Many to ManyIssue Number 71March 2000A Culture of Peace
With its immediate attractiveness, the Year of a Culture of Peace might well become one of the most celebrated, talked about and participatory themes ever. But let us take time for reflection on what is it exactly that we have in our minds when we speak of culture. With so many acts of cruelty and senseless outbursts of resentment taking place all over the world between people of different cultures, customs and traditions, and with fear, mistrust and intolerance so often alienating us from each other, this opportunity for looking deeply into what culture might mean - and what it could come to mean - should be welcomed by us all. One of the dictionary interpretations of the word culture is the "refined understanding of the arts and other intellectual human achievements", and "refine" means the process of "freeing from impurities and defects". This seems to suggest that when our understanding of each other's way of life is less obscured by bias, bigotry and ignorance, then an atmosphere could be created in which each culture could safely open up and embrace a culture uniting us in peace. This interpretation also hints that "understanding" is always in the process of being refined; that "culture", far from being a static condition, is ever evolving and re-creating itself. 'In the world today where each country is developing into a multi-cultural community, we need not only to understand but also respect each other's different "ways of life. Having caused so much bloodshed and been weakened by such corrupt and imperfect mindsets, culture must now become once again the cornerstone for a new civilisation. A great Teacher of humanity once stated that "the heart is inseparable from culture". Without heart culture has no life or meaning. So, maybe our hearts, at some point, became separated from culture? Perhaps sometimes we have mistaken it for old and outworn traditions and customs? This year, focusing international attention on the need for a culture
of peace, provides us with the opportunity of restoring the heart to its
rightful place as the unifying and life-giving centre within all the cultures
which, each in their own unique way, will be contributing to a Culture
of Peace.
II. The Voice of Civil Society for the UN Millennium General Assembly
A series of regional meetings has taken place, arranged in cooperation with the economic commissions of the regions, to hear the views of NGOs and members of civil society, which will then form part of the Secretary-General’s report to the Millennium General Assembly and Summit, September 2000. Here the issues of peace, security and disarmament, development and poverty eradication, strengthening of the UN and human rights will be discussed. The six regional Hearings were held in Beirut (for Western Asia), Addis Ababa (for Africa), Geneva (Europe), Santiago (Latin America and Caribbean), Tokyo (Asia and the Pacific) and Chicago (North America region) throughout 1999 and early 2000. Some of the issues discussed at these Hearings reflected the distinct problems of the region. The African meeting, when discussing UN's peace-keeping role, made the point that "the UN risks losing credibility in the 21st century if it does not put an end to the double standards it applies when dealing with Africa", mentioning the swiftness with which the UN had intervened in Kosovo in contrast to its failure to respond quickly or adequately to conflict situations in Africa, in particular the Rwanda genocide. Among the suggestions were that the UN assists the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in establishing an African Peace Academy to help advise on strategies for conflict resolution and management. On the issue of peace and security, several meetings recommended the establishment of a standing UN force for humanitarian intervention and some kind of early-warning system, monitored by the UN, to prevent the explosion of conflicts. Education should be at the heart of conflict prevention. The need to revisit and re-think the concept of sovereignty was discussed at several Hearings, mentioning the need to reconcile national sovereignty with human rights and for the concept of sovereignty to embrace new actors, such as civil society, parliamentarians, and the private sector. Participants in the Tokyo Hearing felt that the world community has the United Nations it deserves: "It is not a strange creature that exists on its own, but rather it is our Organisation run by member states and we must have a say in the major issues through the General Assembly and not just through the power of veto." All Hearings mentioned the need for the United Nations in general but the Security Council in particular to become more open and transparent and also more democratic, and various recommendations were made for establishing a closer working relationship between the United Nations and civil society, such as "Global Parliament" or a "Civil Society Forum". Since Kofi Annan made his proposal, the Millnnium Forum has been seeking to create “a process whereby the input from global civil society can be collected in an open, transparent and representative manner". The main objectives of this Forum are to: *bring together civil society representatives from all over the world to consult about the future of the peoples of the world in relation to the great global challenges that must be confronted by the United Nations in the 21st Century;
Contact: Millennium Forum Executive Committee, 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120, New York, NY 10017-1822, USA. Fax: +1-212/803 2561, e-mail mngof@bic.org - website www.millnnium forum.org or www.un.org/millennium III. REMARKS TO CIVIL SOCIETY
“It is a real pleasure to meet you all. It is always a special privilege for me to enter a roomful of people whose goal in life is to make, the world a better place. IV. Hague Appeal for PeaceGlobal Campaign for Peace EducationCampaign Statement
