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Humanist solidarity with non-violent Burma protesters

2007-09-29

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The Humanist International expresses solidarity with the non-violent protest in Burma

The Humanist International views with great concern the situation that is currently unfolding in Burma. The military regime that has trampled all over the human rights of the population ever since illegally coming to power in 1962 is repressing the peaceful demonstrations across the country, shooting and arresting monks and promising �extreme measures�.

It is high time that the Military gave up their hold on power and set in motion a process of power transfer to a democratically elected government. We fully support the actions of the protesting monks, nuns and other civilians of Burma who are using the tools of active nonviolence to achieve social change: the most ethical and morally acceptable form of protest.

We take this occasion to demand the following immediate actions by the Burmese Regime:

The immediate cessation of repression of the peaceful protests on the streets of Burma

The announcement of plans to restore a democratic process in the country within the shortest possible time frame

The immediate release of all political prisoners, especially the pro-democracy campaign leader, Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for years and in recent days has been transferred to a secure prison.

Internationally, we call on:

The United Nations to take all possible steps to pressurise the regime in Burma to relinquish power

The governments of China and Russia, most notably, to stop showing implicit support to the Burmese regime by preventing the UN Security Council from taking resolutions critical of the Burmese Military, considering their own economic and political interests ahead of the interests of the ordinary people of Burma who are suffering terrible abuse.

This coming 2nd of October marks the International Day of Nonviolence as adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations earlier in the year. We take this opportunity therefore to proclaim the historical examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the modern example of Mario Rodriguez, Silo, and promote active nonviolence as the only coherent way to achieve social change: change that is required to eliminate violence in all its forms from human society.

Voices in defence of Bolivia

2007-09-20

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http://boliviarising.blogspot.com
The democratically elected government of Bolivia's first indigenous president Evo Morales Ayma, which is heading a process of democratic change, is Washington's immediate target in Latin America today. Bolivia is in Washington's sight, not only because it is viewed as the weakest link of the growing axis of hope in the region, but because of its role as a catalyst for inspiring the struggles of indigenous peoples, regionally and internationally, for real social justice.

The US government, in collaboration with the gas transnationals, large agribusiness and the old political class of Bolivia, organized through the so-called "civic" committees of the wealthy departments of the Bolivian east have already begun to set in motion their plan aimed at destabilizing this government, potentially through a military coup or a civil war as a pretext for foreign military intervention. This plan includes: the distribution of racist material inciting people to "bring down this Indian shit", provoking violent confrontations, US government funding of opposition political parties and organisations, mobilisation of fascist youth groups, and the smuggling in arms to the country, amongst others.

The majority of Bolivians have vested their hopes for democratic change in the Constituent Assembly; convoked on August 6, 2006, with the task of enshrining in a new constitution the vision of a new Bolivia that has emerged out of years of struggle against neoliberalism.

The majority of Bolivians have made clear what form they want this new Bolivia to take: a plurinational, democratic and communitarian state which recuperates control over natural resources and recognizes autonomy, within the framework of national unity, at the departmental, municipality and regional levels as well as for the 36 indigenous nations which make up Bolivia.

The old ruling elites, whose positions of economic and political power were based on centuries of racist, apartheid-like oppression of the indigenous peoples are unwilling to accept even the tiniest reforms for the benefit of the indigenous majority, to accept the continuation, in any form, of this peaceful and democratic revolution even if it means drowning the country in blood.

It is crucial for the governments and peoples of the world to speak out against any attempts to trigger off a civil war, or an ensuing US/UN military occupation or military coup, and reject the imposition of any illegitimate government in Bolivia.

Now is the time for all intellectuals, union militants, solidarity activists, political parties and progressive minded individuals who believe in real justice and equality to raise their voices in defense of the Bolivian government and its people.No to US interference in Bolivia!

Signed

Australia -Federico Fuentes, Kiraz Janicke,

Peru - Hugo Blanco

Chile - Marta Harnecker

Canada - Michael Lebowitz, Derrick O'Keefe, Sid Shniad, John Riddell, Roger Annis Susan Spronk, Nelson Rubio, Canadian Dimension editorial collective

US - Gregory Wilpert, Michael Albert, Benjamin Dangl, Martin Hart-Landsberg, Walter Lippmann, George Ciccariello-Maher

Cuba - Camila Pi�eiro Harnecker

Nicaragua - Felipe Stuart Cournoyer

UK - Pablo Navarrete

New Zealand - Grant Morgan, Vaughan Gunson

South Africa - Ighsaan Schroeder

[To add your name to the list please do so directly into the comments section on the blog]

Humanists demonstrate in Rostock against the G8

2007-06-01

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Statement by Giorgio Schultze, President of the European Region of the Humanist International

On June 2nd the Big Boys of the earth, the giants, I dare say, the ones who dominate the whole planet will meet in Rostock. 13% of the population, represented by the governments of USA, Russia, Germany, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan. They think they can rule the whole planet, upsetting it with wars, upsetting it environmentally, creating contradictions among people and creating enemies where there are none. Luckily on June 2nd they will be met by huge multitudes, among which there will also be an orange block that proposes 5 fundamental points:

Peace Now! Disarmament now! To dismantle the 490 nuclear weapons in Europe and the 30,000 in the world. This is the first commitment for them.

