GIVE LIFE TO A CULTURE OF PEACE IN THE WORLD

Bulletin #3 Warning Cry

When we accomplish our duty as World Citizens
The World Summit for Peace, Bogotá-October 1st to 4th 2009, has elaborated a promotional poster, which contains a letter that the Indian pacifist M.K. Gandhi wrote to Julian Huxley in Bongui Colony, New Delhi, on the 25 of May 1974. In a short and vital paragraph, the prominent Indian leader pointed out the transcendental lesson that he learned from his mother “From my ignorant yet wise mother I learned that those rights which are rightfully deserved and conserved come from the duty well carried out. As a result we are only creditors of the right to live once we fulfil our duty as citizens of the world”.


War means against, Peace means with
War means against—Peace means with; this slogan was elaborated by the extremely creative publicists Angel Beccassino and it has been used in graphic pieces printed by the Bogotá Secretary of Government’s Communication Team. The same bureau in the Bogotá Mayor’s office also created the promotional message “Give life to the Culture of Peace in the Planet. Get informed, participate, dialogue, construct and bring your proposal”.
The World Summit for Peace graphic pieces proposes group work as the solution. This proposed strategy is shown as fundamental in order to reach the objective and, likewise, it stresses the necessity for considering multiple alternatives so to generate a diversity of possible solutions.

Zero Hour: the Inauguration of the World Summit for Peace
The evening in the Colombian capital fell like rain showers converted into sprinkling drizzles. The cold stood still, it concentrated and with each minute it more intense, like the heavy traffic in the city. However this couldn’t detain our panellists or the approximately 323 people who attended in order to resolve the mysterious secret: ¿Why don’t we talk? After, t he drizzling became rain and the rain converted into a downpour; the local news reported that the National Weather Institute had determined that we would find ourselves in a dry spell.

Gypsies, Afro-Colombians, Indigenous, intellectuals, artists, craftsmen, politicians, singers and poets began to enter the Gimnasio Moderno Cultural Center. An audience representative of all social classes and economic distinctions made their made their grand entrance. Initially, they observed the exhibited art that preceded auditorium. The artistic sharpness of the “20/20 Vision Eye Exam” art exposition by Mónica Savdié exhibited the heart-rending bloody chapter of paramilitary massacres in the Colombian countryside. As you circled the display and you gained a clearer vision of things. A few steps ahead, you could see the detailed cartoon pieces from the Spanish cartoonist El Roto. These both critical and non-conformist images touched on the strange contradictions between human beings and their surroundings. El Roto left us on the doorstep of the “Miedos de Paz” art showing created by Pacifists Without Borders. Pop Art was used on conventional newspapers from Germany, England, Colombia, and Ecuador. Subsequently, this artistic intervention cast a new vision on the topic of war. These art pieces addressed the fundamental questions about the nonsense of war, the tastelessness of armed confli ct and the trifle nature of violence, through highlighting the news in green dots, yellow dragonflies, blue assault tanks, red dolphins, and orange colored letters. In some cases sayings were invoked from Gandhi, such as “An eye for an eye, leaves the whole world blind”.

We picked up Aida Quicué, directly from Cauca, as she stood alone on 11 avenue and 74 street, in the middle of a cold, grey and rainy Chapinero neighborhood. That day the ex-councilor for the indigenous organization, CRIC, had just received a strange arrest warrant. In this great collective effort to reflect upon peace and war, we were accompanied by such personalities as the constitutional delegate Juan Manuel Charry, the ex-mayor of Apartadó Gloria Cuartas, the director of the Human Rights Office in the Bogotá Secretary of G overnment Franz Barbosa, the well-known journalist Antonio Morales and the Argentinean pacifist and publicist Angel Beccassino.


Rumors and Mysteries of Peace
323 people, two tables and six invited panelists sat waiting to hear the guidelines of the round table discussion. In front of the panelists sat Hector Arenas—the moderator of the dialogue—, Guillermo Solarte—Director of Pacifists Without Borders—and Amber Solarte as the editor of the World Summit for Peace’s video. After the opening of the currents, the yellow light trickled onto th e stage. A man with a salt and peppered beard, deep voice, and crown topped hat and suit presented the event’s program, point by point. It was S ergio Gonzalez, the director of the Acto Latino Theater. He dramatized the master of ceremonies role with his picaresque sense of humor.


Below in the audience, all was dark, when all of a sudden the Anthem sprouted from the silence. It was titled: Why don’t we talk? This was a composition created by the song writer Hernán Urbina Joiro and interpreted by the famous Vallenato singer Ivan Villazón. Everyone present watched the video of the terrible war which has subjugated the Colombian people. Simultaneously, the beautiful faces of peasant farmers, aborigines and afro-descendents, the Colombian flag, white balloons and giant white strips of cloth read “we want peace”. The applause didn’t have to be waited for, much less the smiles.

