United for peace

The world got dangerously close to a new global confrontation. The international order is in ruins. The superpowers have long been undermining the rules enshrined in treaties through purposeful interpretation and ignorance of the principles of peaceful co-existence and ruthless military aggression. This has resulted in chaos, hypocrisy and arbitrariness in international relations. There are no guiltless in the dispute about where we have got in the past quarter-century. People agree in one thing: we all want peace. Not all of us work in its favour, though. We therefore consider it crucial to stop the spinning spiral of militarism, violence and hatred, disseminate the traditions of humanism, peace and non-violence, and call on all people of good will to jointly adopt and promote measures leading to the culture of peace, cooperation and security for all.



We consider it to be a huge mistake that the international community has turned away from the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, adopted at the summit in November 1990. All European countries, as well as the Soviet Union, the USA and Canada, agreed in this Charter that security is indivisible and that the security of ones may not be strengthened to the detriment of others. We therefore deem the creation of exclusive military blocs which escalate armament and confrontationto be overcome and dangerous. It is high time to return to the ideals that stopped the ideological rivalry of two world powers. It is high time to call on the responsible representatives of parties, states and international organisations: Look for a new world order meeting the needs and experience of the present, guaranteeing equal securityfor all, and binding all nations to jointly work for the promotion of global peace, cooperation and justice. It is your obligation towards peace-loving people!

Shortly after World War II, in the atmosphere of euphoria from the end of the six-year agony of humanity, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russeland Thomas Mann warned the international community that the UN Charter would become a tragic illusion if we failed to undertake more forceful actions towards organising peace and if we sought to avoid war only by contractual agreements between sovereign states. Unfortunately, even today, world leaders have failed to propose anything better than a repetition of the attempt, the absolute or even desperate vanity of which was proven so many times. Sovereignty in international relations gives arbitrariness to rivalling world powers, as a result of which international law is only enforced against small and weak countries that interfere with the interests of the hegemon. These rules obstruct a superior principle that regulates international relations.

We want to bring the peace movement to a higher level. We want to be not only peace defenders, but also peace creators. Further to the UN Declaration on a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence of 1999, we do not want confine ourselves only to desperate anti-war protests at a time when the war fire has already flared up. We want to focus on creating a culture of peace and non-violence as the prerequisite of peaceful co-existence of all people on Earth.

We therefore urge:

- that belief in force and adoration of power are replaced by education on the culture of peace;
- that the mentality of hostility is replaced by understanding, tolerance and solidarity;
- that authoritarian rule is replaced by democratic participation of all people;
- that the policy of concealment and propagandaare replaced by free and versatile information flow;
- that the pressure on increased armament is replaced by disarmament;
- that the exploitation of people is replaced by the enhancement of their human rights;
- that economy based on ruthless profits is replaced by social justice and respect for the needs of all people in line with the equality principle;
- that the plundering of nature is replaced by the philosophy of sustainable life.

In this spirit, we call upon all people of good will to change their political and social priorities:

1. We call upon the responsible political representatives to propose, support and promote the creation of a new security architecture, which would also include countries hitherto designated as enemy states.

2. We call upon the competent ministries to consistently enforce in practice the principles of the UN Declaration on a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, to introduce education on the culture of peace and non-violence in school curricula, and to promote a policy based on these principles.

3. We call upon voters to only support politicians who promote the peace principles referred to in this documentand who are committed to respect them and enforce them in practice.

4. We call upon the representatives of churches, non-governmental organisations, personalities of cultural, scientific and social life to actively support peace solutions, to become the ambassadors of peace and liberation of the human mind from inclination to violence; we call upon them to be brave to defend the minority views of empathy, community spirit and rationality in the majority atmosphere of hatred, fear and passions.

It needs to be said openly that there are politicians, journalists and activists who breed hatred, prejudice and phobia, many times reaching beyond the confines of chauvinism; that we have public officials who are always willing and ready to defend war, support armament, and prefer confrontation. We consider it important to distance ourselves from such people. More arms means less confidence and more soldiers mean less cooperation. We do not wish to see our countries as states serving for the transit of military convoys and for establishing military bases, but as states in which peace initiatives are born and in which culture, science and education are flourishing. We want Central Europe to become a bridge of friendship, and not a boundary of confrontation; we want it to be shaped as a dove of peace, and not as a pet poodle of power; we want to create a just world order in which world powers do not behave as gangsters and small states as their prostitutes. We want people to unite, not divide.

