UNPO General Secretary and Members participated in the three day conference in Brussels, co hosted by ALDE and NRP, on topics such as nonviolent strategies and the first world Satyagraha, the situation in the Middle East and enlargement of the EU.

The Hague, 12 December 2007- UNPO General Secretariat and Members participated in the three day conference in Brussels, co hosted by ALDE and NRP, on topics of nonviolent strategies and the first world Satyagraha, the situation in the Middle East and enlargement of the EU.

Last week, from 06 to 08 December 2007, UNPO attended a conference in Brussels co-hosted by the Nonviolent Radical Party (NRP) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which ended with the General Council of the NRP. The main topics of discussion during the three-day event were the situation in the Middle East and the Mediterranean countries, enlargement of the European Union and the first world Satyagraha, a philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance developed by Mahatma Gandhi. In traditional violent and nonviolent conflict, the goal is to defeat the opponent or at least to meet one’s own objectives. In Satyagraha by contrast, the goal is to convert, not to coerce, the opponent. This initiative is intended to officially commence with the beginning of the new year 2008 and reach its peak during the Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008.

Among the key speakers present were the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Franco Frattini; the President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament, Mr. Graham Watson; the Minister of European Affairs and International Trade of Italy, Ms. Emma Bonino; and Member of Parliament and Leader of the Radical Party, Mr. Marco Pannella.

A number of UNPO Members attended the conference, aiming to draw the attention of the international community to the urgent situations in their homelands. Representatives from UNPO Members included Khmer Khrom representative, Mr. Vien Thach; Southern Cameroons National Council Vice-Chairman, Mr. Nfor Ngala Nfor; Deputy Foreign Minister of Abkhazia, Mr. Maxim Gunjia; Montagnard representative, Mr. Kok Ksor; representative of the Somaliland government in Brussels, Mr. Mohamud Daar; representative of the Balochistan Peoples Party, Mr. Nasser Boladai; as well as the President of the World Uyghur Congress, Mr. Rebiya Kadeer.

The words on everybody’s lips were nonviolence and the need for a new, transnational, world order, as opposed to the traditional concept of the nation state. Among the propositions put forward to reach this goal was the strenghtening of the African Union and its Human Rights Court and other regional judicial bodies around the world. Many discussions focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Whereas some participants proposed the idea of Israel as a future EU member state, others advocated for an establishment of a regional union where borders and nation states would be of less importance. The creation of a Palestinian state was for example put into question by some as it would reproduce the old flawed system of nation states. Both Ms. Rebiya Kadeer and the Sakharov Prize winner, Mr. Wei Jingsheng, spoke about the need to continue both nonviolent action and exerting pressure on China, especially in the light of the upcoming Olympic Games.