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with the participation of RAZDED and ASCOP from 5 to 9 November 2010 ZAGORA, Morocco |
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Executive Committee are elected for a term of three years (2010-2013):
And the Bureau was elected in as many laps as positions to be able to:
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Unfortunately we are victims of a large fire and it is impossible to me be absent in the next weeks. So I send these my suggestions by mail to the Plenary Session of the Peoples' Congress - trusting, that there will be some minutes for a basic consideration. There is no doubt, that all elected delegates have excellent argumentations, outstanding proposals, courageous plans of action to propose to the Plenary Session in Zagora in November. Our motivations and our aims are the same, so hypothetically the final statements of the meeting must be a "symphony of harmony". Theoretically. Supposedly. Reading the many messages it was easy to state priorities, and here are my priorities. And I will be glad to know other delegates will agree with me.
About publications and sites: Rene Wadlow is our best example (read his last statement on 13/10 about publications and sites) but we need a hundred of Rene Wadlow and such outstanding publications not in English Only … But about internal communication please spend some moments! 5.Internal Communication in Peoples Congress: We need a common decision about which language is the official of the PEOPLES' CONGRESS. All documents in the last 30 years were mostly published in French and some in English. Our Registry uses formally 4 and often even 8 languages and more (see website) The last plenary sessions in Belgium and Brazil used 4 languages in consecutive translation - democratic solution - but loosing at least 50 % of the delegates' working time. For simultaneous translation we do not have financial conditions. In Zagora will be used French, English, Arabic, maybe Esperanto, Portuguese, Japanese and Spanish. This is an impossible working condition if we want to include all delegates and act worldwide! How are doing other multilingual organizations? European Union 23 languages with same rights in simultaneous, UN 6 languages with same rights, rich NGOs some 5 or 8 simultaneous translations, others imposing English Only , Russian only, Arabic only, Chinese only, etc. When PC delegates communicate by e-mails, they can use Google translators, (a sign of respect, but today only 3 are using this!!!) but when meeting personally, they need a common instrument to change ideas! It is really time to study the problem and a solution of the language barriers between delegates. The truth is that we are running behind the problem, but we have to precede and to decide the solution for the next future. French was good enough in France, the English speakers formed their own world citizen center in California and Canada, the Brazilians are silent, the Japans are silent. If we want members in ALL COUNTRIES, we have to decide about the language use in our movement. In Africa people speaks the colonialist's language. This is not a solution considering human language rights! All have a mother tongue…. It seems to me, that all world citizen knows about the existence of a neutral language, named Esperanto. A language that is used and has its worldwide community and all those members are naturally world citizens. I am myself Esperanto speaker, therefore naturally world citizen with no communication problem worldwide, respecting always the individual language rights. Assisting PC events is painful to me, as I know how it could be, if every one gives the hand to the brother instead of asking him to learn his language. Last year I offered for free an Esperanto course, I tried to teach to the delegates the language , but the result was zero. Nobody had time and vision to understand, as theoretically they are world citizens but practically still far away. Our actual president Liliane uses French and English, but this is not a solution if we aim to act worldwide. WATUN uses Spanish and English, but the world has at least 100 big languages and we say that we respect the cultural pluralism. But we do not…. Please, try to understand that I do not impose ideas, but PC has to solve this question, otherwise we must stop our business.
Priorities for Citizens of the World Rene Wadlow* I am sorry that I can not be with you in this important session in Zagora. I see three major priorities which are the focus of my efforts. I will be interested in reading the report of your meeting to see the priorities of others. 1) The focus of my work at the United Nations in Geneva is what I call “the river of instability” — that is, a subtle energy current which runs through Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran-Iraq-Turkey-Israel-Palestine-Lebanon-Syria. Each conflict has a local dimension, but each conflict sends waves into the others. On the edge of this current are States that would prefer stability but which basically push their own interests: China, Russia, India, Turkey, and Egypt. From outside the area but involved is the USA and to a much lesser degree France, England, Germany. All these states have Missions to the UN, and so it is possible to have contacts both in person and by mail. In most of these countries there are also issues of human rights. We have been in touch with each calling for respect for universally recognized human rights. We have also raised issues of conflict resolution with diplomats from most of these States. The diplomats at the UN in Geneva have only a small role in making policy concerning these conflicts. Basically they are “The Voice of the Master” back in the respective capitals. However, diplomats usually write a memo after a discussion with an NGO representative and send it to the Foreign Ministry in case there is a follow up. I think that the views of world citizens are taken seriously as we try to have our facts correct and the actions we propose are realistic — even if they are not carried out in the short run. Unfortunately, we know of few world citizens in the countries of “the river of instability” although we have good contacts with other NGOs in Pakistan, Israel and Palestine. I was invited to an important meeting of a Palestinian NGO in Jerusalem at the end of September 2009, but could not go for financial reasons. The paper I wrote for the meeting “A Possible Future for Gaza” was published in two Palestinian newspapers and widely sent to people interested in the conflict. Yet meeting people face-to-face is always important, and it was unfortunate that I was not able to attend. The inability to go to Jerusalem raises the separate question of financing our activities. Much more could be done if there were adequate funds for travel and follow up the May 2010 Review Conference at the UN in New York of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was the recommendation to hold in 2012 a conference on the creation of a Nuclear-weapon Free Zone in the Middle East. The same recommendation had been made at the 1995 Review but no date had been set then. As a result, the conference was always put off as the conditions for such a conference were never “ripe”. So the conference was never organized. With the setting by governments of a date, we can push that such a conference is organized. The policies of Israel and Iran will make such a conference difficult to reach its aim, but at least the 2012 date gives us a framework within which to act. 3) The third priority is ideology. There is a need to articulate our values as citizens of the world so that governments understand why we are addressing them on specific situations. There is a need to touch more people with the concept of world citizenship, such as those in the States of the “river of instability”. My emphasis is on short texts, one or two pages. People rarely want to read a long article, especially not on the internet. We also need such texts in more languages. I have had some translated into Russian so they could be used on a Russian internet site, and a few are in Chinese due to the Association of World Citizens branch in Taiwan. If they were on paper, they could be given to overseas Chinese communities, such as those in Paris. There is a need to have texts in Arabic and other languages of the “current of instability”. Publications and especially their focused distribution, I hope, will be an important point of discussion in Zagora.. My best wishes for the meeting, and I will be interested in reading the report. * Rene Wadlow, Representative to the UN, Geneva, Association of World Citizens |
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