The mystery always was and always has been:
Why don’t we talk?

Words were created in order to solve mysteries, to give light, to alleviate the soul and to unite thoughts in coherency. The attendees and invited guests were eager to see who would be the first panelists to light the fire of the long awaited discussion. Antonio Morales´ voice rose to the occasion and he emphatically analyzed, in a concrete fashion, the “democratization” of the Media. He questioned the concept of freedom and its union between democracy and peace.


The famous constitutional delegate Juan Manuel Charry, showed that best way to correct the failed political conflict should be accomplished by recovering basic ethics. Additionally, he proposed uniting words with actions: “we should be tolerant and abolish discrimination”. Likewise he pointed out that modern paradigms have changed due to the fact that “before politics prevailed and now it’s economic s”. He closed the first round by saying “We should conciliate the constitutional values of dignity, freedom and peace”.
The indigenous ex-councilor of the CRIC Aida Quilcué talked about “being convinced of our identity. We can obtain peace in our family and in our surroundings”. Her secure and powerful voice dispelled the haze of doubts as she recited the pacifist concept that “peace can’t be constructed with weapons”. Likewise she criticized that the written word isn’t taken seriously in Colombia given that it is always viola ted by the same men that write it.
Similar to a mystery movie filled with mismanagement, spies and crooked business deals, the ex-mayor of Apartadó talked about the silent and dark intentions of the Colombian Establishment to put us to sle ep. Likewise, she mentioned the license given to a few in order to express themselves and their constant self endowment of founding father’s imaginary characteristics. She ended her first intervention by saying “You shouldn’t legitimize censorship or criminalization in this country”.
A deep yet kind voice would at times seem like it threw out short sentences of doctrine, unlike a tyrant or a despot, he spoke like someone who had lived through the problem about which he was referring. He had learned to make slogans in order to clarify his ideas. Angel Beccassino began by saying: “more and more people buy weapons so to protect themselves from more and more people who buy weapons”. He talked about the problems related to disproportionate ambition and about the shrouding fear that human beings have in terms of hoarding or the incessant greed of the large scale businessmen. According to him, these greedy people are leaving the world withou t the sufficient air to breath or the vital water to drink.


Antonio Morales focused his commentaries on modern journalism as well as the mismanagement given to the profession in this day in age. He clarified that the idea of the Freedom of Press is not the same as the Freedom of Business. Just like a journalist isn’t the same as a transmitter of opinions. The problem, in his opinion, has been triggered by the mutation of a journalist into politicians and a politician into a journalist or the leader of printed and televised media.
“Peace doesn’t just exist in one place, in the same way that peace isn’t anyone’s economic patrimony. We need to depolarize ourselves in order to be able to clearly listen to other people.” Someone could have asserted that this sentence would have been great in order to make a book called “Phrases for Peace”. It just so happens that this prophetic statement was complicated among others to make a book and below this sentence you can clearly distinguish, in bold black letters, the name of the author: Juan Manuel Charry.

The Radio – Theater of the voices
Buenos Aires- Argentina 8pm

After having finished the first round of conversations, the panelists were relaxed and the audience seemed to be restless, for they anxiously awaited to see who would be next to speak. The hall remained in the darkness; there were mere whispers and stares. The air was filled with expectation. “Hello” was the first word that came out of the silence. It was like being in a large old movie theatre and listening to one of those old fashioned radio shows. Around 323 people were gathered and waiting for radio program presenter to initiate the live radio program. The first word pronounced by Susana Merino, who works as the director of the digital magazine “Grano de Arena”. Without speculating, she stated, “They don’t transmit the ideas like they really are, nor in a similar fashion, they only transmit a certain part of the story. As in the case of General Manuel Belgrano, who before being a military man was a lawyer, economist, journalist, politician and diplomat”. Hence she proved that the profound reality of the story is generally unknown by the great majority.
Susan’s soft and amiable voice made a “between the lines” proposition. According to her, there was a need for change and she claimed that in a broad way “many people talk about the need to generate political change, but nothing will alter if we don’t first modify the condition of the human heart. The purpose of this, isn’t for anyone to renounce th eir convictions, rather it is more important that they incorporate this internal change in their own lives and through an indelible respect for the beliefs and points of view of others”.
Susana analyzed how real version of history has been suppressed by numerous half truths pertaining to vehement rejection of war and its hostilities by the same men who fight in them. She referred us to the text “The Crime of War” written by General Manuel Belgrano. She followed up by paraphrasing the general’s unnerving statement, “Homicide is murder, be it man on man or nation against nation” and “Peace similar to Liberty can only be a product of education”.

