Cultural diplomacy in Levant

 

Solidarity of Empathy for Peace

 

Solidarity of Empathy for Peace

 

High-Level Meeting of Former Political Leaders in Europe to Spread the Culture of Peace and Call for Support for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula

 

The conference, held in Bucharest and uniting participants from Central and Eastern Europe, who had directly dealt with the Cold War experience and the painful transition to democracy, represents valuable expertise in the long process of support for the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, divided in the aftermath of the Second World War into two states: North Korea and South Korea.

In 2011, after President Emil Constantinescu launched “The Levant Initiative for Global Peace”, at the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, the project was supported by the Interparliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics (IPCGE) that mobilized many religious leaders and academics from many countries in both Europe and Asia. Soon, 38 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe advocated the Initiative. An important milestone has been the cooperation, since 2014, with the Chairman of the Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), Man Hee Lee, and the associated women and youth organizations, which gave an extraordinary impetus to the universal peace movement through the Summits organized in Seoul, and the signing of the HWPL's declarations by personalities all over the world. A veteran of the Korean war of 1950-1953, Man Hee Lee, Chairman of “Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light” (HWPL), transformed his traumatic experience in a crusade for peace.

The conference held in Bucharest, moderated by Emil Constantinescu, president of The Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, benefited from the participation of Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine 2005-2010, Stjepan Mesić, President of Croatia 2000-2010, Rexhep Meidani, President of Albania 1997-2000, Stanislav Shushkevich, the first democratically-elected President of Belarus 1991-1994. They were joined by Haris Silajdžić, former Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Milka Ristova, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia. All the above, actors of contemporary history, a time of regime changes, painful economic and social reforms, ethnic conflicts, can contribute with a remarkable experience to the foundation of a culture of peace.

Solidarity of Empathy for Peace

 

Cultura păcii se bazează pe un nou tip de relaţii între state

Emil Constantinescu:
President of Romania 1996 – 2000
Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization
Chair of the discussion

„I believe that a great humanity conversation must now be encouraged, so that larger and larger groups of people could develop a free flux of ideas and knowledge worldwide”

„The culture of peace is based on a new type of relations between states, but especially on the relations between people sharing common values, born long before the current nation-states. It is a good time for cultural diplomacy and for us to remember the legacy that old Levant left us.

I believe that a great humanity conversation must now be encouraged, so that larger and larger groups of people could develop a free flux of ideas and knowledge worldwide. Conflict prevention and managing post-conflict situations require a comprehensive balanced vision, which would take into consideration the interests of various ethnic and religious communities, states’ duties and the natural rights of their citizens, the conjectural and long-term interests of regional actors. This vision can be developed only if the representatives able to utter the plurality of voices, questions and desires of billions of people participate in it.

Throughout history, not understanding the Other’s motivations has led to many wrong decisions in foreign policy that triggered conflicts, a lot of them still frozen. That is why the objective of shared values seems to me so important today, within the new structure of international relations. Only the policy of shared values as a basis of dialogue can bring stability. Only a functioning market economy and the rule of law can oppose an oligarchic state generating mass corruption. Enlarging the space of a real democracy, not a façade democracy, means enlarging the space of peace.

I envisage the possibility of establishing a security and peace guaranteed system based more on what we call soft power, as opposed to hard power.

It is true that international politics, as well as classic diplomacy, was built on power and force and it will continue to be so a long time from now on. The concept of soft power is far from being functional, while cultural diplomacy is still at its dawns. I want to be well understood. I do not plead for replacing classic diplomacy with cultural diplomacy. It would mean to encourage a dangerous utopia. But I stand up for associating them. From my experience as scientist, man of culture and statesman, I can say that cultural diplomacy is in the same relation with classic diplomacy as is the non-Euclidean geometry with the Euclidean one, relativistic physics with Newtonian physics, the law of included middle with the law of excluded middle of the Aristotelian logic, modernism and post-modernism with classicism and neoclassicism in literature, music and art. This results in opening another perspective of understanding of some phenomena found under the sign of uncertainty, without denying the one built on previously known facts.

