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Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=678
Speech
ABOLISH MILITARISM AND WAR (PRESENTED AT CONFERENCE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST US/NATO MILITARY BASES November, 16-18 2018 Dublin, Ireland) Dear Friends, It is good to be here with you all. I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to address the conference. Firstly I thank each and every one of you for all your work for peace and for the abolition of war.It is good that we will have an opportunity in the next few days to get to know each other and together discuss what kind of a world we want to live in? There will be many different perspectives on this and the way forward, but let us agree to be civil and respect each other and to remain in deep listening and conversation no matter how hard and where the dialogue might take us! Let us be encouraged by the fact that wehave made an important first step when we agree to enter into dialogue, and not to kill each other, and when we agree that Peace is both the means and the great achieveable gift. It would be wonderful too no matter what area of social/political change we work in, if we can unite on a shared vision of a demilitarized world and find strength in agreeing we will not limit ourselves to civilizing and slowing down militarism, but demanding its total abolition. Some people might argue that Peace is not possible in such a highly militarized world.However, I believe that Peace is so urgent and it is possible. It is achieveable when we each become impassioned about peace and filled with an ethic that makes peace our objective and we each put into practice our moral sence of political/social responsibility to build peace. To build peace we are challenged to reject the bomb the bullet and all the techniques of violence.We are constantly bombarded with glorification of militarism and war so building a culture of Peace will not be an easy task.We are hearing about the building of a European Army and whilst asked to accept austerity cuts and budgets cuts to prove basic health care and education, etc., whilst increasing money to our own armies and also European Military expansion. I believe the US/ North Atlantic Treaty Organization (US/NATO) which should have been disbanded when the Warsaw Pac was dissolved, continues to carry out wars and proxy wars in many countries, and pushes towards the borders of Russia, resurrecting a cold war between the East and West.I believe that NATO should be disbanded and should be made accountable and make recompense, for the millions of people whose lives it has destroyed and countries, i.e., Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc. it has illegally and cruelly attacked, invaded, destroyed.We will never be allowed by our Governments, nor our Main stream media, to hear many of the stories of the lives of so many civilians killed by US/NATO forces. NATO forces has targeted and assassinated individuals, and entire families. It is to all our shame in the International community, that their illegal criminal actsof horror and bloodletting which embodies the comeback of barbarism, is being paid for with tax payers money, and rewarded instead of being brought before the International Criminal Courtfor war crimes. Ireland’s peace activists have been peacefully protesting US military use of Irish airports whereby over two and a half million armed US troops have passed through Shannon airport on their way to an from the US led Afghan and Iraq wars. Note. The key inspirational thoughts were underlined in red by me - Leo Semashko.
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Culture of Peace and Non-Violence: Positive values, attitudes and behaviors for everyday peace By Rosa Dalmiglio “There is no route to Peace, Peace is the route” Gandhi At the end of the Second World War, many institution and values had to be reconstructed. Hence, the idea of engaging particularly in Europe, in a “ Marshall Plan” to rebuild, in the service of peace, the educational, scientific, cultural and communication institutions destroyed by the war. Whennewly independent States burst onto the international stage at the end of the decolonization process (from the early 1950s to the late 1980s) emphasis was placed on the fight against discrimination, racism and apartheid and the attainment of nationhood. In the early 1990s, when it became clear that the nature of wars was changing and that they were also becoming internal conflicts, the emphasis shifted o the post-conflict consolidation of peace. National “culture of peace” programs, drawing on combined action in the Organization’s fields of competence, were tried out in countries such as El Salvador, Mozambique, Cambodia, Rwanda, South-East Europe, immediately after the conclusion of peace agreements, to consolidate the frayed institutions and human relationships. At the dawn of the 21st century, new aspirations for democracy, dignity and freedom have raised in different parts of the globe, in particular in the Arab world. The concepts used to shape this common aspiration of humankind have evolved alongside changes in the international landscape. In this regard and in a rather chronological manner, the terms of “tolerance” (1995)“culture of peace”(2000) “ dialogue among civilizations (2001) “ intercultural and interreligious dialogue” ( 2007) and more recently “ rapprochement of cultures” (2010) were used to translate the universal quest for lasting peace into a conceptual, political and programmatic approach. Nevertheless, the one of“culture of peace” for which the “International Year for the Culture o mobilizing concept as it encompasses, inter alia, respect for diversity, dialogue, human-rights, gender equality, citizenship and democratic participation to achieve international security. Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) were proclaimed with UNESCO as UN lead agency remains a primary Gandhi way. Peace is more than the absence of war, it is living together with our differences-of sex, race, language, religion or culture-while furthering universal respect for justice and human rights on which such coexistence depends. Therefore, peace should never be taken for granted. It is an on-going process, a long-term goal that requires constant engineering, vigilance and active participation by all individuals. It is a choice to be made on each situation, an everyday life decision. Hence, the culture of peace and non-violence involves a holistic awareness of the changing by highlighting what binds cultures and societies to each other and from within. Rosa Dalmiglio Gandhi Peace Journalism Rome, Italy http://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=28 11-01-2019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Highlights from the high-level debate on building a culture of peace and non-violence - organized by UNESCO in occasion of 150°GANDHI bornby Rosa Dalmiglio 19-3-2019 Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future Unesco’smessage is clear. Peace cannot be decreed through treaties It must be nurtured the dignity, rights and capacities of every man and woman. It is a way of being a way of interacting with others, a way of living on this planet…. We must adapt to a new environment. The roots of violence today lie less between States and more within them. In every more diverse societies, passive coexistence is not enough. We need stronger public policies and dialogue to make diversity a positive force for respect and creativity. We need new skills, new forms of what I call cultural literacy The role, contribution and leadership of half of humanity in sustainable peace-3.5 billion women and girls-is not only a matter of numerical logic, it also has an intrinsic value. Women play an important role and have particular skills in peace-making and peace-building. Theseare roles and skills they have developed over many years, as mothers, wives and caretakers for family members and he community. Mrs Lakshmi Puri Deputy Executive Director of UN-Women the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women Strategic partnerships for peace-building1)National Commissions, UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs, Associated Schools and UNESCO Clubs, United Nations University and Artists for Peace 2)UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors 3)UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassadors (YPA) 4)UNESCO Category I and Institutes ( such as the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace andSustainable Development and the International Institute for Peace (IIP) at Rutgers University-Newark…. Communicating peace-the positive role that traditional and new media can both have in concretizing the culture of peace as a tangible reality to help communities live in harmony with their differences needs to be further promoted. To this end, new programs on media and information literacy-building for professionals and relevant community stakeholders are developed to counter the appeals of violence and the spread of conflicts, specially in regions potentially exposed to such realities. Unesco’s mission : building the defence of peace in the minds of men and women……….. The programme of action for a culture of peace and NON-VIOLENCE: charting the way towards everyday peace requires ever more active investments, enlightened leadership, powerful educational values and a progressive media world. All people’s daily lives both in terms of prevention and reconciliation, particularly in contexts characterized by social and economic unrest, ethnic or religious hostility, post-conflict situations, contested electoral processes, and other forms of violence-prone environments. Never culture survive if not respect other culture - Mahatma Gandhi---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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