The urgency and necessity of such education was acknowledged by the member states of UNESCO in 1974 and reaffirmed in the Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy in 1994. Yet, few educational institutions have undertaken such action. It is time to call upon ministries of education, educational institutions and policy makers to fulfil the commitments. A campaign to facilitate the introduction of peace and human rights education into all educational institutions was called for by the Hague Appeal for Peace Civil Society Conference in May 1999. An initiative of individual educators and education NGOs committed to peace, it is conducted through a global network of education associations, and regional, national and local task forces of citizens and educators who will lobby and inform ministries of education and teacher education institutions about the UNESCO Framework and the multiplicities of methods and materials that now exist to practice peace education in all learning environments. The goal of the campaign is to assure that all educational systems throughout the world will educate for a culture of peace. Those wishing to receive further information about how they might participate
in or support the Global Campaign for Peace Education are invited to write
to:
V. INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTES ON PEACE EDUCATION 2000
“Education for a Culture of Peace: A Human Security Perspective" will take place 22 - 29 July, 2000, at Mahindra United World College, near PUNE, India. The International Institutes on Peace Education 2000 is an activity
of the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education, and
an observation of the International Year for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence.
Academic credit can be awarded for participation. Teachers College students
should register for Summer B, ITSF 4800.
VI. 10th GERNIKA CONVENTION ON CULTURE AND PEACE
The Gernika Tree and Picasso’s most famous painting make Gernika a Basque symbol and, on a global scale, a symbol of reconciliatory peace, of openness, and of resistance to tyranny. Ten years ago Gernika's City Council proposed, that Gernika Gogoratuz convene international meetings on those days around the 26th April, the anniversary of the destruction of the city of Guernica. As a result, the Gernika International Conventions on Culture and Peace began. Gernika Gogoratuz Peace Research Centre believes that the two following
inter-
respecting the human rights of your adversary even though one's own have been badly violated; andGernika Gogoratuz says that to honour the other is to: Search persistently within the adversary by hearing his or her voice and silence and by listening for his or her values and searching for forms of behaviour that one can actually say Yes to;Looking for the key form of behaviours that a reconciliatory horizon sets for the present, Gernika Gogoratuz believes to have also found encouraging traces of these forms of behaviour in the past. Among them are generous, gratuitous, unseen, and friendly acts performed by adversaries who in defiance of their own loyalties even in the most terrible of moments, break with the discipline, ethic, and logic of hostility by saving the lives of, giving encouragement to, and comforting the persecuted. Such acts are usually forgotten, but they emerge, are remembered, during the telling of life stories; we call them "seeds of reconciliation. In the last four years Gernika Gogoratuz has introduced this approach to the fields of peace culture, peace education, and conflict management, including mediation, and the influence of the mass media. Among the themes suggested for the 10th Convention are:
Contact: GERNIKA GOGORATUZ, Artekale, 1-1° , E-48300 Gernika-Lumo,
Bizkaia, Spain.
VIII. THE CHILDREN’S WORLD PARLIAMENT
During the first week of this year, the children of Wellington, New Zealand, celebrated the beginning of the new millennium together with two children from each of the invited countries who were able to attend. The week’s activities included a dawn ceremony, a parade through the streets of the city to parliament and two days in parliament itself. The Children's World Parliament was an opportunity for children from around the world to discuss and debate the three themes of the festival as they affect children: the environment, peace and children's rights. The goal was to produce a Children's Charter which would call on governments around the world to recognise the rights of children in their own countries. The Charter was signed by all the children who participated in parliament and copies were given to the overseas representatives to take back to their respective countries. As the children Participating were between 8 and 12 years old, the task
was quite challenging. On the first day, papers on Children's Rights were
presented from the children representing the different countries. These
were divided into different regional groups:
Oceania :New Zealand, Chatham Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Vanuatu.Africa:Botswana, Ethiopia, Egypt, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Seycelles,Tunisia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola. The Americas and West Indies:Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts, Venezuela.Asia:China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet.Europe:Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greenland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Hungary, Portugal, Yugoslavia.Middle Fast:Bahrain, Israel, Jordan.Most of these were presented in English, but there were also presentations in French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese with translations by interpreters. On the second day, the children were all divided into small discussion
groups which were entirely led and recorded by children. This was done
with varying success and I feel that a teacher guiding each group and assisting
to produce clear and concise statements would have been helpful. Each group
had to report back to the whole parliament. Topics discussed were:
The next Children's World Parliament will be held in two years time, once again in Wellington. It is planned to make this a biennial event. Report by Belinda Baird, 60 The Parade, Paekakariki, New Zealand.
