Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.
View all posts by CPNN Coordinator →
We begin with this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace. As veteran peace activist Joseph Gerson observes, “the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Nihon Hidankyo is long overdue and could not come at a more important time. . . the U.S. has used its nuclear arsenal in the same way that an armed robber uses his gun when pointed at his victim’s head. Whether or not the trigger is pulled, the gun has been used. Tragically, this is playbook with which the Russian government has been working from with its Ukraine-war nuclear threats.”
The leader of Nihon Hidankyo, Mimaki, echoed these concerns: “It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists. For example, if Russia uses them against Ukraine, Israel against Gaza, it won’t end there. Politicians should know these things.” Mimaki added, “I am not sure I will be alive next year. Please abolish nuclear weapons while we are alive. That is the wish of 114,000 hibakusha.” Nihon Hidankyo represents he hibakusha who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mimaki did not stop there with his remarks. He addressed the genocide of Israel against the Palestinians. ““In Gaza, bleeding children are being held [by their parents]. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago.” He said he had believed “the people working so hard in Gaza” would be awarded the Peace Prize, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was also nominated for the Nobel prize.
The winners of two other prizes this month addressed the Israeli genocide and called for peace.
Han Kang, the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in literature, declined to hold a press conference to celebrate the prize that she was awarded last month. She cited the global tragedies of the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Palestine conflict. ‘With the war intensifying and people being carried out dead every day, how can we have a celebration or a press conference?’
And Arundhati Roy, in accepting the prestigious Pinter Prize awarded by English PEN for literature, dedicated her remarks to the“televised genocide in Gaza and now Lebanon in defence of a colonial occupation and an Apartheid state”
“Describing the fatalities of over 42000 lives including women and children, Roy stated the US and Europe have prepared the ground for another situation to assuage their collective guilt for their early years of indifference towards one genocide—the Nazi extermination of millions of European Jews.
“Hostilities could end right this minute. Israeli hostages could be freed, and Palestinian prisoners could be released. The negotiations with Hamas and the other Palestinian stakeholders that must inevitably follow the war could instead take place now and prevent the suffering of millions of people. . .
“The war that has now begun will be terrible. But it will eventually dismantle Israeli Apartheid. The whole world will be far safer for everyone – including for Jewish people – and far more just. It will be like pulling an arrow from our wounded heart,” the award winning author said, underscoring that the war could stop today if the US government withdrew its support of Israel.
Over half of Russians who support Vladimir Putin are open to peace negotiations with Ukraine according to a survey, independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported on Tuesday (October 22).
People pass a billboard showing a Russian soldier in St. Petersburg.
Photo: EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV
Independent research project Chronicles surveyed a random sample of 800 Russians in September and found that 61% of those who supported Putin were in favour of peace negotiations with mutual concessions and 43% were in favour of restoring relations with the West.
Survey respondents who supported Putin overwhelmingly reported wanting the Kremlin to focus on domestic policy, with 83% stating it should shift its focus to “domestic social and economic issues”, the survey found.
Continued mobilisation proved to be unpopular with Putin’s supporters, with only a quarter of respondents stating that they would like more men to be mobilised for the war in Ukraine.
Those figures were much higher among anti-Putin Russians, according to Chronicles, with 79% in favour of a peace treaty with Ukraine and 90% wanting to restore relations with the West.
However, Putin continues to enjoy popularity among Russians, with the survey revealing 78% support.
In September, Chronicles collaborated with Extreme Scan, a non-profit international association of independent researchers, to reveal that 63% of Russians would support peace negotiations and mutual concessions between Russia and Ukraine in the next year.
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The 16th BRICS Summit saw the leaders adopt the Kazan Declaration: “Strengthening Multilateralism For Just Global Development And Security” on Wednesday (October 23).
(Editor’s note: Click here for the full text of the Kazan Declaration as published by the Kremlin. In case this becomes unavailable, the full text may be found here as published by the government of India. See below for list of countries attending the Summit.)
The leaders reiterated the importance of further enhancing BRICS solidarity and cooperation based on their mutual interests and key priorities and further strengthening our strategic partnership.
Screenshot
They reaffirmed their commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus.
“As we build upon 16 years of BRICS Summits, we further commit ourselves to strengthening cooperation in the expanded BRICS under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial, cultural and people-to-people cooperation and to enhancing our strategic partnership for the benefit of our people through the promotion of peace, a more representative, fairer international order, a reinvigorated and reformed multilateral system, sustainable development and inclusive growth.”