Why do we need cultural diplomacy, this new concept, which the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization and the Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light try to promote with so much passion and engagement? My answer is: because the world is changing. And if the world is changing, politics, in its high meaning of serving community interests, must change too. The famous German strategist Clausewitz considered that war was a continuation of politics with other means. I believe that also peace can be a result of politics, obtained through other means. One of these is cultural diplomacy, – which without intending to replace the traditional diplomacy of dialogue between parties having different interests, supported through different types of pressures and force threats – can complement it with a new element: the dialogue based on understanding the other and, in a wider meaning, a better understanding of the world we live in.

 

Rexcep Meidani: Președintele Albaniei 1997-2002

Rexhep Meidani:
President of Albania 1997-2002

“To reaffirm trust among peoples, it is time to rebuild the concepts on democratic governance, considering the free and fair elections as a necessary condition, while the sufficient conditions are linked to cultural, social and economic emancipation”

“Today’s meeting is an excellent occasion to express our ideas and reaffirm our efforts, aspirations and responsibilities for a world without dictatorships and wars. In 1989, the fall of the Berlin wall, which had physically, and ideologically divided Berlin, Germany and Europe was also the beginning of the thaw of the Cold War across Eastern Europe. But, today, unfortunately, we are experiencing a new Cold War.

In fact something is going wrong in our world. We must understand this backward step; particularly to find the right response for different questions, including the high hierarchy principle of self-determination compared to the principle of territorial integrity, and, above all, to put on a pedestal the protection of Human Rights. For that, any social movement for peaceful development and coexistence must be supported and spread further to the whole world in achieving solidarity and a stable peace. From this perspective, an effective cooperation and reunification process is needed between two parts of Korea; still under a cease-fire.

The last efforts, some days ago, between two Korean Leaders have made a real progress. It indicates that we are getting closer and closer to achieving peace between both North and South Korea. While it’s too soon to lean back and celebrate, the fact that dialogue has proceeded so swiftly, as well as a historic peace agreement being reached, is promising. North Korea likely has strong reasons to work towards this, as sanctions have affected its income hard. Its openness, in one way or another, indicates that things have changed. Also, it was stated that a summit involving the US will take place by June. Here, mutual concessions could lead to meaningful long-term solutions. Let’s hope that the unprecedented recent developments indicate that good things are ahead.

On the other side, while the process of talks with North Korea may seem promising to many, North Korea still has many ways to crash any deal, particularly considering heavy concessions from the US. One must remember that a similar bout of euphoria surrounded the talks between North Korea and South Korea in 2000, but soon everything was falling flat. Actually, Kim Jong-un may be appealing to President Trump’s ego, offering him the possibility of making such a historic deal. He has few reasons to give up his nuclear weapons or to accept South Korea as a legitimate state. Also, he likely hopes to push Trump into loosening America’s hold on the region, which would be a huge mistake. In one way or another, the world should be cautious in its optimism. Also, by improving - even temporarily - relations with South Korea, the North can create a buffer between itself and the United States. It is still too early to tell if the inter-Korean talks will grow into a broader engagement, but while they continue, Seoul can make a credible case to Washington to ease off on military pressure and give diplomacy a chance. On the other side, there are doubts on the dialogue and its perspective. The question is: are we walking into a North Korean trap? Nobody knows exactly…

But, using this precise occasion I would like to briefly mention some other ideas:

There is a need, on an international level, to combine soft power and hard power in a smart power concept. For that, considering the actual critical situation, new amendments are necessary to the UN Charter, particularly a reform is needed for the Security Council. Also, new regulations are needed for different structures or mechanisms of hard power (i.e., NATO) or soft power (i.e., OSCE, or other collective bodies functioning by consensus).