Nairobi-Kenya 2 am
In his living room, Alvaro Gutierrez waited for the beginning of the “Grand Opening of the World Summit for Peace”, next to Kenyan youth leaders from the a wide variety of national youth organization, such as: The National Party and the Orange Democratic Movement.
He emitted a nostalgic voice from this corner of South America. A group of politically involved youth from that African country waited in his hot living room in Nairobi. At once, Alvaro Gutierrez began his participation. From Kenya, he spoke about the African Peace Process, Colombian natural disasters and the willingness for a solution to the conflict. Among other things, he noted that peace efforts in Colombia will soon be further complicated due to external threats that search to possess one of the World’s largest water supplies as well as the increasing demand for this precious liquid. At last, he finalized by saying in a clear and deeply felt voice: “Colombia needs peace, we Colombians in exile need to return home”.

México City 6 in the afternoon

A jovial, happy, an d energetic voice later presented itself as being Cristina Avila. She announced that peace isn’t just a problem that derives from weapons; it is also a problem that derives from the lack of justice which has condemned seventy three million children to child labor. This prematurely exercised activity has subjected them to the loss of their dignity.
Her voice continuously played with the sound waves and in the minds of audience members questions emerged like: What would her face look like? Could someone still be asking themselves this question? She continued her participation by saying “peace is a reality which is never shown in televised newscasts, thus we have learned to speak another language”… “Peace will not be constructed by governments; rather it will constructed by every day people”. That night, Cristina Ávila debuted in Colombia her online magazine “Peace Correspondent”. This online publication represents a modern and vigorous vision about balanced news from a pacifist’s point of view.

“We are many Pacifists and we are just tuning our voices”

The three virtual participants ended their reflections in a lively way after having inserted their opinions into the discussion with the other panelists. The audience seemed to flutter around while waiting for more panelist’s reflections. Gloria Cuartas professed that the World Summit for Peace, Bogotá 2009 would bring about the necessary hope for Colombia and, furthermore, it would provoke Colombian exiles to return home. She commented about the fact that she still remained terrified about her tragic lived experience in a San José Apartadó school house. Her most harshest and most ruthless memory occurred in 1996, when a paramilitary massacre took place in that small coastal town’s school house. The most painful memories of this incident consisted in her desperate attempt to calm the town habitants in vain, after they had been bathed in the blood of innocent victims.

The metaphor the Summit:
The World Summit for Peace is will be undertaken, “in order for us to be lifted from all cardinal points so to be able to observe from afar the great diversity of realities and discover with clarity that which is beyond us, in order to discover why the poorest citizens remain killing other poor people”. This statement made by Ángel Beccassino can be taken as a Metaphor for the World Summit for Peace, Bogotá 2009.

Antonio Morales concluded by synthesizing his contributions for the night. The first summary would touch on how the freedom of press could function as a catalyst to strengthen the freedom of business. In addition, he spoke of the Colombian actors in the armed conflict—the military, the (guerrilla), and the paramilitary—and the media coverage on the conflict as being one of the many manifestations of the belligerent perversions. At last, he talked about the unanimous nature of main media: there are thousands of opinions by only one voice is permitted to speak. He finalized by reiterating that an opinion wasn’t information.

Cristina Ávila, from Mexico, closed by underlining in a seductive voice that “we are many pacifists and we are just tuning our voices”.


A Vallenato for Reconciliation
At the end of January, the Vallenato Composer, Hernán Urbina Joiro, donated his socially charged song, Why don’t we talk? , to the World Summit for Peace, Bogotá—October 2009. The social message focused on: respect, harmony and reconciliation. In addition, Ivan Villazón, the famous Vallenato singer, later joined this musical process and put his veteran touch on the final production of the song. Therefore, the World Summit for Peace Anthem draws from the sentiment of the Colombian people and convokes them to sit down, to talk their problems out, to leave their weapons aside and listen to one another.
Peace Builders
Waiting, building, joining forces: The peace builders have been building bridges, so to involve important figures and institutions which want to figure out the solution to the problems around the construction of peace. We have conciliated thoughts and processes, through alliance between people and events, the following are just some of the committed organizations involved in this event.
By Diego Leonardo González Rodríguez.

World Summit for Peace, Bogotá—October 2009

World Summit for Peace, Bogotá—October 2009

Pacifists Without Borders, with support from the Bogotá Mayor’s office, will trail blaze the pathway towards the World Summit for Peace which will occur in the city of Bogotá in October 2009. This citizen led and promoted initiative is a collective effort towards global peace and against violence, militarization and injustice. The objective is to collectively construct a favourable setting for reflection, so to exchange ideas and dialogue about peace as a social construction, derived from a system based on the principals of social justice and peaceful coexistence.

