Information letter about the World Peace Council

The WORLD PEACE COUNCIL ( WPC) is an anti-imperialist, democratic, independent and non-aligned international movement of mass action. It is an integral part of the world peace movement and acts in cooperation with other international and national movements. The WPC is the largest International Peace structure, based in more than 100 countries.

Since its creation in 1949-50, the WPC stood for peace, disarmament and global security; for national independence, economic and social justice and development, for protection of the environment, human rights and cultural heritage; solidarity with and support of those peoples and liberation movements fighting for the independence, sovereignty and integrity of their countries, and against imperialism.

The WPC has consistently adhered to the main principles and objectives laid down by its founders and is inspired by the UN charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

As an NGO member of the United Nations, the WPC cooperates with UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNIDO, ILO and other UN specialized agencies, special committees and departments; with the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union, the League of Arab States and other inter-governmental bodies.

The WPC initiates and cooperates in actions to eliminate nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and to reduce conventional arms. It also acts in particular for the dissolution of military blocks and pacts; the dismantling of all military bases and the withdrawal of foreign troops; for social and economic development, the establishment of a new international economic order, a just solution of the problem of foreign debt; for the recognition of every nation’s freedom of choice; for the establishment of a new international information and communication order; in support of the liberation movements; for the settlement of regional conflicts on the basis of respect for the rights of the peoples to self-determination.

In its activities and structures, the WPC pursues the goal of equal participation of men and women. The WPC believes that the solution of global security problems is possible by enlarging the popular movement and raising the level of public awareness.


PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES

The guiding principles of and objectives of the Peace Council are:

• Against Imperialist wars and occupation of sovereign countries and nations
• Prohibition of all weapons of mass destruction and ending of the arms drive; abolition of foreign military bases; total and universal disarmament under effective international control;
• Elimination of all forms of colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination;
• Respect for the right of the peoples to sovereignty and independence, essential for the establishment of peace;
• Respect of the territorial integrity of states;
• Non-interference in the internal affairs of nations;
• Establishment of mutually beneficial trade and cultural relations based on friendship and mutual respect;
• Peaceful co-existence between states with different political systems;
• Negotiations instead of use of force in the settlement of differences between nations.

 

Struggles for National and Sovereignty

The Peace Council has initiated and participated in the many struggles for freedom and self-determination:

• The Peace Council initiated the campaign to free Nelson Mandela from Robbins Island and end the barbaric Apartheid system in South Africa. During Apartheid, we demanded that the U.S. and South Africa end aid to counterrevolutionaries who tried to overthrow legitimate governments in Angola and Mozambique.
• We have organized many protest demonstrations against U.S. interventions in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia and invasions of Grenada and Panama.
• We stand for a just, two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• We stood firmly and organized broad based protests against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999
• We have opposed both Gulf Wars and the war on Afghanistan. We call for an end to the occupation of Iraq, express our solidarity to the people resisting occupation for their right to determine their own future.
• We condemn vehemently the blockade against Cuba and demand an end to the US interventions in the internal affairs of that country.
• We stood up clearly during the Coup d’ etat in 2002 in Venezuela and insist that the U.S. government and other Imperialists stop their attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

The last Assembly of the WPC took place in May 2004 in Athens, Greece, where more than 200 peace delegates from 80 countries participated in it. From Venezuela a five member delegation of COSI (Committee for International Solidarity) participated in it. The Head office of the Organisation is situated since the year 2000 in Athens. The elected Secretariat of the WPC is as follows:

• President:  (Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples)  Orlando Fundora Lopez
• General Secretary: ( Greek Committee for International Détente and Peace) Athanasios Pafilis, Member of the European Parliament
• Executive Secretary:  ( Greek Committee for International Détente and Peace)  Iraklis Tsavdaridis
• Organisations from Japan, USA, Vietnam, Mexico, Portugal, France, Congo, Senegal, Egypt

In the recent Executive Committee meeting of WPC in Hanoi we took the decision to hold our next Assembly on 8-13 April 2008 in Caracas, for the first time in South America. Inspired by the positive developments of the rising popular and electoral victories in this region with which the WPC is closely linked, we want to draw the attention of the peoples and their movements to the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution, the ongoing threats of Imperialism to undermine it and to give a new boost to the anti-war and anti-imperialist peace movement worldwide through this Assembly.

We decided (as it is the practice) to organize attached to the Assembly a broad World Peace Conference, in which many hundreds of participants from Venezuela and the whole world will participate. We will invite personalities and intellectuals, representatives from Peace Movements, Youth and Students Organisations, Trade Unions, Women organisations, etc.

The WPC is looking forward holding these important International activities in the country of Simon Bolivar, in an important and promising political moment in peoples’ history.