (創価学会とは何か: "Explaining Sōkagakkai"). Shinchosha, April 2004. ISBN 4-10-467301-3
 * Yatomi, Shin: Buddhism In A New Light. Examines Soka Gakkai interpretations of Buddhist concepts. World Tribune Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-932911-14-5

News media (websites)

 * Koichi Miyata, Soka University, Department of Humanities "Critical Comments on Brian Victoria's "Engaged Buddhism: A Skeleton in the Closet?"

title: Soka Gakkai