International

“The present technological era has meant an impoverishment of the relationship of human beings with nature”. This is one of the conclusions of the report “Harmony with Nature” that United Nations General Secretary will present to the General Assembly as a Bolivian initiative, that counts with the sponsorship of other 61 countries.

Last month experts published a series of studies indicating that, contrary to previous conclusions, the animal populations are decreasing in the exclusion zone which surrounds the site where the former Soviet nuclear plant functioned, and that the effects of the radioactive contamination following the explosion have been “overwhelming”.

Alicia, Pasqual and Albert were kidnapped by Al Qaeda in Southern Mauritania on the 29th of November 2009. They were travelling in the Solidarity Caravan, organised by the Barcelona Solidarity Action association, transporting support material for projects which are being carried out by 36 Catalan associations in Morocco, Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal. They were freed today.

On 19th August, the last US army combat brigade left Iraq. It was 1:30 on Thursday when soldiers from the Fourth Stryker Brigade of the Second Infantry Division crossed the border with Kuwait. There were 56 thousand soldiers still on Iraqi territory for “stabilisation” tasks, such as training Iraqi armed forces and police.

From the 17th to the 20th of August the XVI São Paulo Forum Meeting, created in 1990 took place in the City of Buenos Aires. Political parties, organizations and representatives from 18 countries in the region participated in the event. Overthrown Honduran President, Manuel Zelaya was present. The Humanist Party from Argentina participated in all workshops.

After a week of negotiations, the main conclusions of the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Right of Mother Earth (Cochabamba, April 2010) have been incorporated in the document of United Nations on Climate Change, that now have been recognized as a negotiation text for the 192 countries which has been congregated in Bonn, during the first week august of 2010.

Almost 1500 assistants gathered last Saturday in 20 Parks of Study and Reflection in America, Asia and Europe. Young people, elderly people, women, men, students, workers, and a variety of customs, ethnic backgrounds and cultures joined together to take part in a meeting where the collective understanding was the distinctive feature of the day.

A new process of preparatory work for the Disciplines, an internal process of transformation giving access the Profound spaces of the Mind, begins in the Parks of Study and Reflection on Saturday August 14th. In 20 parks across America, Europe and Asia, thousands of people will attend to begin the work of the Siloist School.

The Chilean humanist Tomás Hirsch presented the book “Parks of Study and Reflection, Beacons of the New Spiritual Horizon of Humanity”. He informed about these places of inspiration for a new spirituality. The conference took place at the Book Fair in San Lorenzo, organized by members of the Carcarañá Park of Study and Reflection, near the city of Rosario, Argentina.

Bradley Manning, 22-year-old US soldier posted to Iraq in the military intelligence service, shall be tried – and, of course, sentenced- by a war council that the high command of his own Army will preside over. His crime is to have spread true but secret information on the US wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan.