Region

2 days before the NPT conference begins in New York, UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon addresses the anti-nuclear movement in a conference, “For a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World”. He talks of his shared view of a world free of Nuclear weapons and says, “The time for change is now”. A delegation of World without Wars travels to New York in support.

The Frente Nacional de Prefeitos (FNP) joined Mayors for Peace during their General Meeting held in Florianopolis, south of Brazil, on April 26 and 27th. In the motion adopted by the FNP the Brazilian Association of Local Governments encourages its members to join individually. During the conference 29 Brazilian Mayors were welcomed as new members.

The traditional knowledge and practices of about 370 million indigenous peoples in 90 countries around the world are increasingly being recognized as vital for conservation of nature and efforts to combat and adapt to climate change.
Ban Ki Moon called on “governments, indigenous peoples and UN to ensure that the Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples becomes a reality”.

The leader of the Colombian Green Party, Antanas Mockus, reached a technical tie in popularity rating with his most dangerous rival in the presidential race, and stated his goal is to win in first electoral round. A poll by the National Consultancy Center and CM News revealed that Mockus has climbed considerably in voting intentions.

Call it perfect timing or a sheer historical coincidence; be it because they feel caught between the Israeli nuclear hammer and the Iranian might-be atomic anvil or just because they truly want it, the fact is that the leaders of 22 Arab countries have launched an unprecedented massive and pressing call to free the world from nuclear weapons.

Here in this small Andean nation of 10 million people, the glaciers are melting, threatening the water supply of the largest urban area in the country, El Alto and La Paz, with 3.5 million people living at altitudes over 10,000 feet. I flew from El Alto International, the world’s highest commercial airport, to the city of Cochabamba.

We have been talking to Hugo Novotny about the Parks of Study and Reflection and what is being lived in them by those who do the work of levelling, as well as those who develop a process in one of the four disciplines: the material discipline, the energetic discipline, the mental discipline and morphological discipline.

Peace Boat’s Global Voyage will be setting sail from the port of Yokohama on April 16 (Fri) on the third Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World, in which ten Hibakusha will (atomic bomb survivors) will participate. During the 101 day journey until July 25, they will be visiting 22 ports in 20 countries, giving testimonies of their experiences.

“If we talk about deactivating something that has already expired, it makes no sense. I have a medicine cabinet at home from which I remove expired medicines. Unless we talk seriously about disarmament we cannot accept that there are countries that are armed to the teeth and others that are unarmed”, said the President of Brazil regarding the new USA and Russia agreement.

Now that nuclear arsenals reduction is much in the news, the US and Russia have agreed to downsize their stockpiles by 30% and 22 Arab countries called for a nuke-free world, it’s time to ask how many countries have decided to eliminate the threat of a devastating nuclear war and consequently managed to liberate themselves from the most atrocious weapons of mass destruction.