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Network of Foundations and Research Institutions for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace in Africa
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News
CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) newsletter of August 1, 2023
NEWS FROM THE PALESTINE ISRAEL CONFLICT
“Israel’s military occupation has morphed the entire occupied Palestinian territory into an open-air prison, where Palestinians are constantly confined, surveilled and disciplined.” This is the conclusion of the latest report to the United Nations by its Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory.
The report “finds that since 1967, over 800,000 Palestinians, including children as young as 12, have been arrested and detained under authoritarian rules enacted, enforced and adjudicated by the Israeli military. Palestinians are subject to long detention for expressing opinions, gathering, pronouncing unauthorised political speeches, or even merely attempting to do so, and ultimately deprived of their status of protected civilians. They are often presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial and brutalised in Israeli custody.”
CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) newsletter of July 1, 2023
The Peacemakers
Little has changed since our bulletin of February 17 in which we quoted authorities saying that with the war in Ukraine we are “sleepwalking to Armageddon. This month, Anthony Blinken, the American cabinet minister responsible for foreign affairs, CIA, etc., insisted that the war should be continued because a ceasefire “would legitimize Russia’s land grab. It would reward the aggressor and punish the victim.” Continue reading→
CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) newsletter of July 1, 2023
THE PEACEMAKERS
Little has changed since our bulletin of February 17 in which we quoted authorities saying that with the war in Ukraine we are “sleepwalking to Armageddon. This month, Anthony Blinken, the American cabinet minister responsible for foreign affairs, CIA, etc., insisted that the war should be continued because a ceasefire “would legitimize Russia’s land grab. It would reward the aggressor and punish the victim.”
CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) newsletter of June 1, 2023
To begin the year 2023, we said that one bright spot for the preceding year was the advance of the culture of peace in Latin America and Africa.
Now, as we enter the second half of 2023, we see that this continues; the culture of peace continues to advance on these continents (see discussion : “Latin America, has it taken the lead in the struggle for a culture of peace?”).
We begin on the highest level, the meeting of the G7 countries. While the countries of Europe, North America and Japan continue to promote the culture of war, it was the newly-elected President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who addressed the meeting with a message of the culture of peace. It was Lula a few months earlier, who refused the demands of the United States to contribute to the war in Ukraine, saying that “Brazil Is a Country of Peace.”
Not just words, but actions for a culture of peace mark the first few months of the new administration in Brazil.
With the potential for a major change on the global level, the first event of President Lula da Silva’s visit to China in April was the official swearing-in ceremony of Dilma Rousseff as president of the New Development Bank. The bank is seen as an alternative to the financial hegemony of Washington and Brussels, since it may finance development projects in local currencies instead of dollars. Rousseff, is also a former President of Brazil.
In a meeting with representatives of indigenous peoples, President Lula signed decrees demarcating six new territories for indigenous peoples, the first since 2018 and one of them in a vast territory in the Amazon.
Following a massacre of children at a day care center, the Minister of Justice announced a major national mobilization in favor of a culture of peace, including an inter-ministerial working group to prevent and confront violence in schools.
Along with Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Peru, Brazil has signed on to a “Declaration for a Culture of Peace and Democracy and for Combating Expressions and Hate Speech” that will lead to a guidelines to be used internally by the signatory countries.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Mexico and Colombia continue to promote a culture of peace.
In Mexico, the city of León will host the First Ibero-American Meeting of Voices for Peace and the First Ibero-American Meeting of Journalism for Peace, to take place from June 1 to 3. The General Coordinator of State Social Communications stressed that Guanajuato will become the epicenter of the culture of peace in Mexico and Latin America (see discussion: “Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?”)
In Colombia, nine months into new efforts by Colombia’s administration to achieve “total peace” with remaining armed groups following decades of civil war, a network of 140 civic and community organizations is working to end violence. Quoting an activist from this network: “To advance peace, the government will need broad support from both Colombia’s grass roots and its international partners. A top priority in coming months needs to be a national process of dialogues among Colombia’s thousands of community-level civil society organizations.” (See discussion: “What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?”)
