Statement of E.A Vidyasekera, Secretary Co-ordinator of AAPSO at the Assembly of World Peace Council Kathmandu, Nepal July 21-23, 2012
It is a pleasure to be in kathmandu, the capital of Nepal which Nepalis acclaim with pride as the land of the Birth of Buddha whom late Dr. Ambedkar said is the greatest teacher who taught the noblest doctrine of love to humanity
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Secretariat of AAPSO, I greet all the participants of this Assembly of W.P.C. We are meeting in a new country-Democratic Republic of Nepal. As a fellow citizen of SAARC region, I express my warm brotherly good wishes to the heroic people of Nepal for the tremendous changes they have made during a short time by peacefully transforming the Hindu kingdom into a democratic secular republic.
As you all know both WPC and AAPSO are two international peoples movements intrinsically connected to each other, mobilizing the world public opinion for the noble cause of peace and solidarity for a world free from the weapons of mass destruction.
Between Caracas in 2008 to Kathmandu in 2012, the four years have seen tremendous changes in the world. The most significant events were the Arab uprising known as Arab spring which has seen the toppling of several formidable dictators. The centre of the Egyptian Revolution "Taharir square" became iconic and has reverberated through out the world when even the "Occupy wall street" movement in the U.S. carried placards depicting "make wall street, Taharir Square". Arab revolutions are not yet over. It has taken ferocious turn in Libya, Bahrain and Syria owing to external interference; as a result the ordinary people in these countries have to pay a very high price.
Comrades
Continued U.S. hegemony and its attempts to dominate the whole world is creating more hardship for the world. U.S imposed sanctions against Iran owing to alleged nuclear weapon development by Iran more severely affect the ordinary people. Also the Iranian Oil importing countries such as India, South Korea, China and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile U.S. held military exercises with South Korea, and Japan for the first time in the yellow sea closer in China. China consider this to be a hostile act against the sovereignty of China. U.S is not only encircling China with military bases but also use all its efforts to threaten North Korea even with nuclear weapons. The creation of high tension in the north-east Asia prevents peaceful relation among the people in this region. It is also an obstacle to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and peaceful reunification of divided Korea.
Comrades
U.S. never fails to lecture on the issue of Human Rights to the rest of the world. But the world is aware of the worst human rights violation by the U.S. such as maintaining most inhuman prison like Guantanamo in the occupied territory of Cuba using despicable methods like water boarding and torture. At the same time massacre of Afghan and Pakistan civilians continue under the umbrella of NATO by U.S drones. Since invasion of Afghanistan, U.S lost over 3000 soldiers whereas Afghans have lost over 35,000 dead of their civilians according to western sources. In A thought provoking article in the international Herald Tribune Jimy Carter, 39th President of the United States says" The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights". "Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended".
In Bahrain 18 month old Sayyed Hussain Sayyed died as a result of inhaling excessive chemical gasses fired on his home by the Alkhalifa security forces. The child developed complications in his lungs and succumed to death. A statement sponsored by Switzerland condemning Alkhalifa regime for its brutal treatment was submitted signed by 27 countries including E U. But Britain and the U.S. refuse to sign this document.
7 million Palestinians share their plight with 44 million displaced persons around the world and that the choices Palestinian were taken away 64 years.
Comrades
Monopoly capitalism in order to overcome their crisis that is going on both in Europe and the United States, use all possible methods to transfer these hardships to the developing countries. Rio +20 has miserably failed but try to project under sugar coated cover to appear as success. Where as although they acknowledge many challenges, there are few real commitments. As we all know there are still a billion people malnourished and 1.4 billion people live without electricity to light their homes,".
"It was meant to be conference about life, about creating a shared global ambition to build a prosperous future that earth can sustain". But in the green heart of Africa, the Congo basin, countries are working together to control illegal timber trade and conserve the world's second largest rainforest.
In 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Fidel Castro said "The solution cannot be to prevent the development of those who need it the most. Because today, everything that contributes to under development and poverty is a flagrant violation of ecology … If we want to save humanity from this self destruction, wealth and available technologies must be distributed better through out the planet. Less luxury and less waste in a few countries would mean less poverty and hunger in much of the earth. Enough of selfishness, enough of hegemonies enough of insensivity, irresponsibility and deceipt".
This assembly of W.P.C is another great step in the direction of mobilisation of people to fight against the injustices committed against humanity.
In this great struggle AAPSO will go hand in hand with W.P.C as in the past.
AAPSO also take this opportunity to congratulate WPC for the granting of observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement. At the Non-Aligned Summit in Teheran in August AAPSO will be together with W.P.C.
We take with us happy memories of the success of this assembly.
Thank you for your attention