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.