The World Summit for Peace is proposed in two dimensions:

One-The global dimension: It is crucial to lead a cultural process from Bogotá, Colombia and the Andean Region which is comprised of basic values such as non-violence and pacifism. From this viewpoint, Bogotá will be converted into a stage from which a worldwide peace process will be constructed, promoted and lead within a global context. Moreover, the global dimension to the Summit will further permit the world community to be informed about the particular dimensions of the Colombian armed conflict.

Two-The local dimension: this proposed process looks to foster spaces for dialogue about the Colombian conflict and to develop strategies with the help from all international participants in order to search for a solution to the Colombian Armed Conflict. Furthermore, we look to provoke a collective reflection through an ample process of participation which will permit us to create the atmosphere for a solution and a post conflict strategy.

The Process…

The first stage: The first preliminary stage will outline, organize and promote the idea of the World Summit for Peace and subsequently it will create worldwide support networks. Likewise, we will define management, financing and communication strategies for the Summit. Furthermore, the World Summit for Peace will compile an impulse group and additionally we will connect people to the Summit in accordance to their distinct capacities. All affiliates will begin to assume their responsibilities in a pluralistic event, of interest for the global citizenry.

The second stage: This will be the developmental phase during the previous months before the World Summit for Peace. We will be looking to execute the proposed objectives and guarantee the previously sought level and scope.

The third stage: This will coincide with the execution of the World Summit for Peace, in a four day period, in the city of Bogotá. There will be a projected attendance of a large number of the World’s citizens, state representatives, non-governmental organizations and social movements from diverse cultures from throughout the world.

The fourth stage: After the entailed event, the Bogotá Manifesto for World Peace will begin to circulate and promote the outcome of World Summit for Peace.

Dissemination

Dissemination began in 2005

The World Summit for Peace has been promoted in distinct cities throughout the world and has been presented in various events, for instance:

The World Social Forum in Porto Alegre and in Caracas: The World Summit for Peace was presented and discussed for the first time amongst distinct attending organizations. Orientation, content and possible guests were established and resulted in the compilation of the initial World Summit for Peace data base. In addition, we identified possible global allies. In Caracas, we held our first round table discussion and debate about the central themes of the project and we consequently oriented ourselves from a pluralistic perspective.

London: We organized a concert in the Grand Hall of the Cunning House with support from our British Pacifists Without Border members. Both organizations and committed citizenry for peace attended the event.

Paris: Pacifists Without Borders also held an art exposition which dealt with the Colombian phenomenon of forced displacement in the School for Political Science in Paris. More than 20 French organizations for peace attended. The same exposition was replicated in the museum of Modern Art El Minuto de Dios.

Madrid: Our PWB members visited distinct organizations and leaders such as Federico Mayor, representative of the Foundation Culture for Peace, and he made the commitment to be an active part of the project. Furthermore, we associated the Center for Investigation in Peace lead by Santiago Alvarez and the Peace and Cooperation Foundation headed by Joaquin Antuña.

Finally, we are in constant contact with various other organizations which have analyzed how they can contribute:

The United Nations Association, the United Nation’s letter for Peace, Taula Catalan group for peace and human rights in Colombia, which has headquarters in both Barcelona and Madrid. Likewise, we keep in touch with the organization Justice and Peace, the association of NGO’s in Madrid.

* In Bogotá, we have attended meetings and visited distinct organizations and institutions.

We have presented the World Summit for Peace in:

• The plenary of the national Colombian congress; a space provided by Carlos Gaviria (legislator)
• The Supreme Court of Justice
• The President’s and the Office of the First Lady

On the 7^th of May 2008 we presented this proposal to Doctor Samuel Moreno Rojas and the Bogotá Mayor’s office. In this meeting, the Mayor and the General Secretary of the Mayor’s office—doctor Yuri Chillan—were present. The mayor’s manifesto expressed his commitment and interest in supporting this peace process. He additionally made an expressed commitment to give all institutional support to the World Summit for Peace.

We look for the three central branches of the Colombian State to take part in this process

*The Bogotá mayor’s office is our ally in this project towards global peace.

*Distinct NGOs: REDEPEZ, Permanent Assembly for Peace, INDEPAZ, Observatory for Peace and others

*International Organizations: PNUD, FESCOL, CIVIS,

*The Brazilian Embassy, the Argentinean Embassy, The Indian Embassy, The Salvadorian Embassy, The French Embassy, The Swedish Embassy and many more.

*We expect for the summit to be a project that will include the most diverse and pluralistic participation in Colombia.