Second point: freedom to move for all human beings.

The simple fact to be born should allow us the right to citizenship, but barriers as the Schengen treaty and other control systems are creating strong contradictions and violence.

Third point: defence of the new generations, of children from the awful attacks of the pharmaceutical industry, that would like them to be drugged and silent.

We would like a generation of happy young people, with the possibility to express themselves in any moment, to express their joy to live and to grow.

Fourth point: the defence of the environment, an environment for all, the defence of housing, housing for all, renewable energies, elimination of pollution. This should be a priority for the masters of the earth.

And finally the defence of the fundamental rights: healthcare and education of good quality for all.

This is why we'll be in Rostock in the orange block. This is our message not only for Europe, but for all the world. And possibly we'll sweep away the G8 that has nothing to do with the future of humanity, with the construction of the Universal Human Nation that we are all working for.

On June 2nd in Rostock, in the orange block, the humanist block, the non-violent block.

Czech protests at new planned US bases

2007-05-26

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Some 2,000 protesters gathered on Wenceslas Square in the historical heart of Prague Saturday to protest against US plans to deploy a radar base for its missile shield on Czech soil.

"It is time to call for this government's resignation. Leave! You have already caused enough harm," protest organizer Jan Tamas hollered before the crowd, sparking protesters to chant "resignation" and blow whistles at earsplitting levels.

link to full article

"It is more likely that Europe will be hit by an asteroid than Iran would use missiles to attack Europe," said Jan Tamas, an organizer of the rally.

link to full article

Story on BBC World

Link to BBC World site

Photo

link to photo

Press Statement from the protest organisers

click here

See the video here....

Regarding the UK naval personnel held by Iran

2007-03-30

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The Humanist Party calls upon both the UK and Iranian governments to immediately cease the ridiculous posturing in regard to the holding of the UK Naval personnel and get down to the serious task of resolving the dispute non-violently. We are in agreement with the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research of Lund, Sweden who point out that a perfectly good process for resolving international disputes has existed since 1899; The Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes (Hague I) , to which both the UK and the Islamic Republic of Iran are signatories. This Convention in article 9 calls for the creation of International Commissions of Inquiry to resolve disputes.

In differences of an international nature involving neither honour nor vital interests, and arising from a difference of opinion on points of fact, the Signatory Powers recommend that the parties, who have not been able to come to an agreement by means of diplomacy, should as far as circumstances allow, institute an International Commission of Inquiry, to facilitate a solution of these differences by elucidating the facts by means of an impartial and conscientious investigation.

The UK government running to the UN to try to get statements that deplore Iranian actions do nothing to help this dispute.

Of course this is a dispute that should never have arisen in the first place. The presence of UK forces in the Gulf is in itself a violation of international law given that no UN mandate was ever achieved to back the invasion of Iraq.

Claims by the UK government that the Naval personnel were in Iraqi rather than Iranian waters, backed up by impressive looking charts and satellite images, are severely undermined by the lengths that the Blair Government was prepared to go to in order to persuade the International Community that Iraq had weapons of mass-destruction.

The Humanist Party calls for:

The referral of the current dispute with Iran to an Independent Tribunal in accordance with the 1899 treaty.

The UK government to announce immediate plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq and the Persian Gulf

The Iranian Government to allow access to the UK personnel by International observers to ensure their wellbeing and that their treatment is in accordance with International law

The Iranian Government to stop using the UK personnel for propaganda purposes, once more, in accordance with the Geneva Convention

In addition both the UK and the Iranian governments could do a lot worse than to follow the lead of President Morales of Bolivia who is attempting, in the process of re-writing the Bolivian constitution, to renounce the use of war as a means of resolving disputes.

Regarding the EU Declaration of Berlin on the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome

2007-03-25

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Sunday the 25th March was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, that gave birth to the present European Union and marked the approval of the Berlin Declaration.

The Berlin Declaration says: We will fight terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration together.

As Humanists, Europeans and human beings, we demand the retraction of this declaration of principles that combines and confuses terrorism, delinquency and illegal immigration.

The memory of the signatories is short, if they have forgotten that making associations of this sort: Jew with thief, gypsy with pariah, homosexual with ill person, all of which must be corrected, was and continues to be very dangerous.

Immigration is the response to poverty, injustice and violence to which Europe has largely contributed over centuries.

No to overt or hidden xenophobia, discrimination, death and murder in European Institutions!

European Humanist Forum � working group of cultures, migration and international cooperation. March 2007

Statement by the President of the European Region of the Humanist International

2007-03-17

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On the 4th Anniversary of the Iraq war and invasion...
Today, the 17th March 2007, four years after the invasion of Iraq by the United States army, we can count...

