Dear friends,
Happy Lunar New Year, especially to those born in the year of the Goat - 1907, 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991 and 2003.
Do you know what the Goat symbolizes? The conventional wisdom in East Asia, particularly China says;
"The Goat, the 8th zodiac animal in the cycle, is featured in this series of stamps. After the hectic and energetic Year of Horse, the Year of the Goat is believed to be peaceful and smooth. It is supposed to be a year to relax, where things will be more tranquil and subdued and wars, international conflicts and mutual animosities usually end. People can take time to pursue their creative and artistic ventures and make new friends."
I really believe so, at these tense moments of the historical juncture between war and peace. I do believe all ICMICA members are united to say NO to war on Iraq and any other parts of the world as we believe that genuine peace can be achieved only through peaceful means.
Let us also pray for more peace, freedom, human rights and democracy throughout the world, particularly in Middle East.
This issue of E-Update No 15 focuses on the ICMICA commitment to and participation in a series of events of the emerging global civil society as Catholic professionals and intellectuals.
They were indeed enriching experiences in terms of broadening our perspectives and deepening our lay spirituality in solidarity with people struggling for more justice and peace. More news about various activities within ICMICA will be brought to you soon in the next issue.
We would like to apologize to you for a long delay since the last E-Update (No. 14) issued on Nov. 5, 2002. From now on, E-Update will be brought to you more often with information that is easy to digest.
In solidarity and peace,
Patricio Rode Anselmo Lee Fr Antoine Sondag
President Secretary General Chaplain
Main News
- European Social Forum (ESF) - Florence, Italy / Nov. 7-9, 2002
- Asian Civil Society Forum (ACSF) - Bangkok, Thailand / Dec. 9-13, 2002
- Asian Social Forum (ASF) - Hyderabad, India / Jan. 2-6, 2003
- World Social Forum (WSF) III - Porto Alegre, Brazil / Jan. 23-28, 2003
- ICMICA International Team Meeting
European Social Forum (Florence, Italy, Nov. 7 to 9, 2002)
Mr Zoltan Endreffy, member of Pax Romana ICMICA in Hungary endreffy@phil-inst.hu made a speech on Nov. 8 at the European Social Forum (ESF) www.fse-esf.orgheld in Florence, Italy. His topic was "good life and happiness" in an age of globalisation. Besides his presentation, many ICMCIA members, particularly member of MEIC, Italian federation also took part in. There was a massive rally against war on Iraq on Nov. 9. The text of his presentation is available soon at the website www.paxromana.org.
Asian Civil Society Forum (Bangkok, Dec. 9 - 13, 2002)
The Asian Civil Society Forum (ACSF) theme "UN/NGO Partnership for Democratic Governance - Building Capacities and Networks for Human Rights and Sustainable Development" took place at the UN Conference Centre, Bangkok in Thailand from December 9 to 13, 2002. It was the first regional outreach program of the Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN (CONGO). More than 500 participants from NGOs working mainly in Asian countries and participants from the UN attended the five-day event. The Final Statement was adopted on the last day which illustrates the main guidelines for action for NGOs involved in advocacy at the UN.
Several ICMICA members have attended the ACSF as facilitators or speakers, and there was also an informal meeting of Catholics who are involved in the various civil society organizations. Anselmo Lee was involved in the organization of the ACSF as convenor of the CONGO Working Group on Asia. More information on the ACSF, including on the Final Statments and the session report is available at www.acsf.net or www.ngocongo.org
Asian Social Forum (Hyderabad, India, January 2 - 7, 2003)
The Asian Social Forum (ASF) www.wsfindia.org took place as scheduled from January 2 to 7, 2003 in Hyderabad, India as a part of the regionalization process of the World Social Forum (WSF) which started first in Brazil in January 2001. During the ASF, ICMICA Asia/Pacific organized three workshops on Ethics as Basis for Governance (Jan. 3), Water, Whose Right Is It ? (Jan. 5) and Human Rights and Self-Determination (Jan. 6) as part of ICMICA contribution to the ASF. Each workshop had about 50 to 70 participants including non-ICMICA members.
About 40 ICMICA members from eight countries mainly from India and its neighboring countries in South Asia took part in the ASF and ICMICA Asia/Pacific organized its own South Asian workshop on peace from January 7 to 9, 2003. At the end of the Workshop, participants adopted the statement which summarizes the main findings and reflections of the ASF based on their experiences and understanding. (please refer to the attached file.)
The next main regional meeting of ICMICA Asia/Pacific will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tentatively from October 12 to 16, 2003. The Kuala Lumpur Forum is about accessing the implementation of Ecclesia in Asia, the outcome of Synod for Asia for the last five years since it was held in Rome in 1998 (Asian Synod+5). It is a follow-up to the Manila Forum on the Synod for Asia (March 1998) which was organized as part of lay preparation and participation in the Asian Synod in 1998. It will also serve as an opportunity for ICMICA together with other like-minded lay movements to prepare themselves for the forthcoming Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) Plenary Assembly in Seoul, South Korea in August 2004.
World Social Forum (Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan. 23 - 28, 2003)
The 3rd World Social Forum (WSF) took place as planned, and it attracted as many as 100,000 people from all over the world (registered delegates accounted for 20,763 and more than half are from abroad; they represent 5,717 organizations from 130 countries). It was a big success quantitatively but there were some logistical problems due to the high number of participants. We were one of the victims of such a success !!! Our planned workshop on global governance and the Church could not take place as we planned as we could not receive the confirmation till the day before. It only appeared in the program booklet at different time after we decided to cancel it and the program was distributed on the morning of the scheduled day. Antoine Sondag and myself ‘discovered’ our program in the printed program booklet only one hour after it was supposed to begin. However, luckily enough, Patricio Rode who happened to ‘discover’ it early enough, managed to run the workshop informally with a dozen participants who came without knowing the cancellation.
The next WSF will take place in India in 2004. The venue and exact dates will be announced soon. WSF 2005 will return to Porto Alegre, Brazil.
There were dozens participants who are members of ICMICA from Porto Alegre itself and abroad who represented ICMICA and various organizations in their own countries. ICMICA was represented by the full International Team Patricio Rode, Fr Antoine Sondag and Anselmo Lee. Javier Iguiniz, Vice-President for ICMICA Latin America, Br Pedro Acevedo, chaplain for ICMICA Latin Ameica, Fr Gustavo Guitierrez, chaplain of ICMICA Peru were also present. Most of ICMCIA members were staying at the house of Mr Santiago and Guigui (Elisabeth) Perezwho kindly offered his house. Thanks for his hospitality once again !!!
Reports of the IT and other members about WSF will be posted soon at our website www.paxromana.org. Meanwhile, for more infromation about WSF itself, please visit
- www.worldsocialforum.orgofficial website of WSF
- http://www.ipsnews.net/fsm2003/index.shtml, Terra Viva, The independent daily of the WSF by Inter Press Service (IPS)
- www.portoalegre2003.net website created by Le Monde Deplomatique
International Team Meeting
The International Team had its own team meetings during the WSF focussing on the plan for the forthcoming events of the year including the International Council meeting due in July in Africa. The detailed information will be sent out soon as soon as they are available. Extensive consultation on the details of those meetings are now underway.
News in brief
Nancy Chin, nancychin@paxromana.int.ch a member of Community Action Network (CAN), ICMICA contact group in Malaysia arrived in Geneva last November for the one year human rights internship program. This is the follow-up program to her short human rights internship program during the UN Sub-Commission on Human Right in August, 2001.