*We have attended distinct meetings and made diverse contacts in San José, Costa Rica and Lima, Peru.

We have created a Law for the Culture of Peace as a developmental proposal. Moreover this document has been elaborated as a law and this fundamental text has been examined in two preparatory meetings. Such events have been held in Bogotá in the National Library Luis Angel Arango and in the city of Popayan with grass roots organizations from the Cauca region.

We presented this proposal to Doctor Samuel Moreno Rojas and the Bogotá city mayor’s office on the 7^th of May 2008. In this meeting, the Secretary General of the Mayor’s office, Doctor Yuri Chillan, was present among other participants. The Mayor expressed his commitment, interest and support for this process, while subsequently giving institutional backing for our cause. Our first authorized step has been to incorporate the mayor’s office emblem to our Summit as well as include the mayor’s publicity slogan “Positive Bogotá”.

The official invitation will be made on part of the city government in alliance with other political and academic coordinators. Furthermore, backing will come from logistical support networks and Pacifists Without Borders. We jointly agreed that the World Summit for Peace will take place in October 2009, and it will consist of a series of joint actions that will span throughout the year in the programmed Pathway to the Summit.

During the summit, Bogotá will be the arena for artistic expressions. A whole host of such artistic expressions will permeate throughout the city, including concerts, dance presentations, theatrical performances, painting exhibitions and alternative films from all reaches of the World. You too are invited to inundate the city with art in the name of the Global Peace!

We have made an emphasis to highlight the importance of carrying out the World Summit for Peace in Bogotá, precisely due to the implications that such an event will have on the city.

*In www.pacifistassinfronteras.org you will find a list of some of our documented achievements. Additionally we will be sending a periodic bulletin which will further inform you about our process.

*We have created a World Summit for Peace group in Facebook, through which we have been consolidating a support network in order to promote the summit. We have already affiliated 4,514 members to this group.

*The summit will produce five strategic documents. Three of them will be elaborated by well-known internationally recognized figures. These documents will be presented in the summit by their authors and they will be discussed in three large public assemblies. The three documents will address the central themes: justice, culture and democracy and their relationship to peace. We will make the effort to establish these documents as the basis for dialogue in the preliminary stages of the Summit.

*The fourth document is what we call the Bogotá Manifesto 2009. This will be a proposition which will emerge from the Summit and it will be elaborated by the promoting group and the facilitators of the event. The first draft of the Manifesto will be presented and discussed through a permanent virtual online forum for the duration of six months. Furthermore, the World Summit for Peace will project a strategy for the implementation of the Bogotá Manifesto as a Post Summit Strategy.

*the Fifth document will be the Pathway to Peace in Colombia: Conflict and Post-Conflict. This will be a collectively elaborated project with the wide participation of international and national participants. It will be signed by all participants as the first stage of a work in progress in order to achieve a political solution to the Colombian conflict.

The proposal:

*The city would be constituted as the world leader in the topic of peace. Parting from this standpoint we will mobilize a large quantity of people in order to convert the city into a space of non-violence and solidarity with the victims of wars of all nations in conflict.

*Enrich a large pressure group of opinion which will recover peace as a world issue. Also, this will be closely linked to culture, justice and democracy.

*We set out to propose Bogotá as the World Capital of Peace during the week long event.

Presently we are organizing the promotional committee on the national level…

A promotional committee is being created on the national level and likewise we have gathered with the following people who have demonstrated their support and interest in taking part in this process.

*José Noé Ríos (ex-commissioner for peace) Holman Morris (Producer for various media agencies), Vera Grabe (anthropologist and Colombian pacifist), Gustavo Petro (senator for Polo Democratico Alternativo), Aterciopelados (Colombian Rock Group), Hernando Gómez Serrano (Polo Democratico Alternativo), Vicky Hernandez (Television actress who was recently awarded in the India Catalina awards for her 50 years of contribution), David Garcia Peña (ex-commissioner for peace), Cecilia Lopez (senator for the Liberal Party), Juan Carlos Bayona (Rector for the Gimnasio Moderno high school), Ernesto Samper (ex president of the Republic of Colombia), Florence Thomas (feminist, writer and columnist for El Tiempo newspaper), Franz Barbosa (director for Human Rights in the Bogota Secretary of Government), Ignacio Gómez (Journalist for Noticias Uno), Elkin Velasquez (investigator), Visionaries for Colombia (national movement for Peace lead by the ex-mayor Antanas Mockus), Angel Becanssino (Publicist), Antonio Morales (journalist), Hector Arenas (ecologist), Dilia Robinson (Raizal leader), Ati Quigua—councilwoman for Bogotá, Patricia Lizarazo (National Department of Planification and member of Pacifists Without Borders), Gerardo Ardila (Director of the Institute for Urban Studies in the Colombian National University), Federico Mayor Zaragoza (Member of the committee for the International Coordination for a decade of non-violence and peace), Santiago Álvarez (Director of the Center for Investigation of Peace), Joaquin Antuña (Founder of Peace and Cooperation).

