Pressenza IPA

On November 19th, President Barack Obama wrote a stirring tribute in USA Today to the most famous draft resister in US history, Muhammad Ali. On Tuesday, Obama spoke at West Point, calling for an increase of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, with a speech that recalled the worst shadings of George W. Bush’s “war on terror.”

Taking place in Punta de Vacas Park of Study and Reflection (Argentina), in the context of restructuring of the Humanist Movement, the organization Convergence of Cultures held a meeting setting the new stage of the organization based on establishing dialogue among cultures and denouncing discrimination. An international forum in Istanbul was announced for December.

After traveling 200 thousand kilometers, the international team of the World March arrived today, January 2, at the Park of Study and Reflection Punta de Vacas in Argentina. Close to 20,000 people heard the representatives of the World March from Chile, Argentina, India, Italy, the Philippines, Spain and England that circled the globe calling for nuclear disarmament.

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that a world conference of social movements is to take place in Bolivia, as a response to the failure of the 15th Summit on Climate Change, recently held in Copenhagen.
“The problems of climate change are directly linked to the irrational development of industry,” said the president from the region of Chuquisaca.

On December 28, Peace Boat’s 68th Global Voyage for Peace will set sail from Yokohama on a 103 day, 17 port journey around the world. The voyage will take a southern route, visiting ports in Africa and Latin America, as those on board focus on global efforts to end poverty. Peace Boat sees 2010 as an important and symbolic year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

A diverse group of social organizations have launched a campaign nominating the former Cuban president Fidel Castro for the Nobel Peace Prize this coming year 2010. The nomination is based on Cuba’s achievements in health, education and reduction of infant mortality, among other improvements made under Castro’s leadership.

Anti-nuclear campaigners from Trident Ploughshares group, London & Oxford Catholic Worker, Campaign Against Arms Trade, World March for Peace and Nonviolence and Kingston Peace Council dressed in white “weapons inspector” overalls and festive hats serenaded employees of nuclear weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin outside the US arms giant’s central London office.

And this is powerfully resonant in Latin America. In other words, people feel the tremendous violence of the impossibility to live in minimal living conditions that equate to a decent life. And the worst of the situation is the injustice of the distribution of resources that cause suffering to a huge majority of people and is accepted as “the norm”.

Obama attempted to justify his concepts of “just war” and “just peace” in a tense speech that veered between the idea that “war is sometimes necessary” and the idea that “war is an expression of human error”; between his ideals of non-violence inspired by Luther King and his role as Commander in Chief of a country whose army is currently embroiled in two wars.

Rafael de la Rubia, international spokesman for the World March for peace and non-violence, wanted to celebrate the International Day for Human Rights. He is doing so from El Salvador, where he is currently with the World March Base Team. In a press release, he proposes that the right to peace be considered a human right.