X World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates: ‘Doing the Impossible'
| Photo: Miguel Angel Invarato | Pressenza Berl�n, 10-11-2009 Following by one day the celebrations for the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 10th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates took center stage today in the German capital. The event, under the theme “Breaking Down New Walls for a World Without Violence,” reunited Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, F.W. De Klerk, Mairead Maguire, and Muhammad Yunus, among the Nobel laureates. During the first day's plenary session, the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, took the opportunity to emphasize not only the many achievements reached in the world since the fall of the wall, but also the changes that remain to be made. Continuing this theme, Gorbachev, President of the Summit, referred to an “invisible wall” that still separates Europe and Russia. “We are part of a greater, united Europe,” he stressed. “But there still remains a fear of Russia. This must change. “ Gorbachev also said that after the fall of the wall, the West believed that it was victorious and did not need to change. “That illusion, that mistake was very costly for all of us.” “It is difficult to construct a world based on half truths,” said Walesa, the former president of Poland and leader of the Solidarity Movement, which contributed to the fall of Socialist rule. “We need new guides to help us find the truth. - More - |
The Nobel Peace Laureates Summit and Silo: «For a non-violent world»
| Photo: Miguel Angel Invarato | Pressenza Berlin, 2009-11-11 Silo, the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, today addressed the 10th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, which was held in Berlin in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Silo‘s talk, “The Meaning of Peace and Nonviolence in the Present Moment,” spoke to the possibility of constructing a Universal Human Nation founded upon a culture of active nonviolence. He was introduced by Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her mediation work between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Silo described the present situation in the world as “extremely complex,” characterized by a growing nuclear threat, a resurgent arms race, widespread poverty and the clash of cultures, and a crisis of the international financial system. In his view, these are not isolated crises, however, “but rather a picture that reveals the global failure of a system whose method of action is violence and whose central value is money.” In particular, Silo denounced the irresponsible interests of the world's nuclear powers and the madness of violent groups with possible access to nuclear weapons, which have put the entire planet at risk of an accident or confrontation of disastrous proportions. - More - • Video Silo´s intervention with english subtitles (High Quality – 30 sec) |
The Meaning of Peace and Nonviolence in the Present Moment.
Silo, Berl�n 11/11/2009
" A march is crossing the world. The March for Peace and Nonviolence.
It is as the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March that I would like to speak briefly to the forum. The March has galvanized numerous initiatives and activities, such as the symbolic journey of a team of enthusiasts who, having begun on October 2nd in Wellington, New Zealand, are traveling for three months through a number of countries until the conclusion on January 2nd, 2010 at the foot of Mount Aconcagua in Punta de Vacas, midway between Argentina and Chile..."
• Full transcripts of the intervention of Silo
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