Under the head Need for reform of global institutions, it said:
The Bretton Woods international financial system’s institutions, including the World Trade Organization, should be reformed to better represent developing countries’ interests.
BRICS opposes “unilateral, prohibitive, discriminatory and protectionist” measures taken under the pretext of fighting global climate change, including carbon emissions adjustment mechanisms and taxes.
BRICS supports comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council, to make it more representative, and notes its centrality in the system of relations between nations.
Under New initiatives, it said:
BRICS members recognize the potential of information and communication technologies in bridging the digital divide between nations to aid socio-economic development.
BRICS intends to transform the New Development bank to serve the needs of the 21st century.
BRICS supports the creation of a New Technology Platform to strengthen development cooperation, including by creating high-tech products using domestic technological potential to fuel ” sustainable and inclusive”growth.
The organization agrees to explore the creation of an independent cross-border settlement and depository infrastructure known as BRICS Clear.
BRICS is ready to strengthen cooperation to develop medicines, including vaccines and nuclear medicine projects.
BRICS welcomes the creation a united transport and logistics platform.
The declaration supports Russia’s proposal to create a Grain Exchange to “promote rules-based trade in agricultural products and fertilizers and minimize disruptions.”
The declaration welcomes the expanded use of national currencies for transactions between BRICS members and their trade partners.
The document highlights the importance of expanding cooperation based on common interests and further building up strategic partnerships among BRICS members, and continuing to implement the bloc’s Economic Partnership Strategy.
The bloc welcomes interest shown by countries of the Global South toward BRICS, and calls for greater participation of the least developed nations, especially in Africa, in global processes.
Under Opposing global crises:
The document “condemns”the illegal use of discriminatory and politically motivated sanctions and highlights their negative impact on the world economy.
BRICS is opposed to the deployment of weapons in outer space, and supports strengthening the global non-proliferation and disarmament regimes, and implementing a Security Council resolution on measures to prevent WMDs from falling into the hands of terrorists. It calls for strengthened ties between law enforcement to aid in the fight against narcotics.
Bloc members outlined their positions on the Ukrainian crisis, and took note of proposals for mediation to bring the conflict to a conclusion through negotiations.
BRICS expressed support for Palestine’s full-fledged membership in the UN.
The declaration condemns Israel’s attack on UN employees in Lebanon, and the pager terror attack of September 17.
BRICS welcomes the creation of a Haitian Transitional Presidential Council and electoral council to resolve the crisis plaguing the Caribbean nation.
BRICS expresses concern over the escalating violence and worsening humanitarian situation in Sudan, and called for a ceasefire.
The declaration criticizes the politicization of human rights, and double standards in this area.
It also expressed opposition to all forms of discrimination in sports.
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Editor’s note: A press survey by CPNN found the following participation by countries in the Kazan conference.
Heads of state came from 27 countries representing almost half of the world’s economy. Chief among them were the heads of state from the five original BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The President of Brazil spoke by videoconference and was represented in person by the foreign minister. Heads of state also came from all of the BRICS members added last year, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and United Arab Emirates.
The summit decided to invite an additional 13 countries as “partner states”. Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Vietnam sent their head of state to Kazan. Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were represented by their foreign minister, or in the case of Malaysia, the minister of the economy. Only Nigeria, and Uganda were not present.
Eleven other countries sent their heads of state: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mauritania, Mongolia, Palestine, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
To complete the list of the 37 countries at Kazan, four were represented at the ministerial level: Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Serbia.
And to complete the list of the 41 dignitaries in the group photograph, there was the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, the head of the New Development Bank, Dilma Rousseff, the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Chair of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
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The development of peace education in Colombia is shaped by the complex history of armed conflict, internal displacements, and the ongoing efforts to construct a lasting and inclusive peace. Targeted efforts addressing its challenges have resulted in Colombia emerging as a global leader in peace education.
Training for young volunteers at the University of Toloma. Ibagué, Toloma. November 2019. (Photo: Schools of Peace Foundation archive)
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played and continue to play a significant role in strengthening peace education in Colombia, with their active engagement at the local level, collaboration with communities, and creation of resources for effective programs. Furthermore, a key aspect of peace education in Colombia is its local approach, with programs and initiatives tailored to meet the needs of local communities. . . .
