International issues

A crowd of supporters for peace from 5 continents assembled on the 2nd of October in Wellington at the foot of the statue of the Father of the Indian Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, donated by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The multitude came, braving the wind and the cold to support the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

The Nonviolence Fair, held as a kickoff event for the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, took place in Cinemateque Square in Tel Aviv, Israel. The fair was organized by the group Greenpeace and the Humanist Movement, together with the participation of 20 Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in different areas of nonviolence.

Multilateral talks on Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme opened in Geneva on Thursday afternoon. Iranian representatives held discussions with representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – United States, Russia, China, Great Britain and France – along with Germany. This is the first time in three decades that US and Iranian meet.

As of October 1st 2009 Mayors for Peace counts 3,147 member cities and municipalities in 134 countries and regions. During September 43 new members joined the movement of local authorities demanding the elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2020. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard from Mexico City is one of the new members welcomed during a special ceremony last September 10th.

As members of the base team gathered in Wellington, New Zealand, Pressenza researched the origins of the World March, its objectives, and, among other things,the reasons why the launching point is from New Zealand. The World March begins on October 2nd. More than 300 events are being held this day in different cities world wide.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence has just accepted ambassadorship of the “Charter for a World without Violence” drafted by 19 Nobel Peace Prize winners. The Moriori people, the original inhabitants of the Chatham Islands and pioneers in peace building, are the first members of the World March to sign on to the charter.

ABI – With a mass celebration on Friday in the Hernando Siles stadium, in which the president Evo Morales, authorities, students, artists, public figures and citizens in general will participate, Bolivia will join the “World March for Peace and Non Violence”, in a ceremony that will be replicated in at least a hundred countries.

On the 29th of September, the Moriori People celebrated the arrival of World March participants. On the island famous for its rainbows, the hosts were happy that the March for Peace, itself symbolised by the colours of the rainbow which has one end on the most eastern point on earth, and the other end in the west in Argentina.

Zelaya has remained in the Brazilian embassy since defiantly returning to Honduras one week ago. Coup leaders have now given Brazil a ten-day deadline to hand over Zelaya or face the embassy’s closure. Brazil has rejected the ultimatum and says Zelaya will stay as long as he needs. On Friday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning the embassy siege.

A number of testimonies of the situation suffered by the Mapuche nation in Chile were put forward at the 12th period of sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Danielle Mitterrand, who was in Chile in April as part of a mission for the “France Libertés” Association, of which she is president, spoke out on the nation’s behalf.