Speeches
- Written by: Simon Mulongo, Presidential Resident District Commissioner, Uganda
The Ugandan experience has seen a reduction in the infection rate from about 31 percent to 5 percent. This has been a hard-earned accomplishment. The government spends about $35 million a year on HIV/AIDS prevention, and we are thankful for the global fight against AIDS and other diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.
- Written by: Alexa Ward, President, Women's Federation for World Peace-USA
The focus of the ongoing pilgrimages has been the coming together of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as the basis for building peace. I reflected on what it took, or might take, for these three brothers of faith to unite.
- Written by: Dr. Frank Kaufmann, Executive Director, Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace
All religions teach peace, just as surely as all people desire peace. Yet people from time immemorial have legitimated war, oppression, and occupation with sacred scripture and with reference to religious obligation. Is there something in religion that is inherently antithetical to peace, or there is something in us that baffles our own efforts to bring about peace – even though it is patently in our own interest?
- Written by: Lee Kyung-hyun, Family Party Media Relations Department, Korea
For several weeks beginning in September, 2003, groups of South Korean tourists flew directly from South to North Korea for five-day visits. These were first South Koreans to visit Pyongyang purely for the purpose of tourism. For many — especially those whose homeland is the northern half of the peninsula — this was not an ordinary vacation.
- Written by: Jose de Venecia, Jr. Speaker, House of Representatives, Philippines
Reporting on the background and progress of the Philippine proposal to establish an interreligious council at the UN, including statements of support by Philippine President Arroyo, U.S. President George Bush, and others.
- Written by: John O’Sullivan, Editor, The National Interest, Former Editor-in-Chief, UPI
Democracy has its place. Where is that place? That place essentially is national politics. National politics is for electorates and national governments. International politics is and should be, essentially an intergovernmental affair, wherein negotiations are the main method of decision making. NGOs should alleviate suffering from sicknesses, fill the mouth of famine, and leave politics to elected officials. Unelected officials need to know their place, which, in the words of Winston Churchill, is to be both civil and servants. And the job of the media is to report on all of these fallen creatures, without fear or favor. If these various cobblers all stick to their particular tasks, then the world will indeed be a better place.
- Written by: Mike Gravel, Chairman, The Democracy Foundation, Former U.S. Senator, Alaska
People taking on the responsibility of governance will experience the benefits of greater civic maturity individually and as members of society. In point of fact, the structure of representative government, giving power away on Election Day to a gaggle of politicians, denies the people the opportunity to mature by taking responsibility for their own actions. Representative government’s structure maintains the people in civic adolescence.
- Written by: Chris Baryomunsi, Technical Advisor on HIV/AIDS, United Nations Population Fund
HIV/AIDS is a problem that has existed for two decades in most of our communities. At this point, every country in the world has reported a case of HIV/AIDS. Never in history has there arisen such a widespread and fundamental threat to human development as HIV/AIDS.
- Written by: Fredrick Azubuike Obi, Director of Administration, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research
Human development is inherently linked to good governance. The pursuit of the objective of human development as a critical element in any national strategic development plan is recommended because of the overwhelmingly positive impact it would have on national development and on the lives of our people.
- Written by: S. Cromwell Crawford, Chairman, Department of Religion, University of Hawaii
While the old order conceived of peace through the strategies of internationalism, in today’s multi-civilizational dialogue we must think in terms of global solidarity.
- Written by: Abduljalil Sajid, Chairman, Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony, UK
To appreciate how Islam approaches the question of peace, one has only to consider a few elementary facts about Islam. Peace and Islam are derived from the same root and may be considered synonymous. One of God’s names is Peace. The concluding words of the daily prayers of every Muslim are words of peace. The greeting of Muslims when they return to God is peace. The daily salutations among the Muslims are expressions of peace. The adjective “Muslim” means, in a sense, peaceful.
- Written by: DR. RICHARD L. RUBENSTEIN, President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Religion University of Bridgeport
We would do well to reflect on the question of whether the “clash of civilizations” that Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington argued could be the fate of humanity in the twenty-first Christian century is already upon us. According to Professor Bassam Tibi, a devout Muslim and professor of international relations at the University of Göttingen, the “clash of civilizations” is both real and dangerous.