One of the primary formal initiatives for peace education in Colombia is “La Cátedra de Paz,” which aims to create and consolidate a space for learning, reflection and dialogue on the culture of peace and sustainable development that contributes to the general well-being and improvement of the quality of life of the population, established by Law 1732 of 2014, and regulated by decree 1038 of 2015. . . . .
Non-formal peace education efforts in Colombia are led by numerous NGOs that engage directly or indirectly in peace education through educational programs, teacher training, community initiatives, and extensive research. They have a great impact in strengthening institutional commitments to peacebuilding, often acting as intermediaries between the government sector and educational institutions, as well as mobilizing other actors who are not formally linked to the educational sector.
Social organizations actively support the documentation of experiences and insights, contributing to a deeper understanding of the methods and underlying reasons that make peace and human rights integral to the educational sector. . . .
In Colombia a territorial approach to peace education has been one of the major trends that have emerged in the country. . . . The territorial approach has been implemented using various strategies, often leveraging local resources and asking teachers and communities to analyse the conflict dynamics in their specific settings. This ranges from initiatives to prevent recruitment into criminal gangs and improve economic conditions to initiatives that focus on strengthening local communities and conflict resolution.
The UN Women Leaders Network was launched this week on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly. It is UN Women’s first permanent network of its kind, composed of intergenerational and intersectional women leaders, and its members represent the change needed in the traditional image of leadership today.
The network includes both emerging and more established leaders across ages, regions, and professions. The network will work together to promote the increase and advancement of women in leadership and decision-making spaces worldwide, and functions as a platform to a diverse group of women leaders to discuss and exchange ideas, solutions and experiences as leaders, community-builders and decision-makers.
Chaired by the Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Sami Bahous, and created in partnership with the Government of Iceland, the UN Foundation, and the Council of Women World Leaders, the network will operate in support of UN Women’s work on women’s leadership. As the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action approaches in 2025, and world leaders are being called on to recommit to gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment, the network will serve as champions for diversity in leadership.
Amanda Nguyen, CEO and Founder, Rise;
Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of Mauritius (2015 – 2018);
Aya Chebbi, Former African Union Special Envoy on Youth and
Founder of Nala Feminist Collective;
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank;
Hibaaq Osman, Founder and Chairperson, ThinkTank for Arab Women,
the Dignity Fund, Karama and the Centre for the Strategic Initiatives of Women;
Janet Mbugua, Author, Advocate and Founder, Inua Dada Foundation;
Joyce Banda, President of Malawi (2012 – 2014);
Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia (2010 – 2013);
Julieta Martinez, Climate Justice and Gender Equality Youth Activist;
Kathleen Hanna, Musician, Author and Feminist Activist;
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Civil Rights Advocate, Scholar and Co-Founder
and Executive Director, African American Policy Forum;
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 2011;
Melanne Verveer, Executive Director, Georgetown Institute of
Women, Peace and Security, GeorgetownUniversity;
Roxane Gay, Author, Professor and Advocate;
Tarja Halonen, President of Finland (2000 – 2012).
Once fully mobilized, the network will consist of a group of 100 women leaders.
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Calling for peace in war zones around the world and an end to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, a grassroots group organized by survivors of the United States’ atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
Nihon Hidankyo was established in 1956 after a number of local organizations of hibakusha, the Japanese name for “bomb-affected people,” joined together.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, the group’s leader, was three years old when the U.S. killed 100,000 people in Hiroshima with a nuclear weapon, and his message after learning Nihon Hidankyo was the 2024 Peace Prize winner was straightforward.
“I am not sure I will be alive next year,” said Mimaki, 82. “Please abolish nuclear weapons while we are alive. That is the wish of 114,000 hibakusha.”
Mimaki focused not only on the plight of the estimated 650,000 Japanese people who survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks, but also people—particularly children—facing war now.
“It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists,” said Mimaki. “For example, if Russia uses them against Ukraine, Israel against Gaza, it won’t end there. Politicians should know these things.”
“In Gaza, bleeding children are being held [by their parents],” he added. “It’s like in Japan 80 years ago.”
Mimaki said he had believed “the people working so hard in Gaza” would be awarded the Peace Prize, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was also nominated.
