In 2007, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) established October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, as the International Day of Nonviolence. This year, we celebrate its seventeenth anniversary.
The Community for Human Development, a social and cultural group of the Humanist Movement, has been working for more than 50 years, thanks to its thousands of volunteers, to establish a Culture of Peace and nonviolence in the world. A culture and a new consciousness that rejects violence places the human being as the central value and uses active nonviolence as a method of action.
A quick look at the global context is enough to see that the current situation is critical. Armed conflicts are occurring in large regions of the planet, coupled with a deep global financial crisis and a nuclear threat that is the most urgent issue of the current moment. On the other hand, recent “natural” disasters have ended thousands of human lives dramatically, just as many other people die from forced migrations in search of a better future and many others are trapped in their addiction to legal or illegal drugs… In addition, the growing inequality and the deterioration of rights and quality of life imposed by the centers of power is naturalized, manipulating the political conscience of the population through the massmedia.
However, it is not true that violence is something natural for our species. And we claim our right to live in Peace. That ancient, prehistoric perspective that says “man is a wolf to man” only seeks to relieve the powerful who exercise violence against the population of their responsibilities. Rulers who send their young people to kill and die in wars waged by interests indifferent to the populations.
Therefore, those of us who want to overcome this violence affirm the following:
We affirm the dignity of all human beings who, by the simple fact of being born, deserve respect and consideration.
We consider the human being as the highest value above money, the State, religion, models and social systems.
We consecrate the fair resistance against violence in all its forms: physical, economic, racial, religious, sexual, psychological, and moral.
We recognize the richness and diversity of all human cultures.
We demand equal rights and equal opportunities for all. We work to eliminate the structures and systems that perpetuate oppression and inequality.
We fight for the conservation of our planet. We assure you that an attack on the environment is an attack on human beings and their future.
We point out individualism as a great accomplice of this system. When the desires, aspirations, problems, and concerns of my neighbor are also mine. When I can look them in the eye and understand them deeply, we will have taken the first step towards the world we aspire to.
From the Community for Human Development, we encourage you to move forward every day, with valid and heartfelt actions in the neighborhoods, in the workplaces, in the schools… We will discover that the pain and joy of others are mine and that there will be no progress if it is not from everyone and for everyone. It is certainly worth celebrating the Day of Non-violence this October 2nd. To grow and strengthen this culture of non-violence as a new sensitivity that begins to express itself in the growing opposition to different forms of violence and as a force capable of modifying the violent and inhuman direction of current events.
This year, in which the third World March for Peace and Nonviolence is taking place, we join in this denunciation of the global situation and in raising awareness about the need for Nonviolence to achieve peace.
As every year, we celebrate this October 2nd with our eyes set on that future that we are already building from diversity and joy, open communication, and the encounter between people and cultures and of the human being with himself.
Global Coordination Team
Email: lacomunidadecm@gmail.com
La Comunidad para el Desarrollo Humano