The fight for the guarantee and respect of freedoms and human rights in any corner of the globe remains very important. In this framework, a peculiar problem is the protection of the human life.  Thus, based on the principle of Habeas Corpus (Magna Carta 1215), special legislation on a national and international level must be drafted regarding the so-called targeted killings, or tactical (targeted) bombing, particularly when it could be considered a legal action and when not.

To reaffirm trust among peoples, it is time to rebuild the concepts on democratic governance, considering the free and fair elections as a necessary condition, while the sufficient conditions are linked to cultural, social and economic emancipation.

A new political balance and evaluation is needed for the binomials: stability and democracy, democracy and effectiveness. On an international level, this effectiveness must be measured by the solution of different frozen conflicts (Kashmir and the India- Pakistan relations, Arab- Israeli conflict and Palestinian question, Western Sahara conflict; the Cyprus dispute; the situation in Transnistria (frozen since 1992); the Nagorno- Karabakh war (frozen since 1994); the Abkhaz –Georgian conflict; the Georgian- Ossetian conflict, or today, the Ukraine- Russia conflict and Crimean annexation, etc.. Some of them do not exist anymore or are resolved. One of them was the reunification of Vietnam, on April 30, 1975, but unfortunately under a communist regime. Another one was the successful reunification of Germany, on October 3rd, 1990, as the German population had been split between West and East Germany with a ratio of 4- to -1. An acceptable result was the peace agreement between two religious groups, the Protestants and the Catholics, in Northern Ireland. Actually, the Belgrade–Pristine negotiations and agreements are helping to the normalization of relations between two countries. Also, there is a real chance for a solution of a half century frozen conflict in Korea; more precisely to achieve the reunification of divided Korea, where the Korean populations are closer in size, with around 26m North Korean citizens compared to South Korea's 51m, a near 2-to-1 ratio. This reunification process is a very important step towards global peace. For that, any local, regional or global contribution is very important. Our meeting is also a real and useful step approaching this convergent aim.

At the end, I like to remember here what Confucius said, 450 years before the birth of Christ: “What I hear, I forget; what I see, I remember; what I do, I understand”. Let’s do it together. We’ve heard what we have to do. We’ve seen what we need to do. Now is the time to do it, and, together, we can do it.”

 

Este foarte greu să construiești un stat demn în condiții de război

Stanislav Shushkevich:
President of Belarus 1991-1994

"It is very difficult to build a worthy state under war conditions"

"I feel comfortable here because, 57 years since my college graduation and 48 years since my doctorate in physics, I remain a university professor rather than a politician. For this reason, when I speak, I respect the principle that guided my whole life: one’s speech must have a main topic that will link the rest of the analyzed issues.

I am proud of the fact that we had a connection with the events at Belovejskaya Puşcia, with the signing on December 8th, 1991 of the Convention establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. On the same day, I did a second thing that I am proud of: I said that I will convince Parliament to remove nuclear weapons from Belarus. There were enough nuclear weapons in my country to destroy all of Europe, 81 ballistic nuclear warheads. Parliament endorsed my request and, until 1996, we were able to finish this process. This is how we started to build a new state, a democratic and peaceful state. We have tried to do this honestly, but it is not at all easy. First of all, this is not allowed because of the level of precarious education. Communist ideas were so popular because it was not necessary to have great knowledge. Only Lenin wrote great, philosophical treatises that are profound and interesting. But for Communist rulers there was only one simple rule: the plan at any cost. No treaty or science were needed.

To build a good and prosperous life for citizens, it is necessary to work every day. In our post-Soviet republics, those who have the ability to work have built quite prosperous and sufficiently civilized states. First of all, it is about the Baltic States. Further success differs from case to case. We see the horrors happening today in Ukraine, against which another strong state is waging war, which hides its actions under all sorts of tricks. It is very difficult to build a worthy state under war conditions, there will be corruption and betrayal, because it is difficult to be different. But in other countries, including Belarus, it just happens that people like to keep their power, they have not grown to the level at which power relies on the people and, in fact, they create cores for the continuation of the Cold War. It is also necessary for Belarus to be reunified internally, because in my home country there are diametrically opposed approaches to life.

