Hello,
Now, I'd like to write a message concerning the first point of the list of
points for our discussions that I send to you several weeks ago. The first
point is about *the content* of the 2001 Assembly. Do you remember ?
I keep in mind this message because it helps me to remind what I want to
discuss with you. Of course, each one of us has his/her own background in
mind. It's just to identify what we are talking about.
As you can see I'm trying to write in English. It is not easy for me. But
as I said, I like it and that helps me to write carefully. It will be
easier for me to write in Spanish and in French later. Sorry for my English.
Concerning the content of the 2001 Assembly, we'll discuss about the Earth
Charter and the documents about the strategies to enter to the 21st
century. So the Earth Charter will be one of the main texts we'll discuss
during the preparatory period of the 2001 Assembly.
You probably know that this project has been launched several years ago. It
was raised during the Stockholm Conference in 1972.
The idea is to write a main text as the Universal Human Rights Declaration
or the United Nations Charter.
Actually, there is a text already written, which has been presented for
instance, in The Hague Appeal for Peace last May. This document has been
written by a commission headed by Steven Rockefeller and set up by the
Earth Council and the Green Cross. If you don't have it we can send it to
you. The idea is to present and to get the approval for this text during
the United Nations Assembly in September-October 2000.
Pierre Calame with André Levesque, in the framework of the workshop of the
Alliance: Human Crossroads, have written a new text for the Earth Charter.
Since 1997, we have disseminated these documents to the allies and to
others partners. If you don't have the last versions, we can send them to you.
In the meantime, the project of thinking and writing an Earth Charter has
been discussed by several groups of allies. Little by little, allies think
that this text can be a main contribution of the 2001 Assembly.
In Asia-Pacific, after the Bangalore meeting last March, a group has been
launched to write an Earth Charter from an Asian view. The idea is to write
a text deeply rooted in the Asian cultures and, at the same time, to
express the views of Asian people towards the world.
In Africa, one of the main subjects to be discussed during the meeting
planned at the end of this month (25-26-27 of June) is the renewal of The
Freedom Charter written the 25th of June of 1955. This text has been the
main platform of the South African liberation process. The African allies
are committed to launch a continental process to encourage social
movements, artists, intellectuals to write a new Freedom Charter, this time
not "only" for South Africa, but for Africa as a whole and for the world.
The Freedom Charter is an historical text. In my opinion, it is as
important as the Universal Human Rights Declaration. In some aspects, The
Freedom Charter is deeper and richer than The Universal Human Rights
declaration. And certainly, The Freedom Charter was a "social process".
More than 3.000 thousands delegates discussed it and wrote it. I can send
it to you if you don't know it yet.
In Latin America, allies are working in the same project. The goal is to
write a main text having the Latin American's thoughts and views towards
the next century.
In some arabic countries, there are allies who are ready to contribute to
this project too.
This collective process is very important.
The Alliance must be able to enrich this dynamic with an inter-cultural
approach. As the group of allies who attended the Naxos meeting about the
Platform have realized and as we can read it in the last Caravan,
particularly in the pages prepared by Agusti Nicolau, we're building the
Alliance as an inter-cultural process where the thoughts and views of
people from differents cultural and historical backgrounds can share a
singular and global vision, at the same time.
Maybe one of the question we can put to the International Orientation Team
is how we can help to reinforce this collective process.
I believe that we must have several texts on the table, coming from
anglo-american, french, indian, chinese, arabic, latin-american, african
and other views and then we'll be able to write a common text.
The challenge for each one of these contributions would be how to write a
document deeply rooted in each culture and *at the same time* widely open
to humanity, as a whole. It is a challenge to think and to act locally and
globally *at the same time*.
I think that now we must walk a step forward. In 1993 we wrote the Platform
in french and then we translated it into several languages. It was what
could be done at that time. The meetings in Laval (June 1996) and in Naxos
(October 1998) and the articles in Caravan number 3 have done a very
meaningful analysis of that process.
Then, little by little, we have enlarged the cultural and methodological
framework of the main themes we are working on. The preparatory steps
towards the continental meetings of December 1997 helped us to identify the
main themes and workshops of the Alliance.
Today, as the Alliance is becoming an inter-cultural and a worldwide
process, we can write an Earth Charter much more richer, more complex. It
will be a main contribution, not only for the 2001 Assembly, but for our
generation and for the futur ones.
Furthermore, I think that the Alliance can contribute to transform this
project in a "social process" as the one that backed The Freedom Charter.
In this view, maybe we should intend to write a *People's Earth Charter*,
not only an Earth Charter written only by a commission, even if she is a
very important one.
I think that I must stop this message here. I don't want to go beyond two
pages. I'll write a new message about the Main Themes we are working on
later. They are four: Values, Society, Governance and Biosphere.
(And I have to write this message in French and in Spanish!)
All the best,
Gustavo
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