Reports of public debate and government acts insist on one key idea: to continue the war in Ukraine until the contenders are defeated or win. To this end, ever more powerful weapons must be sent to the war front.
Amid this warmongering din, two official voices have been raised worldwide in arguing that, on the contrary, the path of negotiation and the achievement of peace through necessary mediations and cessation of fighting should be sought: the Pontiff and the Chinese government.
The former, with diplomatic attempts openly opposed within but especially outside the Vatican. The Pontiff’s peace plan insists on protecting people’s lives and prohibiting foreign countries from supplying weapons to the warring parties. Finally, the focus on building a single equitable socio-economic space while respecting each person’s culture, language, nationality, and faith emerges.
The second is with a detailed and appropriate document in order to end the current war and prevent future ones. The Chinese peace proposal, in its first two points, argues that “universally recognized international law, including the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, must be strictly observed”; it calls for “Remaining committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. Sovereign equality and non-interference in internal affairs are basic principles of international law and the most fundamental norms governing contemporary international relations.”; finally, it states that “The security of one country must not be pursued at the expense of others.”
But even this proposal – supported by concrete diplomatic initiatives – was quickly dismissed and ignored by all governments involved in the war in Ukraine.
Yet these are the efforts and paths that deserve to be supported by all those who are aware that the politics of fait accompli (accomplished fact) and military escalation can only worsen the situation, and bring it to even more dangerous breaking points than the conflict in Ukraine is today.
And on the dangers of possible escalation and the need to defuse it, prominent military analysts from the ranks of the armed forces have repeatedly spoken out, also unheeded.
The situation, therefore, appears even more paradoxical when one considers that, according to polls, public opinion in some of the countries most involved in the conflict – such as our own – is against the continuation of bellicose choices by their own government, and wishes for a diplomatic way out of the conflict.
All the more so since the continuation of the conflict with no prospect of a solution accentuates the risks of extension caused by accidents, and among these exacerbates the dangers of resorting to nuclear weapons. These dangers have been gradually exacerbated over the past few years, but risk becoming uncontrollable in the course of an armed conflict.
What is needed is a jolt of courage among all the forces, personalities and governments who – both in Europe and in the rest of the world – feel the responsibility that they must do everything to stop the war and impose peace.
Now is the time to demand from all sides an immediate ceasefire and the start of peace talks without prejudice. If not now when?
To sign the appeal nominally, send an email to: impostelapace@gmail.com First signatories, in alphabetical order:
Michela Arricale, lawyer and co-president of CRED
Alessandra Balzano, animal rights activist
Angelo Baracca, University of Florence
Giuseppe Baldassarri, scholar of Catholic thought Leonardo Bargigli, University of Florence
Angela Becchetti, Teacher
Fulvio Beltrami, Editor “Lighthouse of Rome” Alberto Bradanini, former diplomat
Alberto Cacopardo, University of Florence
Enrico Calamai, former diplomat
Sergio Cararo, Director “Counterpiano”
Tiziano Cardosi, activist No Tav
Fabrizio Casari, director of “Other News”
Andrea Catone, editor of the Marx Ventuno magazine
Fernando Cordiner, La Sapienza University
Kiran Chaudhuri, lawyer
Patrizia Ciardiello, “Third Sector National Forum”, Working group for persons deprived of their liberty
Marta Collot, national spokesperson for Potere al Popolo
Giorgio Cremaschi, National Coordination Power to the People
Nicola Cufaro Petroni, University of Bari.
Francesco Dall’Aglio, Researcher in History. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Sergio della Lena, catechist of the Catholic Church
Flavio Del Santo, researcher in physics, University of Geneva
Lapo Filistrucchi, University of Florence
Roberto Fineschi, teacher
Federica Fiore, doctor
Mario Fiori, CNR Researcher
Rosella Franconi, biotechnologist
Domenico Gallo, former magistrate
Giuliano Granato, national spokesman for Potere al Popolo
Elisabetta Grande, Full Professor of Comparative Law, University of Eastern Piedmont
Salvatore Izzo, director of the “Lighthouse of Rome” and president of the Rotondi Association for Peace Journalism ETS
Francesco Macheda, professor at Xi’an jiaotong Liverpool University
Mirella Madaferri, socio-economic researcher of the Mediterranean
Simona Maggiorelli, Managing Director of “Left”
Herta Manenti, sinologist
Fabio Marcelli, international jurist, co-president of CRED
Giacomo Marchetti, “Counterpiano” editorial staff
Rita Martufi, researcher at Cestes
Antonio Mazzeo, journalist, peace researcher
Christian Meier, Editor “The Lighthouse of Rome”
Salvatore Palidda, retired professor, University of Genoa
Fabrizio Palitti, university professor at the University of Tuscia
Marco Papacci, President of the Italy-Cuba National Friendship Association
Paolo Perticone, CNR researcher
Antonello Petrillo, sociologist, University of S. O. Benincasa, Naples
Gregorio Piccin, national responsible for peace and disarmament – Communist Refoundation – European Left
Valentina Pieri, lawyer
Marco Ramazzotti, La Sapienza University
Monsignor Ricchiuti, bishop and president of Pax Christi Carlo Rovelli, physicist
Stefano Ruffo, physicist
Franco Russo, jurist
Veronica Scali, lawyer
Maria Francesca Staiano, professor at La Plata University
Ada Maria Tata, university professor at Sapienza
Carlo Tirelli, oncologist
Fabio Trezzini, environmental engineer
Maria Turchetto, former professor of the History of Economic Thought and Epistemology of the Social Sciences at the Ca’Foscari University of Venice
Giovanni Valenzisi, head teacher and scholar of the History of Religions
Luciano Vasapollo, professor at the University of Sapienza
Father Alex Zanotelli, Comboni missionary
Massimo Zucchetti, physicist of the Turin Polytechnic