In South Korea, a great deal has been done and much remains to be done. Since 1992, I've been there for more than 30 times, and I have been talking to people of very different social convictions. Not everyone wants unification, there are also Koreans, some very educated and highly qualified, who fear this unification.

In 1992 I received a parliamentary delegation from North Korea. They were very nice and accommodating people, but they could not say anything except what was written in the documents they had arrived with. They were afraid to think freely, and the struggle for freedom of thought seems to me to be one of those features that should be more present in all our actions.

I doubt that there is someone in the world who would not want the unification of the two Koreas, everyone understands that breaking a people is terrible when families are falling apart. But finding a solution is complicated and I don’t say it as a dilettante. Addressing such a topic in the world seems to me to be a long-term task and we must not fear that it will not succeed every time.”

 

Fiindcă nu pot opri războiul, Națiunile Unite trebuie să se reformeze, dar și să se reafirme pentru a reveni la rolul care le-a fost conferit la înființare

Stjepan Mesić:
President of Croatia 2000-2010

"Because they cannot stop the war, the United Nations needs to reform itself, but also to reaffirm itself in order to return to the role it has been given upon its establishment"

“The theme of today's meeting is “Experiences at the End of the Cold War”, a theme as provocative, as well as pretentious. As a result of the experience caused by Nazi Fascism, the world wanted to create mechanisms that would prevent and not cause a new global conflict, which is why the United Nations was established, but the Nazi Fascist winners have been divided into two opposing social, political and economic blocks. There are major changes in the overall structure of the international community. There are new security challenges that are not primarily related to the use of military force, nor do they exclude it. Colonies had been freed until that date and a new world architecture was born. The history of international relations records a large number of challenges in this bipolar international community. These challenges had almost always been suppressed by the leaders of the two blocks and kept within the boundaries of the blocks. Despite these things, the Cold War began. Threats were high, brutal wars in the two Koreas and Vietnam were boosted, risk of conflict expansion had been great, but the very fear of not spreading the war and of using nuclear weapons, stopped its expansion. Just the fear of a nuclear war, that of having to resort to nuclear weapons in the bipolar war, contributed to the expansion of the nuclear shock.

During the Cold War there is still a factor that is sometimes forgotten, namely: the establishment of the Non-Alignment Movement. More than 150 countries, which were not part of any of the two blocks, through their peaceful policy, helped reduce war tensions and ease relations between antagonistic blocs.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc has disappeared, bipolarity disappeared, for a short time only one great power remained: the United States of America. Russia is still a great force, after its come back. China is the world's largest producer, but also a nuclear power. Is there any exit path? I think so. The United Nations had to reaffirm itself, but also reform itself to regain its role in establishing it. To do this, the United Nations must implement reforms. First, to be able to act preventively. In order to make the reform of the United Nations possible, political will is needed, first of all from the great powers, but also by consensus of the international community.

I can share with you my experience: I was the last president of Yugoslavia, I knew that war was preparing. For us, those in Yugoslavia, it was very clear. I have tried to alert world leaders to stop that war, because there was a possibility that it will expand. I visited the world's metropolis, but I also went to the United Nations. But the United Nations can’t act preventively. They can only act when war had already broken, after the war has ended and when the United Nations can practically solve the situation in the post-conflict society. Because they can’t stop the war, it is necessary for the United Nations to reform itself, but also to affirm itself again. It had to be reformed, but also to reaffirm its return to the role that has been given upon its establishment. In order to achieve this, the United Nations must first implement reforms that will enable them to take preventive action. For the reform of the United Nations, political will is needed. Is this political will? I think not. Avoiding the United Nations has led to the complete degradation of the world order, established after the Second World War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the break-up of Yugoslavia, a new architecture of Europe is being created, which will be reflected in world relations. But new processes are taking place in Europe: the unification of Germany is reached, there are signs that relations between South Korea and North Korea may be relaxed, followed by the union between these states. All this should lead to new positive movements on the international arena. But to achieve this, in order to ensure lasting peace in Europe and the world, I draw your attention again: it is necessary to reaffirm the United Nations and implement reforms to make the United Nations effective. Only a united Europe can be a major factor in world peace. That is why, at all the forums, I always plead for the acceleration of Europe's unification, for the acceleration of South-eastern Europe’s accession to Europe, because when all the countries have joined in, they will open their borders and war will be excluded as a political means, because people will remain what they are in the united Europe, states will remain what they are, every nation will live entirely in its corpus, regardless of the border. It will also be useful to the world to look at peace with other eyes and understand that peace is possible.”