In the last two years, the World Summit for Peace, Bogotá 2009 in its constructive process has associated a wide variety of different people and institutions. Currently we are working towards the affiliation of the Association of the United Nations in Barcelona and the organization for Human Rights in Colombia and United Nation’s letter for peace.

Law for the Culture of Peace

Pacifists Without Borders has undertaken a process of permanent reflection around all attitudes, conducts and values which reject violence and prevent conflicts. This will be a part of the actions which will be developed in the World Summit for Peace.

This process has analyzed the general cause for violence and, likewise, the strategies to resolve these problems through dialogue and negotiations.

*Additionally, the rough draft of the Law for the Culture of Peace has been discussed in two different meetings. The first took place in the audiovisual theatre in the Luis Angel Arango library, on the 29^th of August 2008 in Bogotá. The second meeting occurred in the city of Popayan. In these meetings, there was active participation by committed members from the promotional committee. In the Bogotá meeting we were accompanied by José Noé Ríos, Juan Carlos Bayona, Gloria Cuartas´ representative, Angel Becassino, Antonio Morales, Hector Arenas, Diego Pena (Representing the councilman Francisco de Roux), Franz Barbosa (Director of Human Rights in the Bogota Secretary of Government), Facundo Pontevoz (Representative of the Human Rights for the Secretary of Government), Guillermo Solarte Lindo (Director of Pacifists Without Borders), Patricia Lizarazo (National Department of Planification), Ana Paula Castro (Representing the senator Maria Cecilia López) among others…

Pathway to the Summit

*This proposal will be executed throughout a year long series of events and bimonthly activities which will culminate in the World Summit for Peace in October. We have denominated this process as the Pathway to the Summit and it will give the city the unique global characteristic of peace.

*Bogotá as the World Capital for Peace and the World Summit for Peace will work within a wide framework of actions as part of a single process to serve as a cultural force against violence. Both processes will be oriented on the principles of justice within a developmental process for the upcoming decades.

*The city aspires to hold a leading role in the struggle for peace in Colombia, in the region and in the world.

*Pathway to the Summit: from November 2008 until October 2009

The Pathway to the Summit is a process which will lead to the World Summit for Peace, Bogotá 2009. It will consist of bimonthly debates which will work on and develop actions around topics which have been identified as essential for peace. On the other hand, the events will constitute Bogotá as the World Capital for Peace.

We want curiosity for the Summit to increase as the main event draws closer and likewise we aspire to generate interest among the worldwide citizenry and institutionalism. Moreover it is our hope to unite global support and commitment for our global cause. We hope to create strong alliances with the international media in order to promote the city’s image as a city committed to Peace in Colombia and in the World.

Discovering a pacifist society

in memory of luisa fernanda solarte

who will always be in our hearts

if we had to do a minute of silence by each one of the deads that had been produced by the violence during this year in colombia, we should be in silence for several hours. if we thought about annual deads, it would be thirty thousand minutes of silence. the decade would force us to be quiet up but 300.000 minutes. by them we would have to remain dumb during 208 days. it is very possible that this is what the violent ones want.

as “doctors without borders” in the acceptance of the nobel prize said: "we are not sure that the words save lives, but we are sure that silence can kill".

peace and word

a slow stroll through human history lets us see with optimism that at times of great convulsions, crisis and war, in many corners of the planet opens good sense windows, rises love and appears men and women who refuse to think that to kill it is the answer. the testimony of intelligence, registered in the words of peace by the nobel prizes makes the hope clear,

" in three thousand years humanity has only managed to live thirteen days without war"

those thirteen days would have to become a hope, an oasis in where one would approach to calm the thirst of power, ambition and victory. in those small and infinite oasis, the humanity finds the key to nondestruction. those islands of happiness, those territories of fertility are not a time or moment in history: they are present and we have the obligation to discover them in our daily lives and in the values that have been hidden by the frenetic race of what is called progress.

in the same way when rains announces a beautiful harvest and fill the heart of farm laboures with hope, the word and the action of the pacifist men and women fill with optimism the life. that responsibility on what we say and what we do is the most powerful virtues of the pacifist and it is feared by the violent ones. the murders of gandhi and luther king show that, for violent people, being pacifist is one of the worse threats. it seemed that not to arm itself full of weakness the violent one. it seemed that the pacific action questions deeply the fighting spirit.

