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AWC GOALS AND PROGRAMS "I am a citizen, not of Athens, or Greece, but of the world." - Socrates (5th Century B.C.) THE ASSOCIATION OF WORLD CITIZENS (AWC) is an international peace organization with branches in 50 countries. Initiated in 1975, AWC has NGO status with the UN's Department of Public Information (DPI), and Consultative Status with the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The goal is working with people, progressive governments, and international institutions to create a Global Village of lasting peace, social and economic justice, and the foundation for a new civilization based on respect for life and the environment. The key to achieve this goal is for people to think and act as responsible Citizens of theWorld. World Citizenship is not a replacement for national citizenship, but rather a new responsibility in this interdependent world to work together across national boundaries to secure our common fate. AWC is working with people, progressive governments, and international institutions to help create a democratic world community with global governance capable of maintaining lasting peace and justice through international law. The key to achieve this goal is for people to think and act as responsible Citizens of the World. "The age of nations is past, the task before us now, if we are to survive is to shake off our ancient prejudices, and build the earth." - Teilhard de Chardin ERADICATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS: A top priority is the complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth with legal constraints to ensure they can never be built again. There can be no security until this goal is attained. There are 30,000 nuclear weapons stockpiled in this third year of the new millennium. Moreover, thousands of U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads are on a hair-trigger alert, ready for launch in a few minutes notice. The immediate task is for all nuclear warheads to be taken off hair-trigger alert status. This would eliminate the possibility of nuclear war through an accidental missile launch or miscalculation and the subsequent destruction of both the United States and Russia within an hour. The elimination of nuclear weapons will lead to the eradication of all weapons of mass destruction. THE WAR SYSTEM: The goal is the elimination of the war system itself, with future conflicts between peoples and nations to be settled through the framework of world law under the jurisdiction of a much strengthened, democratic, representative, and reformed United Nations. There is no alternative to perpetual war, leading to an ultimate disaster for humanity, or the constant preparation for war, with all the economic, political, and cultural elements that support and rely on the war system. An immediate task is to stop the militarization of space, which would turn the heavens above into a new terrorism for humanity below, and make disarmament steps more difficult, if not impossible. "Abolition of war is no longer an ethical question to be pondered solely by learned philosophers and ecclesiastics, but a hard core one for the decision of the masses whose survival is the issue. Many will tell you with mockery and ridicule that the abolition of war can only be a dream.that it is the vague imagining of a visionary. But we must go on or we will go under! We must have new thoughts, new ideas, new concepts. We must break out of the strait jacket of the past. We must have sufficient imagination and courage to translate the universal wish for peace - which is rapidly becoming a universal necessity - into actuality." "The very triumph of scientific annihilation has destroyed the possibility of war being a medium of practical settlement of international differences. If you lose, you are annihilated. If you win, you stand only to lose. War contains the germs of double suicide. Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations all in turn have failed. We have our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door." - General Douglas MacArthur GLOBALIZATION: Globalization can be a step toward a progressive world community. However, this term has been co-opted by those whose goal is a world ruled by a few powerful nations, their corporations, an elite rich minority, and backed by the massive military power of the United States. This is essentially a de facto world government. It is the antithesis of democracy; moreover, corporate economic globalization is a disaster for our planet because this system is dependent on constantly expanding markets and mass consumption, which inevitably leads to a polluted and resource depleted planet. Corporate globalization has also widened the shameful gap between rich and poor. Globalization must be democratic and beneficial to all the people rather than the few. And it must include both social and economic justice. Today, only 20 percent of the world's population has more wealth than the remaining 80 percent. Moreover, this rich 20 percent consume over 80 percent of the world's resources. There is no possibility to establish democracy and a peaceful world under this gross disparity of wealth. THE UN AND CIVIL SOCIETY: "We seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system.capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished. The will requires a new effort to achieve world law." - President John Kennedy REFORM AND DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, a "Third Generation UN" as former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali terms it, must include direct representation of people. In cooperation with the Campaign for a More Democratic UN (CAMDUN), AWC actively works for the inclusion of a Peoples Assembly within the UN system, which is possible under Article 22 of the UN Charter. One concept is a two-tier parliament as suggested by former UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar. One tier would be the General Assembly of nations, and the second tier comprised of civil society, perhaps represented by NGOs. OPTIONS FOR A PEOPLES ASSEMBLY (CAMDUM) WORLD CITIZEN ASSEMBLY (WCA): Eleven WCAs have been held to date. The locations included Tokyo, Hiroshima, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and several in New York City. The latest Assembly was held in Taipei, Taiwan in April of 2001. More than 400 delegates from 52 countries attended. These meetings bring together peace activists from around the world to initiate coordinated global action programs. The next WCA is scheduled for San Francisco in late 2004. WORLD CITIZENSHIP DAY CELEBRATION: The first World Citizenship Day Celebration was held in San Francisco on March 20, 2000. The second celebration was held during WCA 2001 in Taiwan and attended by 20,000 people and 3,000 performers in Taipei Stadium. This is an annual event. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." - John F. Kennedy Inaugural address, 1961 STUDENTS FOR PEACE: An active program reaching out to students to work for peace on the local and global level as responsible citizens of the world. This includes a curriculum for students in high school and above to study conflict resolution, the United Nations, and other crucial issues. The Global Village is not a dream; it is imperative if humankind is to survive. In 1989, UNESCO officially adopted a study on human violence entitled the Seville Statement. This study by prominent scientists, academics, and other intellectuals from around the world concluded that war is not inherent in human beings. The violence of war is learned and passed on from generation to generation. The Seville Statement concluded: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, so peace also begins in our minds. The same species that invented war is capable of inventing peace. The responsibility lies within each of us. "We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth together as brothers." - Martin Luther King Jr. "World federation is an ideal that will not die. More and more people are coming to realize that peace must be more than an interlude if we are to survive; that people is a produce of law and order; that law is essential if the force of arms is not to rule the world." - William O. Douglas - Supreme Court Justice "Only with a burning patience can we conquer the Splendid city that will give light, justice and dignity to all mankind" -Rimbaud BECOME A WORLD CITIZEN TODAY AND BE PART OF THIS GREAT MOVEMENT TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD FOR THE 21ST CENTURY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Association of Global Citizens-Ghana P.O BOX KS 12613 KUMASI-MAIN GHANA Telephone: 233-51-38576 Fax: 233-51-25713 Email address is: globalcitz@hotmail.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