 

Fiecare conflict are caracteristici care pot reprezenta un model pentru soluționarea oricărui alt conflict

Viktor Yushchenko:
President of Ukraine 2005-2010

"Each conflict has characteristics that can be a model for the resolution of any other conflict"

"I would start with the fact that, no matter what issue is being discussed in our conferences at our forums, we always understand that the number one issue, the most important thing that will always be on the agenda, is security, peace, and in the event of war, the means to get out of that war.

If a war dictionary has ever be written, I think 80-90% of the terminology of this dictionary will come from Europe. Europe has started two World Wars and these have been on a large scale. I will talk about the two lessons we have acquired before today, an internal and an external one, as well as what democracy can do in this regard.

In 2004, after the authorities forged the election, 10 million Ukrainians out of 47 million went to Maidan Square to protest. We were a step away from civil war. I asked the authorities for just one thing: dialogue. But the authorities have not come to this dialogue. We have reached out to Europe, to the European family: "Let's force the Ukrainian authorities to come to dialogue". Finally, although the authorities were being influenced to use weapons to scatter the Maidan, in three days I had three rounds of negotiations. The first lesson I learned from that very difficult period for my nation is that democracy can do everything. Provided we put it right on the agenda, and we offer the possibility that all the challenges on the agenda are going through procedurally. The second lesson, which I have mastered through democracy would be that, following the 2004 conflict, we became a united nation. I also have another lesson, rather external, as Stanislav Stanislavovici said.

In 1992, when Belarus and Ukraine signed the Lisbon Protocol regarding the reduction of nuclear weapons, ratified in Budapest in 1994, Ukraine had 1300 nuclear missiles, a larger arsenal than the French, British and Chinese arsenals together. I have very close friendships with presidents who supported this political process from the Ukrainian side, and I thought they were taking a unique step towards the end of the Cold War. We were convinced that we had a mechanism guaranteeing Ukrainian integrity and our security. We were not members of any unit, but we have obtained the instrument that very few people have til now: the guarantees of five countries, the five largest nuclear powers in the world. It seemed to us that we are sitting beside God, that we have found such a mechanism for   eternity, that many problems existing with our neighbors, related to security, will not reach us. We applauded and engaged in this policy, in this step. I take a 26-year time-out and I go back today. Ukraine lost 7% of its territory and 12,000 people have been killed. The number of wounded is more than 40,000. We still lose every day. We have not reached a full consultation, as the memorandum provides, with all five of our nuclear safeguards, and this is the next lesson that involuntarily comes to my mind: why do we lose today? I mean Europeans. I think that because we are not consistent, we are often shy and very often irresponsible.

There are six armed conflicts in Eastern Europe today: Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Crimea, Transnistria, Donbas. Behind them is a single occupant: Russia. Some conflicts started 26 years ago, and for 26 years politics and European diplomacy have not found the necessary mechanism to resolve this type of conflict. It is not an internal conflict, not a national one, but a geopolitical one. And geopolitical conflicts can only be overcome with the help of geopolitical instruments.