3,468 deaths of US soldiers

6,283 deaths of Iraqi soldiers and police

64,729 deaths of civilians, the majority of which are women and children.(*)

Was this war that was so wanted and financed by Bush, Blair and Berlusconi, a humanitarian war and for the liberation of Iraq?

Is this the way they want to stop supposed Islamic terrorism, to destroy Al Qaeda and to detain Osama bin Laden (the family friend)?

Is this the way they were going to find the �weapons of mass destruction� (as dangerous as they were non-existent)?

Saddam Hussein was hanged, they never found the weapons, Bin Laden is free, the mission in Iraq is a huge failure... but President Bush, as spokesman for the North American arms trade and the oil industry is ready to:

unleash an attack on Iran maintain high pressure and tension across the Middle East (Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria) maintain all the war fronts that are active across the oil regions from Afghanistan to Sudan.

To launch a race for nuclear re-armament that has never been seen before in history from the Molin base in Italy, to new bases and control systems in the Czech Republic, Poland and Great Britain.

Europe will become the front line of the US National Defence System, but it will also be the front line of the control system and attack against the Middle East and Asia: a subordinate role of airbases and nuclear missiles for NATO � USA.

The 30,000 nuclear war heads, capable of destroying the planet 25 times over, will not only not be dismantled, rather they will be strengthened with weapons that are lighter, smaller suitcases that are more manageable and practical, 10 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, sufficient to flatten a city of 2 million inhabitants.

But the real future will be the armed control of space, the new frontier in which millions of dollars are already being invested: the one who controls space will be able to �shoot first and destroy their enemy�, directly launching the bomb that�s suspended in the sky from overhead.

Now, in front of this clear and demented strategy for war, imposed by specific interests... What international agreements would be able to force us to support terrible campaigns like the one in Iraq or like the current one in Afghanistan?

What agreement could be signed in open contradiction of the Non Proliferation Treaty, in open contradiction of the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in open contradiction of all logic and common sense?

If the General is crazy, the soldier can, must disobey. This is one of the greatest virtues of the Human Being.

In many places around the world, in another 60 cities and capitals, in this moment, millions of people of common sense are saying:

War is a disaster

Occupying troops must be withdrawn

Arsenals, and particularly nuclear ones, must be dismantled.

NATO is an offensive organisation that is exposing its member countries to all kinds of reprisals.

The moment has come to ignore governments, industrial groups and lobby groups that propose war and violence as a solution to the difficult problems of a political, social, economic or religious nature.

The moment has come to consider war, as well as other forms of violence as �acts of offence to humanity� and to declare that there will be no peace without social and economic justice.

The moment has come to denounce the sowers of hate who instigate �civilising wars� and a �clash of cultures�.

The moment has come, like in Bolivia, to declare war �unconstitutional�, but above all the moment has come to apply those declarations to political practice and diplomacy, to start in Italy (Art. 11 of the Constitution of 1947)

The moment has arrived to build bridges of direct communication between peoples, learning from dialogue � real dialogue � the codes and languages of diversity.

Bush, Blair, Berlusconi, history will not absolve you; humanity will not forgive you for the wounds inflicted on those bodies... and the mistreatment of the spirit.

And, mercilessly, history will not absolve the Prodis, the D�Alemas and all those others who in a more subtle way and hiding behind ridiculous lies continue their terrible and endless task.

It is no longer enough for them to claim �fear� in order to recover the trust that has been lost, and not only of two MPs (**), but rather the more than half of the people of peace that have sustained you.

The one who sows winds, will reap storms. The one who sows bombs, will reap death and destruction.

We are sowing peace and nonviolence... we will reap better people.

It is the start. We are millions... There is hope!

Giorgio Schultze European Humanist Regional President European Humanist Forum Speaker Rome, 17th March 2007

Bolivia renounces war and asks the international community to disarm

2007-03-06

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Tokyo, 6th Mar (ABI) � The President of the Republic of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma, announced on Tuesday the decision of his country to renounce war and asked the international community to disarm in order to preserve the environment and human life.
The decision was made public in a seminar organized by Jetro and IDB at which more than 200 Japanese entrepreneurs, ambassadors and business leaders of different countries of the world participated.

"In a 45 minute presentation of everything that is happening in the country, President Evo Morales proposed for the first time, the demilitarization of all countries and the renunciation of war by the Bolivian State. This concept of war will be proposed in front of the Constituent Assembly of the country so that in the new constitution the renunciation of war by the Bolivian State can be proposed�, said the governmental spokesman, Alex Contreras.

The spokesman, who is part of the Bolivian delegation, explained that the request is a response to raise consciousness in the world about the need to preserve the environment in order to guarantee human life, as it is confirmed that in many countries, militarization and war activities are prejudicing their development and that of other nations.

Contreras pointed out that Bolivia will be the flag bearer of this international action to raise consciousness in the world for the need of global disarmament to preserve the environment and life, an initiative that was very well received by the more than 200 businessmen, investors, ambassadors and business leaders who participated in the seminar".