Europe

Obama attempted to justify his concepts of “just war” and “just peace” in a tense speech that veered between the idea that “war is sometimes necessary” and the idea that “war is an expression of human error”; between his ideals of non-violence inspired by Luther King and his role as Commander in Chief of a country whose army is currently embroiled in two wars.

In response to a question by SF Dail Deputy Caoimhghin O Caolain, the Minister for Defence Mr. Willie O’Dea TD admitted that the annual cost to the Irish people to have 7 Irish soldiers taking part in the war and occupation of Afghanistan was €270,000.
Roger Cole, Chair of Peace and Neutrality Alliance, responds to him here.

Over the next two weeks, 100 world leaders are expected to attend the UN conference that has been described by some scientists as the most important the world has ever seen. In the opening of Sunday: the mayor of Copenhagen, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The results of Swiss federal Referendums are, for the humanists of Switzerland, a black Sunday. It is not only a victory for the Swiss Peoples Party that promoted the prohibition of minarets, also fear
and ignorance have won. This is no positive credit, neither for
democracy nor for the Swiss population. Humanists are outraged and surprised.

On his stop in Spain, Bolivia’s Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca, asked for the vote of Bolivians residing there. He listed before the press the domestic accomplishments achieved by the government of Evo and the improvements for Bolivians living abroad. Regarding the future, he made clear the next big challenge for the coming years: the industrialization of the country.

More than a dozen organizations and nonviolent groups have participated to the World March round table in Sarajevo on November 4. At the end of the meeting all of them have subscribed a Declaration about peace and nonviolence, stating that war doesn’t start in the battlefield and doesn’t end with peace agreements. Its beginning and its end are in the heads of the people.

The three-day World Summit on Food Security ended today after committing the international community to investing more in agriculture and to eradicating hunger at the earliest date. FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, who hosted the event, said the Summit marked “an important step towards the achievement of our common objective – a world free from hunger”.

The former Bolivian Minister of Education, Magdalena Cajías, joined the World March Base Team in Madrid, which is currently travelling through Morocco. She stated that “the endeavour to eradicate any kind of violence is not individual but collective and requires a common effort”, and she continued: “many people will be able to hear the message of Peace and non-violence”.

The Peace Torch will be outside the public entrance at Holyrood from 13:00 hours, Tuesday 17th November. SNP MSP Bill Kidd has joined Minister for Parliament Bruce Crawford to welcome the World March for Peace and Nonviolence to the Scottish Parliament today, as the peace torch arrived at the Parliament at 13:00 hours.

The World March for Peace and Non-Violence base team was festively greeted by local organising teams at the Barcelona airport. Later, a delegation participated in various receptions held in Barcelona’s City Hall, the Generalitat (Catalonia’s autonomous government), and the Parliament of Catalonia. The Charter for a World without violence was given to Catalonian authorities.