Culture and Media

I had the honor to participate in the X Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin 10-11 November. The Summit, entitled “Breaking down new walls and building bridges to ensure a World of Human Rights and a World without violence” brought together Nobel laureates who have made a significant contribution in breaking down the walls of conflict, poverty and human rights violations.

International music legend Annie Lennox will be presented with the Woman of Peace Award by former Soviet President and 1990 Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev at the 10th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates meeting in Berlin Nov.10 and 11. Lennox was chosen by 22 Nobel Peace Laureates for her work in raising awareness of the HIV/AIDS impact on women and children.

The artists will cover a 1,000 meter long wall, located in Santiago de Chile, with graphics on the themes of peace, nonviolence, and nuclear disarmament. Something never seen before!… The current Guinness record, set in 2007 for a 700 meter long wall created in Spain, is not even remotely the principal motivation for the participants, but it will be broken.

Yesterday, November 11, a celebratory and colourful parade made its way through Florence together with the marchers for Peace and Nonviolence. At least 5000 people from all over Tuscany snaked through the streets of the centre of Florence to accompany the marchers, who were making a stop in the Tuscan regional capital.

Yesterday a delegation of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence reached Torino to be extremely warmly welcomed by 1600 people gathered in the Regio Theatre where an internationally renowned classical concert was held. Earlier in Novara the marchers endorsed a declaration denouncing the intention of the Italian government to buy 131 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence made a stop in Geneva on Monday. Geneva Mayor, Rémy Pagani, expressed his support for the march and denounced the current global figure of 1.5 trillion dollars in military spending, as well as Switzerland’s own hypocrisy. Dani Horowitz proclaimed “We cannot justify creating employment at the expense of other people’s lives.”

The following is the complete text of Silo’s speech made at the Tenth World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates that took place November 11, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. After an introduction by Irish pacifist and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Silo spoke as the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

After Silo and the participants in the World March for Peace and Nonviolence received from the Nobel Prize winners, in the Berlin Summit, the mission of making widely known the ‘Charter for a World without Violence’, the Chilean organisers of this initiative were received at La Moneda to put up the text in the Patio de los Naranjos.

The YMCAs of Québec is happy to announce the names of the finalists for the 22nd annual Peace Medal ceremony. Exceptional individuals who have thought about peace, demonstrated it, and inspired it at the local, national, or international levels will have their contributions publicly recognized.  This year, 17 nominees are in the running in six different categories.

Coinciding with the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German capital hosts the 10th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Under the theme “Breaking Down New Walls for a World Without Violence,” speakers during the plenary session address the need to eliminate the ‘walls’ that still exist in today’s world.