but if arms, death and silence are the armas that the violent ones have as their greater treasure, the word, as expression of the reason and the essence of human communication, is for the pacifists the only way to obtain the life in community, in society.

as humans, language unites us. from it, intelligence is developed, advanced and constructed. like humans we have the possibility of communication, of interaction, of interchange. we become humans in our relation with others and with them we extend the sense of life. only in a dialogue between human beings is it possible to discover a pacifist society. a society without violence. it is possible to affirm that this society has never existed, but not to be able to dream it is as cruel as to think that violence is the only exit. that the pain produced during war and the horror is surpassed by time. that the victim and the tragedy are diluted in forgetfulnes. resignation before dead of innocent people is resignation of a pacific society. we cannot continue believing that the violent death of so many human beings is human. to accept it, is to eliminate the possibility of living humanly.

from the pain, the desire of revenge or the resignation cannot arise. it must arise a human, pacifist power to affect the violent ones. to transform his thirst of death into desire of justice. a power whose only weapon is the word. the reasons to arm itself cannot continue being the reasons to assassinate, either the reason to arrive at the deepest human misery, nor the reasons to defend privileges or injustice. if men fight for justice, that fight must be peaceful. that fight must be political. human dignity is more important. the respect for the life of a single individual is the respect for the whole humanity. as kofi annan affirms: "a genocide begins with the murder of a single man: not for what he has done but for whay he is. a campaign of ethnic cleaning begins with a single fight between neighbors. poverty begins when a fundamental right to education is denied to every boy or girl. what begins with the failure to maintain the dignity of life, very often finishes in a catastrophe for whole nations". the failure in the conservation of human dignity is a political failure. it is born from the imposition of the ideas and interests of one to another. the failure in the recognition of other cultures is not only a fact that fights against human dignity, it brings the germ of genocide, the idea of submission.

discovering a pacifist society

although the discovery of a pacifist society can be as far as its conquest, we know that the right to the life and justice are not utopias: they are human duties that cannot be delayed. they must be constructed collectively. without lies, arms, or force. a world of justice can have neither the submission, nor the lost of liberties, nor the use of the arms like principles. to construct the right society through the force or by despotism or authoritarianism is the less right of the options. it goes against human dignity.

it is necessary to extend or to transform ideas that encourage war. it is more human to affirm that the state must have the monopoly of the intelligence, that to blindly accept one of the forces that has fully shown its failure. the one who arms himself to create a state with the same conception is an eternal prolonger of war. those who promise a better state through the arms, promise the same hell with another uniform and other words.

life cannot be violent in the same way as justice cannot be delayed. it is just to advance freely towards a society wished by the way of agreements. this is what is undesirable for the violent people. the fair way must be to find intelligent ways to respect others, with their different religions, their different forms of living or dreaming. it would be unfair to silent the differences and to establish the empire of force.

it is unhuman to think that the way to obtain our freedom is by making people enslaved. to reduce the world to a single political, or social or cultural vision, or to a single hegemony is to increase the possibilities of a catastrophe, to declare war on reason. it is not only a warlike confrontation, it goes much further: it is a frontal attack of humanity against barbarism, of culture against stupidity, of those who try to introduce once again man in caves. we think that the human life and animals are the greater patrimony of this small planet. indeed: the struggle for survival can be done through the defense of the life. from here, active defense of pacifism brings optimism to human species. we know that man and women are allied to life, also, we know that ambition defeats continuously good sense, that it is permanent source of hatred and animosity, the dark world of the ambitions pollutes succesfully the spirit of the men and nations.

it is necessary to watch with total critical attention the educative proposal, the speech, about ambition as source of success. we would find here many of the evils that drown us. there can also be found the key to understand the bad things: silence is competition between human beings not always more defeated. millions die of hunger in countries in the south, millions die violently in useless confrontations in the middle of the terror and of hatred, many commit suicide thinking that death is better than life, millions are sunk in the misery so that few thousands enjoy the artificial paradise made by money.

peace is not only absence of violence or death. it is much more, it is the scene of the political life and a culture that recognizes its own conflicts, solves them by the agreements. indeed: peace is the recognition of human rights in its most full meaning, from the sanctity of life, to the rights of the human being to the education or health. but it is necessary not only to understand but also to accept that the fight for human rights cannot be violent. it is contradictory and unprecedented that in name of human rights and justice, some people forces other human beings.

