MANIFESTO 2000

At 2001 december 6, there are 75 211 420 signatories of the Manifesto 2000.

At 2001 january 15, there were 74 418 172 signatories of Manifesto 2000 whereas
there were 73 679 994 at 2000 december 28, then already over 1 % of world population. So the signatory process is still steady going on, showing over 800.000 new signatories in 2001.

Manifesto2000 consists of 6 statements which should be agreed upon before signature:

1. Respect all life
2. Reject violence
3. Share with others
4. Listen to understand
5. Preserve the planet
6. Rediscover Solidarity

However, this original sequence does not easily reveal the inner symmetry contained in these statements. A different order might be helpful in discovering this.

1. Respect all life
5. Preserve the planet

2. Reject violence
4. Listen to understand

3. Share with others
6. Rediscover Solidarity

The most fundamental is statement number 1: respect all life, that is: life within ourselves and all forms of life we see around us. And "to respect" means: have enough courage and empathy to look back to yourself through the eyes of somebody else.

Number 5 is also very fundamental, it pertains on our common habitat: Planet Earth. When we start exercising (1), then (5) is almost a natural outcome.

Number 2 and 4 are complementary, number 2 being  a psychological consequence of number 4. Conversely, the decision to reject and stop violence creates space for listening to understand.

The rejection of violence means two things:

1. do not allow violence to be rewarded.
2. do not use violence yourself.

In a similar sense number 3 and 6 are complementary:
once a start has been made with sharing (=3) in a community which is eager in listening to understand (=4), 
Solidarity is (re)discovered as a matter of course (=6) and
violence is rejected automatically (=2)

This regrouping shows also, that statements 1 and 5 are
of a higher order:
all other statements can be seen as consequences of these two, and at the same time as the most important operationalisation without which it is impossible to preserve the planet and to respect all life.

Seen still differently, there are actually two main decisions to be taken by the individual:

1. The decision to respect life in all its facets and forms, innerly and outerly.
2. The decision to reject violence.

This is the fundamental choice and decision we all have to face in building a peaceful world and ending the era of violence and environmental brinkmanship.

Of course signing only will not suffice; after all there are over 6 billion people on this our world - but these 70 million signatures are already a good start on the road to world peace in the next decade.

If you wish to sign Manifesto2000 then click here or on this picture

More details about this action supported by the Nobel Price Laureates on Peace can be found at www.nobelweb.org.

Their letter + biographic notes can be found at Salsa Net in Texas: http://www.salsa.net/peace/nobellet.html resp.
http://www.salsa.net/peace/timeline/nobelsigners.html

However, a commentary on the Peace Decade 2001-2010, the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, can be found here at this site.

May peace spread around the earth by working with our hands!