The U.N. agency has struggled to continue providing humanitarian services to Palestinians in Gaza this year after unverified claims by Israel that 12 UNRWA workers were involved in a Hamas-led attack last year prompted countries including the U.S. to suspend its funding. A majority of countries—but not the U.S., the agency’s biggest donor—have restored funding after an independent probe found Israel had not provided evidence for its accusations.
Kazumi Matsui, the mayor of Hiroshima, said that with the average age of hibakusha now 85, “there are fewer and fewer people able to testify to the meaninglessness of possessing atomic bombs and their absolute evil.”
“People in coming generations must know that what happened is not just a tragedy for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but one that concerns all humanity that must not be repeated,” said Matsui.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its efforts to ensure countries comply with the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, applauded the Nobel Committee for recognizing Nihon Hidankyo’s “lifelong work to bring the world’s attention to what nuclear weapons actually do to people when they are used.”
Several years after the nuclear bombings, rates of leukemia diagnoses rose considerably in Japan among survivors. After a decade, other cancers were also detected at higher-than-normal rates. Pregnant women who were exposed to radiation from the bombings also had higher rates of miscarriage and their infants were more likely to die.
Cancer rates have continued to increase among hibakusha throughout their lives.
“It is particularly significant that this award comes at this time when the risk that nuclear weapons will be used again is as high, if not higher, as it has ever been,” said Melissa Parke, executive director of ICAN.
As Nihon Hidankyo was honored “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again,” the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced it would be holding its annual nuclear exercise, “Steadfast Noon,” on October 14 over Western Europe.
On “Democracy Now!” on Friday, Joseph Gerson, president of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security, said the award “could not come at a better time.” [See CPNN ]
“What most people don’t understand is the increasing danger of nuclear war at this point,” said Gerson. “Among all the nuclear powers, the threshold for nuclear use is decreasing, and all the nuclear powers are in the process of so-called ‘modernizing’ their nuclear arsenals. This is a very dangerous moment.”
“We must, as the hibakusha say, recognize that human beings and nuclear weapons cannot coexist,” Gerson added, “and we have to work for their abolition.”
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“They fight on because they know that one day—From the river to the sea Palestine will be Free. It will. Keep your eye on your calendar. Not on your clock. That’s how the people – not the generals – the people fighting for their liberation measure time,” asserts Arundhati Roy, the noted Indian author and activist, during her PEN Pinter Prize acceptance speech delivered on October 10 at the British Library.
After announcing her name for the prize that English PEN established as an annual award in honor of playwright Harold Pinter, Roy declared her share of the prize money will be donated to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
During her award acceptance speech after he thanked the members of English PEN and the jury for the Prize, Roy began by greeting Egyptian author and activist, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, writer of courage, and her fellow awardee. She said she was speaking of her friends and comrades in prison in India—lawyers, academics, students, journalists – Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Khalid Saifi, Sharjeel Imam, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut we well as thousands of incarcerated people in Kashmir and across the country.
Speaking about the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, the Indian author said the US and Israel unflinching ongoing “televised genocide in Gaza and now Lebanon in defence of a colonial occupation and an Apartheid state”
Describing the fatalities of over 42000 lives including women and children, Roy stated the US and Europe have prepared the ground for another situation to assuage their collective guilt for their early years of indifference towards one genocide—the Nazi extermination of millions of European Jews.
“Hostilities could end right this minute. Israeli hostages could be freed, and Palestinian prisoners could be released. The negotiations with Hamas and the other Palestinian stakeholders that must inevitably follow the war could instead take place now and prevent the suffering of millions of people,” she affirmed.
The Indian author goes on saying that like every state that has carried out ethnic cleansing and genocide in history, “Zionists in Israel – who believe themselves to be “the chosen people”—began b by dehumanising Palestinians” before driving them off their land and murdering them.
Roy quoted statements of former Israeli ministers to show how the Jewish state treated Palestinians as a justification to dehumanise them. Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin called Palestinians ‘two-legged beasts’. Yitzhak Rabin called them ‘grasshoppers’ who ‘could be crushed’. Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel said ‘There was no such thing as Palestinians’.
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the so-called famous warrior against fascism, said, ‘I do not admit that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger, even though he may have lain there for a very long time’ and then went on to declare that a ‘higher race’ had the final right to the manger. Once those two-legged beasts, grasshoppers, dogs and non-existent people were murdered, ethnically cleansed, and ghettoised, a new country was born, Roy said, quoting the zionists and their supporters
Roy went on how the West and their media support, arm, applaud Israel, despite floods of evidence for Israeli brutalities. “No wonder Israeli soldiers seem to have lost all sense of decency,” she says, adding that for them the history only began when the Hamas attack Israel on October 7, killing Israeli civilians, triggering the ongoing genocidal war.