Ukraine does not face this challenge alone, the same as Georgia. We need a dialogue in which to formulate a common assessment and common values. Then I guarantee you that we will have a common plan to overcome this challenge very quickly. I have summarized one fifth of our European and national history with one purpose, to point out that each conflict has characteristics that can be a model for the resolution of any other conflict. And practice showed me swiftly that if we accept dialogue, however complicated and long it may be, we can find solutions including the issue of relations between North and South Korea. Over a quarter of a century later, we have enough lessons to learn to know what needs to be done, including the Korean issue."

 

Cutremurele, inundațiile, epidemiile sunt evenimente tragice, ce s-a întâmplat în Bosnia-Herțegovina a fost un genocid îndelungat

Haris Silajdžić:
Former Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

”We have earthquakes, we have floods, we have epidemics, but this in Bosnia-Herzegovina was a long genocide”

“And that is the term of “tragical events”, that was used to describe genocide in Bosnia Herzegovin. Now we have the rules established by the United States, stating that it was an international conflict, not a civil war.  What is a tragical event? We have earthquakes, we have floods, we have epidemics, but this in Bosnia-Herzegovina was not a tragical event, it was a long genocide, now recognized as such by the International Court of Justice in the Hague. The Security Council of the United Nations facilitated genocide by imposing the arms embargo on September 25th, 1991. In a small country of 4 million people we officially had 120.000 people dead, most of them, civilians. This is a very, very tragic event.

Those who did it are in prison for many years, some are for lifetime. Those who facilitated it, the United Nations who imposed the embargo and had not lifted it until present, now they say that they are all sorry and the Secretary General said : Well, you know, mistakes happen!

The project of Bosnia-Herzegovina is alive and well in front of us. So what do we do now? Do we pretend that this project does not exist? And this project is a danger for Europe as a whole, a danger for the international community. I do not believe that genocide, concentration camps, forced deportations are values of the European Union and Europe and European countries. I do not believe that. But because this project is kept alive intact, while the criminals are in prison, says something else, and that is that the values of genocide and concentration camps and massacres are being encrypted into the codex of the European values systems. So further on, things like that may happen in Europe, although they had happened already in places like we said before: Donbas, Crimea, Transnistria, maybe tomorrow something else. My question is will genocide, concentration camps, forced deportations become European values and probably the source of law on this great continent of Europe?

După atâția ani de la trasarea unei linii de demarcație între Coreea de Nord și Coreea de Sud am putea spune că starea de conflict a devenit normală. Dar și pacea este normală. De aceea suntem atât de entuziasmați de pașii concreți spre pace în relația dintre Coreea de Nord și Coreea de Sud.

We are talking about solidarity here and I am glad that Chairman Lee is trying to put us together, so we can express our views, maybe to support each other. After so many years since the demarcation line was established between North Korea and South Korea one might say that a state of conflict became a normal state there. And peace is normal as well. See how excited we are both about North and South Korea. We are all excited about that.

How can we have peace as normal? In my opinion, we have to start with children at a formative age so that we can build a generation, that we can have a culture of peace. That we can not do without a new generation. I hope we can call it the generation of peace.

 

Avem nevoie de multă energie pentru a scăpa de intoleranță, pentru a trăi într-o societate multinațională și multiconfesională

Milka Ristova:
Judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia

”We needed a lot of energy to get rid of intolerance, for us to live in a multinational and multi-confessional society.”

I am here to provide support for the achievement of peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula. I am here in a new era, which has witnessed the opening of relations between North and South Korea, after the historical meeting between the leaders of two cultures. Dialogue is a political form which should bring the Korean people closer together, who were unnaturally divided into two states. Two nations that speaks the same language, share the same traditions, customs, culture, folk dance, but also historical victories and defeats. But most important in our day, also common private kinship and friendly relationships, which were suspended for a long time.

The declaration of peace uniting the Korean peninsula is in the right direction, not only for citizens of Korea, but for the world as a whole.  The process of peaceful resolution should take place according to the example of the process of democratization of countries in Eastern Europe and the unification of Germany.