the violation of the right to life for the profit of other rights is neither comprehensible nor acceptable. nor is it to think that justice can be delayed without violating the human rights. the human weapon for finding justice is nonviolence and that means pacific action and pacifist pedagogy. the challenge of warmongering thought that has rooted in the spirit of the modern states and has spread to political paradigms. it is necessary to begin to debate with political sincerety in order to obtain a fair society. but not only a single local society, it is more and more urgent to build a world where justice is the motor of development. the extreme situations in the present life of the planet make us think that as humans we have the commitment to start dreaming and to believe in different things than the promise of consumerism, the promise of a paradise in other peoples. the problems of the misery do not give delay, this planet is a planet with hunger and too much desire for power. but as humans, we cannot wait for great biological mutations to reach justice. we cannot hope that the technological development saves us from misery.

development cannot be reached on the base of that culture, it will have to be through the culture of solidarity and freedom or to be condemned to be unequal and unjust growth. it is not only to find a balance between the production and the consumption. it is not audacious to think that humans could live with much less if we diminished the ambition and transform the thought that privileges the possession over cooperation. it is not either an adventure in the ship of the utopias to be able to get to dream human beings who fertilize the planet with kindness, joy and enthusiasm and who find great satisfaction with the idea to cooperate in building a better world.

if we could diminish the thecnology of life and recharge the technological development with a sense of life and humanity, it would be possible to perceive other sources of justice and friendly production with the planet. but although the acceleration of the technological development seems a cruel paradox it seems to allow a gap between rich and poor and also the spirit of conquest and the reduction and submission of towns by others. the useless fiction of a wealthy society pushes to an idea of consumption and untenable depredation. men seem to have prevailed as an inventor and has failed as a human. in the words of albert schwitzer "man has become superman. he is a superman because by his own accord has nonsingle intrinsic physical forces but that he also governs, thanks to scientific and technological advances, latent forces of nature, that he already is able to use. nevertheless the superman undergoes a fatal fault: he has not reached the level of super human intelligence with wich to balance his superhuman strength. and he needs this intelligence in order to use this vast force only with reasonable aims, not for destructive and homicidal aims."

schwitzer noticed when he received the nobel peace price that the over estimation of our strength and of our creativity could, draw a social mentality that would also generate nonsingle destruction not through the war but through an economic model that is nourished with selfishness at any cost, almost ingenuous individualism that makes us think of the human being as an individual that fights in a frenetic race to survive.

the proposal of a new new of changing a mentality is not new, it was also the intention of schwitzer when he related: “if peace arrives or not, it depends on the direction that takes the mentality from individuals to the nation" but that wild race to impose a competitive mentality has been transfered successfully from individuals to the nations. we must find in this race the opportunity to take a break and think with caution and prudence, if this competition between nations would not create an immense cemetery of cultures. nations that are not interested on having unequal conditions or on sharing that mentality will be devasted and so will be a great part of the patrimony of the human culture and the vestiges and keys to obtain a better life. life cannot be fed by cruel values or destruction. although victory seems ironic a bitter taste in ones mouth nor can submissivness may leaves us defeat.

we would have to open the floodgates of the heart to understand the pain of others and from this, to initiate a construction of which the dalai lama proposes; like sanctuaries of peace of respect for others and nature. respect would be the first cause of action and a pillar for the creation of life in community. to respect to one another is not to affront ones confidence, nor is it to break loyalties created from friendship, nor to make speechs with seduction and political demagogy. the challenges of pacifists are not transfered to the duties of the state nor to the political commitments of groups. the pacifist mentality forces us to daily respect. like father and son. like neighbor to friend. to be violent to one of your resemblances is too great an event to be diminished. to betray a friend can be the origin of a profund crack.

human conflicts will always exist, but to solve them through violence in its different forms is an attitude contrary to humanism. discovering a peaceful society means to accept humanity like a a peaceful source of thought.

humanism and pacifism are natural brothers, they are both born like an oasis of optimism in the desert of warlike thought. they are opposed in a radical way to the warlike language. life will always be a conflict between what we woulfd like and what we wishe. it is also a conflict between the heart and the mind, between the spirit, who dreams about freedom, and daily life filled with temptations, with traps that move us continuously away and for an implacable form of the pacifist way. the rapid way we have developed has allowed us to know that technology can reach the highest levels, but it also has at the same time, not made us perceive, as luther king said in 1964: “to survive today, we must eliminate our spiritual and moral failings.”

if there isn’t a proportional growth of the soul, the increasing material powers grow more dangerous. when the “outside” of the man’s nature subjugates the “inside” dark storm clouds begin to form in the world. it is not a magical nor tragic thought, it is a realism that, forty years ago, announced the moments that we are living at the moment. they are bound to a monetarist moral and to a conquest spirit that prevails even after the failures of the xx century. it is not the technology, which has submerged us in to war but it is the prevalence of the fighting spirit of many of those who lead the world.