Pressenza IPA

As Nobel Peace Laureates and Nobel Peace Laureate Organizations will meet on November 10th and 11th in Berlin, Germany, they are preparing the open letter we publish here in order that it can be signed by all individuals and organizations who agree on its content and on the concept that “Violence is a preventable disease”.

The Project involves the planting of trees along a 7000 kilometer east-west extension from Dakar, the capital of Senegal, to Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, to reduce the impact of desertification. Senegal has called upon the international community to support the “Great Green Wall” project that will contribute to environmental protection.

The call for peaceful and nonviolent election in Basilan, Philippines took on a new face as local and international peace groups and government agencies launched the Zero Violence in 2010 Campaign last October 7 at the Basilan State College Gymnasium, Isabela City, Basilan. The launching coincided with the World March for Peace and Non-violence arrival to The Philippines.

The first ever Legislative Bill for a Department of Peace in the Canadian Parliament was tabled on Sept. 30. The Bill calls for a Federal Department of Peace, headed by a Cabinet level Minister. This Department should coordinate and promote issues such as Nuclear Disarmament, Human and Economic Rights, Peace Education and Prevention of Violence in Canada.

Indigenous movements throughout the world have called for a “Global Minga for Mother Earth,” which will take place October 12-16, 2009. Its purpose is a large-scale peaceful mobilization toward the United Nations in order to put an end to global warming. Also, during its stop in Bolivia, it will inaugurate the first Climate Justice Tribunal.

A few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, Peace and Non-Violence Days were organized in cooperation with the socialist kibbutz movement Hashomer Hatzair and members of the World March for Peace. Jayme Fucs Bar declared: “We want to live in peace, Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, without hatred, we want to watch our children grow up without violence and with a future…”

Rana Al-Arja and Lubna Bandak from Holy Land Trust and Patricia Arriagada from Chilean organization The Community for Human Development met with Bethlehem Governor Mr. Abed Al Fattah Hamayel in order to invite him to join the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. He wholeheartedly welcomed the idea and confirmed his participation during the March.

A report produced by the humanitarian organizations Amnesty International, Oxfam, Greenpeace and Fundació per la Pau (Foundation for Peace) reveals that Spain is currently the sixth largest arms exporter, after the United States, Russia, Germany, France and England. According to the report, in 2008 Spain made 934 million Euros worth of defense material transactions.

Gaza children’s artwork, is an exhibition of paintings and drawings done by children in Gaza following the Israeli 22 day assault earlier this year. As a result, over 300 children were killed, many more injured, 1,400 children orphaned of at least one parent, 30 percent of children suffer serious mental health problems and all the children are traumatised.

People the world over must find non-violent ways to oppose American military force lest they suffer the fate of the Vietnamese and the Iraqis. In response to the menace of the U.S. military-industrial complex, non-violent soul force needs to be considered in international conflicts just as it was used by Mahatma Gandhi in India and by the Reverend Martin Luther King in the U.S.