The changes in Eastern Europe are the foundation of common justice and harmony. In this process, my country, the Republic of Macedonia has been separated peacefully from ex-Yugoslav Federation and proclaimed independence. We are a democratic society and regime, who has created peace and coexistence between Christians, Muslims and other communities. Citizens seek justice and equality before Constitution and laws, they seek economic security, but they encounter many difficulties. First, the emergence of nationalism, which seriously puts into question the cohesion of the society. We needed a lot of energy to get rid of intolerance, for us to live in a multinational and multi-confessional society. We are trying to become a member of NATO and the European Union. However, the most difficult problem, the absolute problem, is the creation of a constitutional and sustainable Republic of Macedonia. The negotiations are humiliating, but we are accomplished that this is the road for peace and reach our neighbors’ economic development.

Therefore, I am here as a person who in my professional career served law and justice. I want to affirm the principles of cooperation and peaceful negotiation in the most difficult issue, in the interest of peace. This peaceful initiative should be guaranteed under the international law and reach international guarantees. In this process we are friends of Korea, we support all youth and all layers of society, for the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula.

 

Unificarea ar putea începe chiar anul acesta, dacă oamenii ar avea voie să circule liber între Coreea de Nord și Coreea de Sud

Man Hee Lee:
President of the “Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light” (HWPL)

Unification can start taking place if the people are allowed to go back and forth between North and South Korea freely, even starting this year.”

During the tragic Korean War, I was a combatant fighting on the frontlines. You can imagine how much atrocity I witnessed with my eyes. The 1st Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace was held at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan.

I told the people gathered to ask the youths who are buried there. I said that they were my comrades who fought on the frontlines with me. I asked them, “Did anyone ever repay for what they lost?” Can politics or current laws pay for their lives that were sacrificed, the lives that were born into the same world as us but never got to blossom? Should we repeat such wars? Should the youths sacrifice their lives in wars again? Should the parents send their children to such wars again? If everyone truly despises wars and yearns for peace, we need to be one in peace. This is why I ask you if the 10 articles and 38 clauses of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War are implemented as international law, peace will come true. In order to ensure that the people of Korea will never have to experience such sorrow and suffering again, we need to achieve world peace. We cannot rest when just one nation is at peace. We need a world of peace. Regardless of who it is, everyone needs to be a messenger of peace. Why? Because it is not a duty of any single individual, is it our duty as a whole; it’s all of our responsibility

Unification can start taking place if the people are allowed to go back and forth between North and South Korea freely, even starting this year. North Korea is not yet a fully recognized state and does not have much in financial assets. They have nothing, and are stripped naked—what kind of properties can they own? They have nothing. Even if North Korea builds nuclear arsenals, would China or Russia welcome it? The world would not. Then is there someone who will back them financially to live? South Korea is hiring people from different nations to give them jobs, so why wouldn’t this be the case for the North Koreans as well? Isn’t it simple?

I speak with full confidence that achieving peaceful unification on the Korean peninsula will lead to the establishment of peace across the globe. I am certain. How long it takes will depend on how hard we work. With your support, the process will be expedited.

Întâlnire la nivel înalt a foștilor lideri politici din Europa pentru răspândirea culturii păcii și apel la susținerea reunificării pașnice a Peninsulei Coreea

Întâlnire la nivel înalt a foștilor lideri politici din Europa pentru răspândirea culturii păcii și apel la susținerea reunificării pașnice a Peninsulei Coreea

 

“Youth let's voice out”

 

The “Youth, Let’s Voice Out” project, which shall be initiated from this year May, was brought up with the idea to encourage the Romanian youth to voice out on both domestic and international issues related with peace. Especially at the upcoming May conference, we will be arranging a time for the youth to be introduced to and voice out on current international issues related to global peace and security.

