We are not doing a good job!

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Education for a culture of peace.
Some think that is the responsibility of the school, someone else points to the family, others unload the burden on the Child Jesus. Many think they are just words. We will make a big step forward when we will understand that a culture of peace depends on everyone, on all of us. Especially those who have great influence on young people: parents, teachers, tutors, stars. Yes, stars! The very VIP of the world of entertainment with whom young people identify themselves. They spend many hours a day with the children and talk to them of a fake world that to all children seems true. Children move increasingly to that world; they dream it, they follow suit.

I would say that we are not doing a good job!
We have all grown up with images of shootings and TV murders and self-made vendettas, destructive videogames, good against evil, the strong against the weak, reds against blacks, exasperating competition in every corner of our lives. The opponent is not to be respected nor understood, we must reduce him, attack verbally, physically, we must strip him of any sympathy and humanity, it is only an enemy to be destroyed. As in the award-winning video clip "Girlfriend" by the beautiful Avril Lavigne, idol of teenagers, where edifying acts of shameless arrogance and bullying three-against-one, absolutely without any irony, are rewarded with the prize for "Best Canadian Video", as this is the most clicked video clip of all time on Youtube.
I prefer to be considered a stupid moralist: this video clip appears to me imbecile, vulgar and uneducational!

Bruno Picozzi (in translation)

Want a Coca Cola? No thanks!

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It had to happen sooner or later, talking about Coca Cola.
The symbol of "Made in the USA" is not having easy times in India. The community opposition to the exploitation of massive sources of fresh water for the bottling of soft drinks for the multinational Atlanta gave the go-ahead to a campaign that in a few years spread a stain of oil throughout the country, till it obtained the closure of one of the main plants.

The Indian movement against Coca-Cola has become a firmly rooted presence involving hundreds of thousands of people. In India, 70 percent of the inhabitants base their livelihood on agriculture and hence on the availability of water. The communities living next to the bottling plants of the multinational plants have, in few decades, suffered the gradual contamination of the territory and a progressive lack of water, caused by the large quantities of fresh water necessary for the processing of beverages. The impact of these factors has mainly affected the most vulnerable communities: indigenous peoples, women, disadvantaged social classes, small farmers, landless sharecroppers own, all people who have suffered the loss of traditional livelihoods and food security.
The impoverishment of local water reserves has put entire communities in serious danger.

In addition, Coca-Cola is accused of having distributed toxic waste as fertilizer to farmers living next to the plants. The long-term consequences of exposure to toxic residues cannot yet be calculated, but Coca-Cola is guilty of having contaminated soils and both ground and surface water, as well as having sold drinks with high levels of toxicity.
Following a study conducted by CSE (Centre for Science and Environment), December 7 2004, the Supreme Court of India has imposed on the multinational an obligation to label every package warning of danger to consumers.

Coca Cola has become a worldwide example of bad management of resources, and demonstrated that it operates in total violation of the criteria of social and environmental responsibility causing poverty, disease and contamination.

Bruno Picozzi (in translation)

Come and march with us!

I publish the open letter of the Tibetan poet Tenzin Tsundue. I invite all the bloggers to do the same.

Dear Friends,
The time has come for me to go to Tibet again. Last time when I went to Tibet in 1997 - after my graduation - I was arrested by the Chinese authorities, beaten up, interrogated, starved and finally thrown out of Tibet after keeping me in their jails for three months in Lhasa and Ngari. I walked to Tibet, on my own, alone, across the Himalayan Mountains from the Ladakh.
Eleven years later, I am walking to Tibet again; this time too, without permission. I am returning home; why should I bother about papers from Chinese colonial regime who have not only occupied Tibet, but also is running a military rule there; making our people in Tibet live in tyranny and brutal suppression day after day, everyday for fifty years.
The Year 2008 is a huge opportunity for the Tibet movement to present the injustices the Tibetans have been subjected to, when China is going to attract international media attention. I am taking part in the return march from Dharamsala to Tibet, that is being organized as a part of the “Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement”, a united effort put together by five major Tibetan NGOs: Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (an association of former political prisoners), National Democratic Party of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet, India.
The march will start on 10 March 2008, from Dharamsala, the capital of Tibetan exiles and will pass through Delhi and then head towards Tibet. Walking for six months, we might reach the Tibet border around the time China opens the Beijing 2008 Olympics ...

Read the complete letter on ProTibet Dot NET.

The Italians you didn't expect

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ACEA spa is a public share company, 51 percent of which is owned by the City of Rome. ACEA’s main function should be to guarantee the right to water of the citizens of Rome, but it prefers to build incinerators and promote policies of water privatisation in many countries of the southern world. Some say wild privatisation but indeed the privatization of water is always just wild!

Those who have read only a bit of the social problems related to the scarcity of water in the world will have heard of the French SUEZ, the second manager of water services worldwide. For ten years SUEZ has been controlling 8.6% of ACEA. SUEZ policy has only one goal: transforming water all over the world into a commodity like any other. Cool!
But you can not live without water more than three days and in spite of this SUEZ prevent access to water to millions of people throughout the world. ACEA denies the right to water in Armenia, Peru and Honduras, where since 2004 the local population have been opposing the privatization imposed by the Italian company. In recent weeks, ACEA has cut its potable water service to all Honduras poorest, those who could not find the means to pay two consecutive bills, suggesting to buy bottles of Frasassi mineral water, bottled near the caves of the same name in Italy, by the same ACEA.

