What if the Year 2000 was a new beginning, an opportunity to turn the culture of war and violence into a culture of peace and nonviolence? The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace. To translate the resolutions of the United Nations into everyday language and make them relevant to people everywhere, Thich Nhat Hanh and a group of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates drafted Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence.
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What if the Year 2000 was a new beginning, an opportunity to turn the culture of war and violence into a culture of peace and nonviolence? The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace. To translate the resolutions of the United Nations into everyday language and make them relevant to people everywhere, Thich Nhat Hanh and a group of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates drafted Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. The six points of the Manifesto do not appeal to a higher authority, but represent an individual commitment and responsibility. They are a kind of variation on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, presented as a universal door.
By signing the Manifesto 2000, each of us takes the first step of engagement in the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. The six pledges of Manifesto 2000 already bear the signatures of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. You too can sign it and make it known to family, coworkers, friends, and community, giving others the same opportunity of engagement. If enough people become messengers, gathering signatures on the Manifesto, then the Movement for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence can become a reality on a global scale.
You will certainly find original ways to make Manifesto 2000 known, but here are three ways you can start: leaflet, Email, and website links. At the Manifesto website, you can obtain an account number for entering signatures you collect.
Leaflet: Print the Manifesto and present it to your family, friends, and colleagues at work. Present it to schools, universities, clubs, cultural centres, and public places. After you collect signatures, enter them on the technical Website of the International Year for the Culture of Peace (www.unesco.org/iycptec) under the section "Add signatures on the Manifesto 2000."
Email: Send an Email to your friends and contacts inviting them to sign the Manifesto. Put the following link in your Email so that all they need to do is to click to arrive directly at the Manifesto website: http://www.unesco.org/manifesto2000.
Website: Make a link from your personal website or that of your organization to the home page of the Manifesto 2000 website by using the following URL: http://www.unesco.org/manifesto2000.
This article was compiled from the UNESCO website: www.unesco.org. For further information, please see the website or Email: iycp@unesco.org. For news about problems distributing Manifesto 2000 in Vietnam, please see the article on page 30.
Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence
Because the year 2000 must be a new beginning, an opportunity to transform—all together—the culture of war and violence into a culture of peace and nonviolence.
Because this transformation demands the participation of each and every one of us, and must offer young people and future generations the values that can inspire them to shape a world based on justice, solidarity, liberty, dignity, harmony and prosperity for all.
Because the culture of peace can underpin sustainable development, environmental protection and the well-being of each person.
Because I am aware of my share of responsibility for the future of humanity, in particular to the children of today and tomorrow. I pledge in my daily life, in my family, my work, my community, my country and my region, to:
Respect the life and dignity of each human being without discrimination or prejudice;
Practice active nonviolence, rejecting violence in all its forms: physical, sexual, psychological, economical and social, in particular towards the most deprived and vulnerable such as children and adolescents;
Share my time and material resources in a spirit of generosity to put an end to exclusion, injustice and political and economic oppression;
Defend freedom of expression and cultural diversity, giving preference always to dialogue and listening without engaging in fanaticism, defamation and the rejection of others;
Promote consumer behavior that is responsible and development practices that respect all forms of life and preserve the balance of nature on the planet; and
Contribute to the development of my community, with the full participation of women and respect for democratic principles, in order to create together new forms of solidarity.