“I refuse to play the condemnation game. Let me make myself clear. I do not tell oppressed people how to resist their oppression or who their allies should be,” Roy says. Noting that when US President Joe Biden met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet during a visit to Israel in October 2023, he said, ‘I don’t believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist,’ Roy says she is not going to declare myself or define myself in any way that is narrower than her writing.
The celebrated Indian writer then poses some questions; I ask you, which of us sitting in this hall would willingly submit to the indignity that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have been subjected to for decades? What peaceful means have the Palestinian people not tried? What compromise have they not accepted—other than the one that requires them to crawl on their knees and eat dirt?
Roy then asserts Israel is not fighting a war of self-defence. “It is fighting a war of aggression. A war to occupy more territory, to strengthen its Apartheid apparatus and tighten its control on Palestinian people and the region.”
Roy says not all the power and money, weapons and propaganda on earth can any longer hide the wound that is Palestine. She notes the polls to shows that majority of the citizens in the countries whose governments enable the Israeli genocide have made it clear that they do not agree with their government’s support to the Zionist atrocities, including a younger generation of Jews. She cites increasing number of protest in the Europe against Israeli aggression in Gaza.
“The war that has now begun will be terrible. But it will eventually dismantle Israeli Apartheid. The whole world will be far safer for everyone – including for Jewish people – and far more just. It will be like pulling an arrow from our wounded heart,” the award winning author said, underscoring that the war could stop today if the US government withdrew its support of Israel.
“When Benjamin Netanyahu holds up a map of the Middle East in which Palestine has been erased and Israel stretches from the river to the sea, he is applauded as a visionary who is working to realize the dream of a Jewish homeland. But when Palestinians and their supporters chant ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, they are accused of explicitly calling for the genocide of Jews,” Roy said.
The PEN Prize awardee concluded her speech expressing her conviction that From the river to the sea Palestine will be Free.
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Han Kang, the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in literature, has declined to hold a press conference, citing the global tragedies of the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Han Kang, the Korean recipient of 2024 Nobel Literature Prize.
The Atlantic
Her father, the renowned novelist Han Seung-won, 85, conveyed her message during a press conference at the Han Seung-won Literary School in Jangheung, South Jeolla Province.
“(Han Kang) told me, ‘With the war intensifying and people being carried out dead every day, how can we have a celebration or a press conference?’ She said she won’t hold a press conference,” he said.
After the Nobel Prize in literature was announced on Thursday evening, Han Seung-won spoke with his daughter and advised her to select a publishing house to hold a press conference.
Initially, she agreed, saying she would “give it a try,” but changed her mind overnight.
“Her perspective has shifted from being a writer living in Korea to a global (writer’s) consciousness. I, however, could not shake off the feeling of being the father of a prizewinner living in Korea, so I ended up arranging this press conference,” he said.
Han Kang also discouraged her father from holding a celebratory banquet at the literary school.
Her father said, “I was planning to throw a party here for the local people, but my daughter told me not to do it. She said, ‘Please don’t celebrate while witnessing these tragic events (referring to the two wars). The Swedish Academy didn’t give me this award for us to enjoy, but to stay more clear-headed.’ After hearing that, I was deeply troubled.”
After receiving news of her award in a phone call with the Nobel committee on Thursday, Han Kang expressed that she was “very surprised and honored,” but has not made any further statements.
Multiple publishing houses, including Changbi Publishers, which published her notable novels “Human Acts” (2014) and “The Vegetarian” (2007), and Munhakdongne Publishing, which published her poetry collection and novel “The Wind Is Blowing” (2010), had suggested holding a press conference, but as of Friday afternoon, she had not responded.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.
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An article by Olivier Turquet on the website of The World March
The Colegio Jesús de Urquiaga I.A.P. in Mexico City joined the Third World March for Peace and Nonviolence (The 3MM). They showed their support by holding two ceremonies dedicated to Peace and Nonviolence in which the entire educational community participated (500 primary and preschool students and 200 secondary and high school students).