During the event, the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW) will be introduced to the participants, which HWPL reconstituted the existing principles of international law on peace and cessation of war for it to be observed no longer in a passive but in an active level. Also, a time for the Romanian youth to take part in IPYG's "Peace Letter" project will be arranged. The "Peace Letter" project is a worldwide project, which the youth in each country urges their heads of state to advocate and support the DPCW for it to be introduced well to the international society.

We are confident that each letter which each youth has written for the project all around the world shall become a precious dot that completes the big mosaic of world peace that we may leave as a masterpiece in the world history. Therefore, we sincerely ask you to please come and give a speech to encourage the youth to participate this great work to inherit peace as a legacy to the world.

 

Emil Constantinescu, president of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, Keynote speech at the HWPL youth conference ”Youth, let’s voice out”:

„We are not talking about only the future of the Korean Peninsula, of Romania, Eastern Europe or the Balkans. We are talking and we are preoccupied with the future of the entire world of tomorrow, which has to be a world for everyone”

„At the end of the year 1989, during the Romanian revolution, the first who took the courage to protest against of a merciless dictatorship were the young people. And, unfortunately, the number of those who paid with their own lives crying ”Liberty, we love you, we either win or die!” was huge, as any loss of human life is huge.

But the collapse of the communist regime has not produced so many victims in any other country of the Central or Eastern Europe, or in the countries of the former USSR.

This should not happen again, and we have the responsibility to do all is in our powers, so the tragedies of the world not to repeate elsewhere.

In the first years after the Romanian revolution, while fighting against the new communist regime established in Bucharest, I have worked with many young people. There was the same situation during my 4 years presidential mandate, and also in the following years at the Academy of Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin or in other countries where I was invited to lecture at the international conferences.

In Seul, I was impressed by the number of the young people I saw working together with Chairman Man Hee Lee, by their remarcable qualities and their deep belief that the world can and must become a better place and  they have the responsibility to contribute to this.

The young people who are working today at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization are very much alike. And this similarity, beyond borders, beyond linguistic, cultural or religious differences, gives me trust.

We are not talking about only the future of the Korean Peninsula, of Romania, Eastern Europe or the Balkans. We are talking and we are preoccupied with the future of the entire world of tomorrow, which has to be a world for everyone.

I am looking now at you, the young present today in this room, and I have the feeling of handing over the baton to the young generation. Man Hee Lee, the Chairman of HWPL, the Presidents Rexhep Meidani, Stanislav  Shushkevich, Stjepan Mesić, Viktor Yushchenko and myself, as well as Gennady Burbulis, the strategist of the transformation process of the communist empire into a democratic society, Haris Silajdžić and Milka Ristova, we all have shared with you our experience from a period of huge political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological transformations that the world has known. We hope this experience will be useful to you in the next period of major transformations that is ahead of you.

The future belongs to you and I am sure you know how to manage it wisely.”

Întâlnire la nivel înalt a foștilor lideri politici din Europa pentru răspândirea culturii păcii și apel la susținerea reunificării pașnice a Peninsulei Coreea

primii care au avut curajul să protesteze împotriva unei dictaturi nemiloase au fost tinerii

primii care au avut curajul să protesteze împotriva unei dictaturi nemiloase au fost tinerii

Cultural diplomacy. Traditions and perspectives in the Levant

 

Cultural diplomacy. Traditions and perspectives in the Levant

 

Education is the only way of ensuring respect for diversity

“The third panel of the present conference, entitled „Cultural Diplomacy. Traditions and Perspectives in the Levant“, consisted of two sessions, of which the first has been moderated by Ms. ShoshanaBekerman, Director of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics, and Mr. Dan Petre, General Director of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute, while the second session was presided over by Dr. Alexandra Zbuchea, Acting General Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levantine Culture and Civilization.

This „challenging panel“, as Mr. Petre stated in his introduction to the contributions, debated on the role of cultural diplomacy, and especially – as Ms. Bekerman has emphasized – on its importance in the struggle for peace with regard to the present situation in the Levant.

more about Cultural diplomacy. Traditions and perspectives in the Levant...