VIII. MARCH OF THE AMERICAS FOR THE POOR
This march, which was initiated by the Philadelphia based Kensington Welfare Rights Union, formed part of a countrywide campaign highlighting the US government's failure to respect the rights of all its citizens to basic human needs. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was quoted which clearly specifies everyone's right to work for a "just and favourable remuneration" ensuring a life of dignity (article 23); everyone's right to a standard of living adequate for the health of a person and their family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, social services... (article 25); and everyone's right to education (article 26). Campaign organisers pointed to the sad fact that, while the US economy is booming, poverty is on the rise and that about 36.5 million in the US are now living below the official poverty line, while both social services and public assistance are rapidly declining. A good economy does not necessarily bring with it a good and equitable community spirit, in spite of governments assurances to the contrary! The march had support from labour unions, religious leaders, students, universities, women's organisations and NGOs in the US and among Latin American groups participating in the march were Landless Peasant’s Movement of Brazil, Communities of the Population in Resistance of Guatemala and the Continental Front of Communist Organisations of Mexico. The Poor People's campaign stressed the importance of poor people’s leadership in building this movement and added that "by organising and uniting with doctors, lawyers, social workers, musicians and artists, students, religious leaders and union members, the poor and their growing organisations can break their isolation and can come together to build a massive movement to end poverty." The organisers of this campaign will have brought to international attention "the role of the US government in impoverishment of people of the US, as well as its role in Impoverishment of peoples of Canada, Latin America and the world." The organisers of this campaign hope that it will have helped to bring to international attention "the role of the US government in impoverishment of people of the US, as well as its role in Impoverishment of peoples of Canada, Latin America and the world." In its closing rally the campaign announced that it had recently filed a petition against the United States regarding the violation of economic human rights to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights of the Organisation of American States. Next year the campaign intends to expand beyond the Americas, with plans for a Poor People's Summit in India. Contact: Kensington Welfare Rights Union, PO Box 50678, Philadelphia,
PA 19132, US. Fax: +1-215/203 1950, website: www.libertynet-org/kwru
IX. BUDDHIST ECONOMICS IN PRACTICE
In a nutshell, the Buddhist approach to economics sees material and spiritual development as different aspects of a single process. They should go "hand in hand" as all activities, economic, political or personal are made "subservient to ethical and moral evaluation". Dr Ariyaratne writes of development as a process of awakening and he discusses, in practical and concrete terms, the way in which the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in Sri Lanka is building a no-poverty, no-affluence society. "The modern world", he writes, "seems to be obsessed with the idea that after a particular age every human being should be employed in a paid job". In Sarvodayals experience all societies, but especially the poorer societies, can be guided by an alternative objective: "the creation of a right livelihood society or a full-engagement society". "The notion of the engagement of each and every individual in socially acceptable and useful constructive activities, giving them a sense of satisfaction, is central to the concept of right livelihood as being discussed here. An individual may not be employed in the economic sense, but may be and frequently could be, engaged in socially acceptable and useful activities." The book introduces readers to the many facets of the Sarvodaya Shramadana * movement. The movement, which is now active in around a half of the island's villages, began with shramadana camps amongst the poorest communities. Volunteers from within the village and from outside live together, work together on some projects, such as building a road, "meditate together, cook and eat together, sing and dance together, and learn from one another". During the camp a spiritual and psychological awakening process takes place in individuals and the community. After the first shramadana camps had been held the village communities began to ask for an on-going process in which they could take increasing responsibility for raising the quality of their lives. They were offered training, and the communities formed self-reliant support groups, Children's Groups, Mothers' Groups, Farmers' Groups and so on. Members of the Mothers' Groups received training and organised nurseries for pre-school children, and today five out of every six pre-schools in Sri Lanka have been established and are run by villagers in the movement. A host of other structures for democratic management of village affairs have been developed over the years, and recently a highly successful programme of rural, village managed banks have been introduced. Sarvodaya Shramadana means: "the awakening of all by the voluntary sharing of labour and other resources." Details of price and availability of BUDDHIST ECONOMICS IN PRACTICE in the UK from Sarvodaya Support Group UK, PO Box 1746, Salisbury, SP3 6TS; in the USA from SUSA, 153 Fourth Street, St James NY 11780; in New Zealand from The Triangle Centre, PO Box 25, Paekakariki, Web: www.saryodaya.org X. THE TOBIN TAX PROPOSALS REVISITEDFunding UN Programmes
