Membership continues to grow in 2009, with 73 new members making a total of 2,708
February 2, 2009
Today the Mayors for Peace network grew once again, with 73 new members joining us from 13 different countries. Mayors for Peace now counts a total membership of 2,708 Mayors around the world.
Carnaval! at the World Social Forum 2009, Belém, Brazil
Membership growth has been especially strong this month in Venezuela and Japan. In Japan, the continuous campaigning from the Hiroshima Mayors for Peace Secretariat, our President City, is bearing fruit. The 22 new members in Venezuela add to a recent surge in Latin America, thanks to a visit of the Peace Boat from Japan with over 100 atomic bombing survivors on board. The 'Hibakusha' addressed a conference of Venezuelan Mayors in Caracas, and 22 Mayors joined up on the spot.
Indeed, capacity in Latin America has received another boost recently with the Campaign tour of our International Campaign Secretariat Director, Mr. Pol D'Huyvetter, in the region. From January 27th to February 1st 2009 he attended the World Social Forum in Belém (Brazil). Nuclear disarmament features under Objective # 1 of the '10 Objectives' of the WSF:
"For the construction of a world of peace, justice, ethics and respect of different spiritualities, free of weapons, especially nuclear weapons".
In this context, our 2020 Vision Campaign representative was invited by the conference of the Forum of Local Authorities (FAL) to make a presentation during a Commission on "Decentralized Co-operation, Solidarity and Peace". He tabled the following proposal to all participants:
"FAL explicitly supports the 2020 Vision Campaign of the Mayors for Peace (2,635 members* worldwide) which lobbies the international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction. We call on local authorities to join Mayors for Peace and support the “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol” to eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020. We also call on nation states and armed groups to cease considering cities as military objectives: “Cities are not Targets!”.
The proposal was immediately endorsed with unanimity.
*Membership as of January 2009, now updated to 2,708