Privatisation of water is unacceptable. Everywhere!
Water is a right and not a business.

Bruno Picozzi (in translation)

If they would really give information...

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Yesterday I saw Kiosque, a wide-ranging in-depth political programme which is broadcast every week on the French channel TV5. The program is delivered late morning, and is very simple: some foreign journalists comment on topical issues on the basis of different professional experience. Yesterday’s journalists were from Greece, Russia, Romania, Tunisia and the United States. The moderator was, of course, French. Without quarrel and without monologues, in pure style français, French commentator and foreign journalists discussed, among various topics, the situation in Zimbabwe, about which we hear a lot of news these days but with little substance.
This group of journalists, chatting in a friendly manner and in plain language, were able to clarify the situation very well to an audience of housewives and students on vacation: Zimbabwe, a former British colony in the heart of Southern Africa, was the scene a few years ago of a violent expropriation of lands against white landowners, the rich minority in the country, for the benefit of the poor strata of the population. The hero of this process was Robert Mugabe who since then has the power in hand and does not intend to leave now, despite having clearly lost the elections.
We are talking of a country where democratic awareness is only dawning and the law is not equal for all, as indeed it is not in western countries where the democratic experience has ancient roots.
Although old, Mugabe remains very popular. Catholic, cultivated, militarist, homophobic, he is considered a "person not welcome" and refused entry into the European Union and the United States but at the same time received an honorary degree in Scotland and was named Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire!
Many experts assess the situation as having a very high risk of civil war.

The program can be seen for free on the Internet: kiosque. (In French)

Bruno Picozzi (in translation)

A blog, the sea and a spoon

Every morning I am in trouble: what will I speak about today, before my five readers? Will I tell about the violated and mutilated children in Darfur or about the war that is about to begin again in the Western Sahara? Of the rights denied to Madhesi of Nepal or of the ancient persecution of Catholic Vietnamese? The bloody repression of dissent along the beaches of the Maldives or Maya peasants 15 years of attempting to self-govern?
What is the sense of screaming against one injustice and being forced to stay silent about a thousand others? Turn off the unnecessary and unjust light in my room when billions of lights are lit unfairly?
What sense is it, I wonder every day, trying to empty the sea with an insignificant spoon?
I wonder, what really is a culture of peace?

Every morning, alone in front of the screen, I give myself two answers.
Culture of Peace is primarily education! Educating yourself every day to behaviours which are sustainable for all the billions of people on the planet. Doing so, without extremism and without excuse, as far as is possible in the society we live in.
The second response I was thinking about yesterday, during a meeting of active citizens: culture of peace is witness! Saying no, every day, to the waste of water and the death penalty. Claiming your daily personal disapproval of all that is unacceptable to your conscience. Feeding your conscience with knowledge and action. With your words and your actions, witnessing that another world is possible.
This is the meaning of this work, cultivating my culture of peace as if it were a delicate plant: water and love every day.

So, in all honesty, it is not important how many injustices I can not speak about. This little blog, for myself and for those who desire to be with it, is still a small, beautiful, effective vehicle of a culture of peace.

Bruno Picozzi (in translation)

Two stories about camels

Some time ago this little funny story turned around in the net. It talks about the difference between a culture of solidarity and a culture of exploitation. It needs no comment.

Once upon a time a lawyer was on his way in a fancy car through the desert. Passing an oasis he saw three men standing there, crying. So he stopped the car, and asked, What's the matter? And they answered, Our father just passed away, and we loved him so much. But -said the lawyer- I am sure he has made a will. Maybe I can help you, for a fee, of course! The three men answered: Yes, he did indeed, he left behind camels. And in his will it is stated 1/2 to the eldest son, 1/3 to the second and 1/6 to the youngest. We love camels, we agree with the parts to each. But there is a problem: he left behind 17 camels and we have been to school, we know that 17 is a prime number. Loving camels, we cannot divide them.

The lawyer thought for a while and then said: Very simple. You give me 5 camels, then you have 12. You divide by 2, 3 and 6 and you get 6, 4 and 2 camels respectively. And so they did. The lawyer tied the five unhappy camels to the car, and the last they saw was a vast cloud of dust, covering the evening sun.

Once upon a time a mullah was on his way on camel to Mecca. Coming to an oasis he saw three men standing there, crying. So he stopped the camel, and asked, My children, what is the matter? And they answered, Our father just passed away, and we loved him so much. But -said the mullah- I am sure he loved you too, and no doubt he has left something behind for you? The three men answered: Yes, he did indeed, he left behind camels. And in his will it is stated 1/2 to the eldest son, 1/3 to the second and 1/9 to the youngest. We love camels, we agree with the parts to each. But there is a problem: he left behind 17 camels and we have been to school, we know that 17 is a prime number. Loving camels, we cannot divide them.

The mullah thought for a while, and then said, I give you my camel, then you have 18. And they cried: No, you cannot do that, you are on your way to something important. The mullah interrupted them, My children, take the camel, go ahead. So they divided 18 by 2 and the eldest son got 9 camels, 18 by 3 and the second son got 6 camels, 18 by 9 and the youngest son got 2 camels: a total of 9 + 6 + 2 = 17 camels. One camel was standing there, alone: the mullah's camel. The mullah said: Are you happy? Well, then, maybe I can get my camel back? And the three men, full of gratitude, said yes, of course, not quite understanding what had happened. The mullah blessed them, mounted his camel, and the last they saw was a tiny cloud of dust, quickly settling in the glowing evening sun.