War is the defeat of all. It is the failure of the human mind, an inability to understand the other; it is a barbarian resignation to civilised resolution of disputes. Peace is not the defeat of the other one; peace is the victory of all. Surrender without the elimination of the causes of conflict is not peace, but just cease-fire cumulating all unresolved grievances until an outbreak of a new war. We want to overcome the vicious circle of violence, and to create the fundaments for permanent peace. We are not naive to be blind about conflicts and disputes, but we are convinced that the solutions thereof should be sought at the negotiating table, not at battlefields. It is not negotiations of technical experts, but the firm will of peaceful people that stands at the beginning of such process. Spiritually and morally independent personalities should therefore unite their influence and force to defend brotherhood among nations, enhance the culture of peace, and reject war as the most disgusting of all crimes.

List of signatories

Alexander Ač, environmentalist, researcher at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (SK)
Anton Baláž, writer and publicist (SK)
Jozef Banáš, writer (SK)
Marián Bančej, writer (SK)
Rudolf Belan, publisher (SK)
Viera Benková, writer (Bački Petrovac, Serbia)
Vladimír Blaho, theatre and music critic (SK)
Václav Cílek, geologist, climatologist and philosopher (CZ)
Ján Čarnogurský, lawyer, former Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic (SK)
Milan Daniel, journalist (CZ)
Milan Dubček, diplomat, son of Alexander Dubček(SK)
Vladimír Farkaš, biochemist (SK)
Etela Farkašová, philosopher and writer  (SK)
Milan Ftáčnik, university professor, former Minister of Education (SK)
František Gahér, philosopher, former Rector of the Comenius University (SK)
Ivan Gašparovič, former President of the Slovak Republic (SK)
Radovan Geist, political scientist (SK)
Vladimír Godár, music composer (SK)
Jozef Habánik, Rector of the Trenčín University of Alexander Dubček (SK)
Alexander Halvoník, literary critic and writer (SK)
Pavol Hammel, singer (SK)
Martin Hekrdla, journalist (CZ)
Jozef Heriban, writer and screenwriter (SK)
Ivan Hoffman, journalist, songwriter, protagonist of the Velvet Revolution (CZ)
Marek Hrubec, philosopher and social scientist (CZ)
Anton Hykisch, writer (SK)
Eduard Chmelár, historian, Rector of the Media Academy (SK)
Juraj Jakubisko, film director (SK)
Peter Jaroš, writer (SK)
Jan Kavan, former Chair of the UN General Assembly and former Foreign Affairs Minister (CZ)
Norbert Kelecsényi, sculptor (SK)
Eva Kollárová, Director of the Institute of Russian-Slovak Cultural Studies of the Pedagogical Faculty of the Catholic University (SK)
Michal Kováč, former President of the Slovak Republic (SK)
Mária Kráľovičová, actress (SK)
Oskar Krejčí, political scientist, Vice-Rector of the Academy of International and Public Relations (CZ)
Rudolf Kropil, President of the Slovak Rectors´ Conference, Rector of the Technical University in Zvolen (SK)
Adriana Kučerová, opera singer (SK)
Peter Lipa, singer and composer (SK)
Jozef Lysý, political scientist (SK)
Albert Marenčin, writer and screenwriter (SK)
Jozef Migaš, diplomat, former Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic (SK)
František Novosád, philosopher (SK)
Karol Polák, sports commentator (SK)
Michal Polák, economist and philosopher (SK)
Miro Procházka, film director (SK)
Lenka Procházková, writer, signatory of Charter 77 (CZ)
Miroslav Prokeš, environmentalist (CZ)
Milan Rašla, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts (SK)
Gabriela Rothmayerová, writer and publicist (SK)
Silvia Ruppeldtová, translator and publicist (SK)
Ladislav Sabo, sculptor (SK)
Tatiana Sedová, philosopher (SK)
Brigita Schmögnerová, economist, former Minister of Finance (SK)
Rudolf Schuster, former President of the Slovak Republic (SK)
Vladimír Skalský, President of the World Association of Slovaks Living Abroad (CZ)
Karel Srp, Chair of the Jazz Section and former political prisoner (CZ)
Ján Stena, sociologist (SK)
František Škvrnda, security expert (SK)
Ivan Štampach, theologian and publicist (CZ)
Ilona Švihlíková, economist (CZ)
Braňo Tichý, civil activist (SK)
Viktor Timura, historian and writer (SK)
Božidara Turzonovová, actress (SK)
Petr Uhl, journalist, signatory of Charter 77 (CZ)
Terézia Ursínyová, musicologist (SK)
Ondrej Zimka, painter (SK)
Ondrej Zimka III., sculptor (SK)
Milka Zimková, actress and writer (SK)
Milina Zimková, painter (SK)
Petr Žantovský, university professor, media analyst (CZ)

Zdroj: Zjednotení za mier