The two ceremonies were very emotional ceremonies as the need to unite voices was discussed, not only to denounce injustices, the horrors of war and violence, but to show the positive actions of the community to ensure that the new generations live in a world of peace and harmony. The importance of exalting values such as respect and tolerance to build a culture of peace and non-violence that guarantees unity among peoples was also discussed.
In addition to the heartfelt words of the students, human symbols of Peace and Non-violence were formed. A poetic performance about the tragedy that individuals experience in violence and revenge was symbolized by a human chain. There was also a song for Peace (Imagine by John Lennon) and a joyful and hopeful dance performance called the human conquest of peace. which The activities join in spirit the start of the March on October 2 in San José, Costa Rica, the international day of non-violence and the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
It is worth noting that in addition to the ceremonies, a graphic exhibition prepared by the students themselves was held, showing the types of violence, raising awareness about the normalization of violence; an original recipe book for peace and inspiring phrases about building a culture of peace and non-violence.
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An article by Laura Lucía Romero Mireles in Gaceta UNAM (translation by CPNN)
For peace, the great challenge is to transform the current culture of violence into one of dialogue, understanding and solidarity, characterized by respect for life and the dignity of people, social harmony founded on the principles of freedom, justice, democracy and solidarity, and rejection of all forms of violence,. This is the conclusion of the first session of the VI Virtual Forum Agenda 2030, libraries as drivers of a peaceful and sustainable future.
The keynote address was delivered by Ana Dolores Barrero Tiscar, director of the Culture of Peace Foundation in Spain. She said that developing a culture of peace is the only way to address the complexity of current needs and insecurities. However, carrying out this transformation is not an easy task, because violence has existed since the beginning of humanity; it is learned, socially constructed throughout history.
In her address, she mentioned that the United Nations Agenda 2030, in its 17 sustainable development goals and its 169 targets – which aim to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all people – recognizes the transversal and multidimensional scope of the culture of peace.
At the opening ceremony, Verónica Elena Solares Rojas, deputy director of Education, Training and Updating for Sustainability of the University Coordination for Sustainability, representing Tamara Martínez Ruiz, secretary of Institutional Development, highlighted that libraries are key players in building an environmental, peace-building, informed and proactive citizenry, by providing access to scientific, humanistic, reliable and quality knowledge.
More and more higher education institutions and spaces for the dissemination of knowledge around the world are recognizing their central role in the transition towards sustainability, she added at the meeting held from September 25 to 27.
UNAM, in its Institutional Development Plan, proposes sustainability as a cross-cutting axis for its substantive tasks. “Education strategies cannot be carried out without the existing material resources that are in the library collections; thus, from the Coordination we seek to strengthen education for sustainability at all levels.”
Elsa Margarita Ramírez Leyva, general director of Libraries and Digital Information Services, described these facilities as living centers where learning, innovation, creativity, recreation, and enjoyment coexist, and which until now have been places of peace and harmony.
In this Directorate and the 140 libraries that make up the UNAM library and information system, she added, they have long been contributing to sustainable development through different actions. An example of this is that they all facilitate efficient and broad access to physical and digital collections, and open access resources, which also benefits other communities.
Rocío Cázares Aguilar, head of the Acquisitions Department of the National Library of Mexico, explained that for some years now this agency has had an annual program of donation of bibliographic materials to the Eastern Preventive Men’s Prison, and it has been very successful.
“We have received comments from inmates commenting on how their lives have changed by being sent stimulating materials of interest, of a legal or literary nature, which encourages us to continue sowing those seeds of peace among those citizens who also have the right to the information and recreation that libraries can offer.”
The coordinator of the Graduate Program in Library Science and Information Studies, Lina Escalona Ríos, commented that from the library education “we reflect on what we have done for the training of professionals, teachers and doctors, who must contribute to the achievement of the objectives of peace and sustainability.”
For his part, Gerardo Zavala Sánchez, coordinator of the College of Library Science and Archives, of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, stressed that the education of librarians in training is relevant at this historical moment, and it is necessary to have a comprehensive vision in the quality study plans and programs, where respect and harmony between society and the planet must be paramount.
Máximo Román Domínguez López, president of the National College of Librarians, highlighted the commitment to society to rebuild the social fabric with the active participation of librarians, and how libraries can be agents of peace in a country where violence prevails.
Finally, Daniel Jorge Sanabria Barrios, president of the National College of Librarians, highlighted the commitment to society to rebuild the social fabric with the active participation of librarians, and how libraries can be agents of peace in a country where violence prevails.
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