Meanwhile, in Africa, it is the women who are taking the leadership for a culture of peace. (See discussion:”Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?”)
In Kenya, women from Turkana, West Pokot and Marakwet communities have kicked-off talks with their Ethiopian and Ugandan counterparts to take leading roles in the restoration of peace in the North.
In Abuja, the African First Ladies Peace Mission was addressed by Nigeria’s first lady, Aisha Buhari, who emphasised the significance of women’s role in conflict resolution: “As women leaders and mothers, our role in peace and security is to continue to say no to the culture and structures of violence.”
And in Luanda, the Angolan vice-president, Esperança da Costa, opened the 1st International Women’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, to reaffirm and strengthen political commitment to action on gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and their human rights, ensuring high-level engagement. The forum is part of the Luanda Biennial – Pan-African Forum for the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, which is a joint initiative between the Government of Angola, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) and the African Union (AU) (see discussion, “The Luanda Biennale: What is its contribution to a culture of peace in Africa?”)
While most of these initiatives are initiated and supported by the national governments of Latin America and Africa, in the long run, the most important is the development of grass-roots and civil society, as described above for Colombia and Kenya. This is especially true for Brazil as described in a recent blog from the CPNN representative in that country. As expressed in the Constitution of UNESCO: “a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world, and . . . peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.”
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Brazil President Lula’s speech to the G7 |
TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY Brazil signs in Buenos Aires declaration to combat hate speech on the internet |
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT United Nations: Guterres urges countries to recommit to achieving SDGs by 2030 deadline
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation of Central Asia |
WOMEN’S EQUALITY Angola Debates The Women’s Role In Building Peace And Democracy |
EDUCATION FOR PEACE World Movement of Poetry: for the Culture of Peace |
HUMAN RIGHTS The Washington Consensus Supporting Sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela Is Breaking |
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Mayors for Culture of Peace |
The Network Meetings
Links
FESA-UNESCO International Conference, December 12-13, 2016, Luena, Angola
Third Meeting of the Network September 11-12, 2015 in Soyo, Angola
Second Meeting of the Network, from September 21 to 24, 2014 in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire
Network Creation Meeting on September 20, 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Text Resources
- Call for Papers HARIS 2 JUNE 2021
- Report of the 5th Meeting of Members of the Network held on 21 September 2019 in Angola on the sidelines of the Luanda 2019 Biennale for the Culture of Peace
- Activity Report 2019
- Program of the Luanda Biennale
- DRC the six-day war in Kisangani
- Insecurity in the Masisi in Eastern DR Congo
- General Report of the Houphouet Boigny Foundation International Conference, October 20, 2018
- RAPPORT FINAL DE LA CONFERENCE FESA-UNESCO SUR LE THEME "PREVENTION DES VIOLENCES ET PROMOTION DE LA CULTURE DE LA PAIX EN PERIODE ELECTORALE EN AFRIQUE" LES 12 ET 13 DECEMBRE 2016 A LUENA EN ANGOLA
- BULLETIN DE L’UNION AFRICAINE (UA) ET DE LA CORNE DE L’AFRIQUE (HOA) du 1er juin au 31 Août 2017
- LES STATUTS DU RÉSEAU
- RAPPORT D'ACTIVITÉS 2014 - 2015 DU RÉSEAU
- RAPPORT D'ACTIVITÉS 2015 - 2016 DU RÉSEAU
Welcoming Remarks
You are welcome to visit the website of the Network of Foundations and Research Institutions for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace in Africa.
The Network was created at the end of the Addis Ababa meeting on September 20 and 21, 2013 with a view to "creating a continental and sustainable peace movement capable of mobilizing African States, the private sector, African artists and leaders, international organizations and regional development actors as well as NGOs and grassroots associations". It is currently composed of 44 African and non-African organizations listed here.
You will find on our website articles, publications, photos and videos concerning the promotion of the Culture of Peace on the African continent. We also keep you informed about upcoming events.