The programmes in these areas are comprehensive and expensive: research and field work must be done by well-qualified people who need substantial resources no matter how truly dedicated they are to their ideals and objectives. But the United Nations is chronically short of money: as long as it has to rely on the dues which each Member State is allocated to pay on a yearly basis (on the payment of which, however, many States default), there will always be the possibility of meritorious or imaginative programmes being cut short or abandoned, with the resulting disappointment and frustration for designers and beneficiaries alike. One way in which substantial funds might be raised to pay for these development and humanitarian programmes is from the so-called Tobin tax. This tax, named after a Nobel-prize-winning economist, Thomas Tobin, was envisaged by him in 1978 to be a small transaction tax on all foreign exchanges. It is estimated that some US$1.5 trillion changes hands every day, and a tax of, say, 0.2 per cent would raise annual global revenues of between US$150 billion - US$300 billion. Collecting the tax would be the responsibility of individual governments notably the industrialised countries. An international board would need to be established which would be ed to oversee the sharing of the tax receipts, report periodically on results, and recommend changes as needed in the tax rate, coverage, enforcement, and other relevant matters. But if a substantial portion of the revenue from the tax-take were to be devoted to the UN Programmes, it would help enormously to potentiate the good intentions of e.g. the UN Development Programmes and the environment programmes. The UN Development Programme estimates that the cost of eradicating poverty would be some $40 billion, while the annual estimated cost of implementing the Agenda 21 programme of action, as adopted at the UN Conference on the Environment and Development, 1992, has been put at US$125 billion. Apart from the substantial benefits which would accrue if this tax on foreign exchange were adopted, at least by the leading industrialised countries, its implementation would contribute to reducing short-term speculative capital flows and financial instability. (So far, unfortunately, only Canada, of the G7 countries, has passed a motion in its parliament calling for Tobin). Here again it is another instance of political will being needed to overcome the undoubted technical difficulties of implementing the tax: but, by comparison, the technical difficulties of adopting a single European currency were perhaps greater and these were overcome because the will of the contributing countries was there. The Director of the UN division for Social Policy is confident that the political will for implementation of the tax is growing, and that eventually a more orderly international financial system will be in place, and, hopefully substantial funds will be available to be applied to sustainable human development. At a seminal international conference on: “Economic Sovereignty in a Globalising World: Creating People-Centred Economics for the 21st Century” held in Bangkok last year there were calls from many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to "democratise global finance" and prorate alternative economic paradigms. One consequence of the globalisation process and the dominance of financial
and corporate interests over national governments' social policies seems
to be a dwindling of overseas development assistance from richer to poorer
countries. The adoption of a tax on foreign exchange, with the resultant
expected large revenue, might well off-set the reduced official development
assistance by making funds available for social and economic development
in third world countries, where the need for such assistance is most needed.
XI. REFLECTIONS ON ABOLITION 2000
There still exist around 30,000 nuclear weapons, many of them on hair-trigger
alert. The response to this challenging situation on the part of the United
States is the decision to build a nation-wide anti-missile defense system,
allegedly to prevent attacks from so called rogue states such as Iraq,
North Korea and even Iran. An extension of this protective system, to be
known as a Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) is also being considered for Japan
and Taiwan. This project is not only infuriating to China (which recently
denounced the US for its "crude intervention in China's domestic affairs")
but is likely to destabilise relations between regional powers. Russia
and France are also in sharp disagreement with this proposed development
and Russia has refused to agree to re-write the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty so as to give a semblance of international legitimacy for such a
system to be implemented. The Project would undermine any global strategic
stability that may be said at present to exist and the challenge to Russia
would be either to build a similar protective system, which it can ill
afford to do, or to devise means to overcome or by-pass the system by building
more missiles or other types of weapon.
The Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
In sharp contrast to the negative attitude on the part of the US Senate, every opinion poll recently held among US citizens shows an 85 per cent support for the CTBT. But the treaty can only go into effect when 44 nuclear nations ratify it. To date only 26 nations have done so. Among the so called great powers, Russia and China have also yet to ratify it. The Senate decision has drawn the following comment from Paul Bitze,
former arms control negotiator and Ambassador at Large in the Reagan Administration:
"I see no compelling reason why we should not unilaterally get rid of our
nuclear weapons. To maintain them is costly and adds nothing to our security."
(New York Times).
Action by Trident Ploughshares Group
Trident Ploughshares anti-nuclear protesters, Angela Zelter, Ellen Maxley and Bodil Ulla boarded the barge "MAYTDE" based at Loch Goil, Scotland, and threw overboard laboratory equipment causing £80,000 worth of damage. Defence advocate John Mayer quoted a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1996 making Trident and all nuclear weapons illegal. In her judgment Greenock Sheriff Gimblett, clearing the three protesters, said: "The Three took the view that Trident was illegal and, given the horrendous nature of nuclear weapons, they had an obligation in terms of international law to do whatever they could to stop the deployment and use of nuclear weapons in situations construed as a threat." The Sheriff accepted this argument and that under international law the women were acting simply to prevent a crime. This ruling accords with the successful defence plea put forward in previous Trident Ploughshares trials (see "Many to Many" issues 59, 67), upholding the contention of the ICJ that: "International law, despite any appearance to the contrary, is real law, not just international morality or international expediency" and "applies to all individuals, all states and to all courts of law". Contact: Trident Ploughshares, 42-46 Bethel St., Norwich, Norfolk, NR2
1NR, UK.
XIII. HUMANITY'S COMING OF AGE
With the number of the over-80 age group increasing from 26.7 million in 1970 to 66 million in 1998 (and estimated to become 370.4 million in 2050) governments and policy makers are realising the need urgently to find ways and means of dealing with the various needs of the elderly. For developing countries the costs of meeting the obligations of providing health care and other social needs for an increasing number of older people were seen as a major challenge which had to be solved. The plenary debate also recognised the need for moving away from negative stereotypes and discrimination against older persons and acknowledged the particular needs, rights and abilities of older women. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette observed that "now that we have collectively realised our dream of a longer life, we must adapt to that reality." The plenary also considered the text of a draft resolution which would encourage regional initiatives to follow up on the International Year of Older Persons and to provide input into the process of the revision of the 1982 Vienna International Plan of Action on Aging. The UN Secretary-General would be asked to prepare and submit a draft plan of action to the Commission for Social Development with a view to a revised plan of action and long-term strategy being adopted in 2002. The issue of an aging humanity was also discussed at the 1999 International
NGO
In a draft plan of action, entitled An Agenda for Peace, Security and Development in the 21st Century, the participating NGOs expressed their thoughts on this issue under the heading "Productive Aging". Older people are, says the plan of action, the repositories of tradition, culture, knowledge and skills, and often make vital contributions to their societies, their families and communities as workers, care givers, volunteers and mentors. However, any older persons, women in particular, throughout the world lack access to the essentials of life and have their rights violated as a result of age discrimination or other causes such as disability, ethnicity or employment practices and legislative barriers. Among the commitments spelled out by the NGOs in the draft plan of action
are the cement to:
XIII. OECD FORUM 2000 - Partnerships in the New Economy26 - 28 June 2000, CNIT, Paris
Seen as a public international conference, this Forum will bring together OECD ministers, heads of international organisations, participants from business, non-governmental organisations and civil society at large. During the two and a half days meeting, five plenary sessions have been planned with the following themes:
A "Knowledge Fair", featuring up to 100 organisations, will run alongside the conference. Here delegates can interact with those organisations and companies whose experiences, services and products are relevant to the objectives of the Forum and complement the debate. Contact: Touchstone Exhibitions & Conferences Ltd. 4 Red Lion St. Richmond, Surrey TW9 1RS, UK. Fax: +44(0)20 8 332 0874, Email: cstevens@touch-stone.co.uk XIX. Women Building Peace Petition
The aim is to gather a minimum of 250,000 signatures to be presented
to the UN Secretary-General and the General Assembly in September 2000.
The text of the petition is as follows:
Dear Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
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