REPORT and CONFERENCE RESOLUTION: WCPA Conference on“Climate Change and the Earth Constitution” 10-11 December 2019 at O.P. Jindal Global University Sonipat, India.
By Dr. Glen T. Martin, President, World Constitution and Parliament Association
On December 9th, about 70 persons arrived at O.P. Jindal Global University to address the crisis of our planetary crises in the light of the Earth Constitution. The opening ceremonies on Human Rights Day, December 10, included inspiring statements by Y.S.R. Murthy, Registrar of O.P. Jindal Global University and by Mr. Kalu Lal Gurjar, former Cabinet Minister and Chief Whip, Rajasthan Government, who was our honored, Chief Guest. The powerful keynote address was given by Swami Agnivesh, Distinguished Advisor to WCPA. The conference included international guests from the USA, Ms. Zaklina Dimovska, WCPA Vice-President from Macedonia, and Reverend Wafula from Kenya who heads an organization called Wamalu International, based in Kenya. Dr. Richard Sharp, a prominent WCPA supporter from the USA and now living in India, was also with us at the conference. The Master of Ceremonies was Dr. Vijaya Murthy from Mumbai who is the Director of Women’s Empowerment for WCPA Global. The chief organizer for the Conference as P. Narasimha Murthy from Bangalore who is also our Communications Coordinator for India. He worked tirelessly, along with the Delhi Chapter team, to organize the conference and make it a success. He also put together the wonderful conference packet and booklet that included copies of the pocket edition of the Earth Constitution for all participants. Our sincere thanks to him and to Vijaya Murthy for their wonderful work that made this event both possible and a success. We also want to thank Mr. Mohan Lal Verma, WCPA senior member, who has assured us assistance in setting up a WCPA chapter at Bhilwara, Rajasthan, and a campus for the World Parliament University there, as well as a future conference. And we want to thank Mr. Rajaram Tripathy for offering land for building a campus in Chattisgargh. This is a truly exciting proposal that we need to explore. We also very much appreciate Mr. Dipak Walia for all his support in photography and electronic coverage of the conference. We also offer our sincere thanks to Prof. Kavaljit Kaur and Ms. Rosemary of Jindal Global University for all their assistance with logistics and arrangements on campus. And last, but not least, we want to thank all our WCPA artists, social workers, and media representatives for their support. At the last minute, O.P. Jindal University had requested that we cut the conference down from its original 3-day venue to two days, so we did out best to include everyone who wanted to speak within that time period. In spite of these difficulties, there was energy and excitement in the air, as person after person spoke of their work to protect the environment or gave their ideas about sustainability and protecting the Earth. Among the many eminent guests at the conference was Sri E.P. Menon, a Gandhian leader in the struggle for the rights and the dignity of ordinary people in India and well-known for his global peace walk in the early 1960s in which he walked literally around the world to protest the existence of nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Our WCPA Global Secretary for the Executive Council, Mr. Amit Paul, who is an Advocate in New Delhi devoting his life to using the law for the benefit of the downtrodden and for the promotion of the Earth Constitution, was also present. Another member of the WCPA Global Executive Council, Puan Sri Datin N. Saraswathy Devi, a prominent human rights lawyer from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was on her way to the conference but became ill in Chennai, India, and was not able to make it the rest of the journey. Member of the Executive Council, Ms. Phyllis Turk, CNM, who is from the USA and Treasurer for WCPA, was also present. A number of certificates and mementos were handed out recognizing the many eminent persons who attended and participated. It is impossible to recognize in this report all the many prominent people who participated in the conference. However, we have the only deepest appreciation of your committed support for the Earth Constitution and the future of humanity. Our biggest annual award, called the “WCPA Global Peace Leadership Award” was given to 3 deserving recipients: Mr. Deepak Kumar Baruah from Guwahati, who founded a WCPA chapter there last years and who is spearheading projects for WCPA Global Schools, Model World Parliaments, and World Parliament University in northeast India. The second recipient of the WCPA Global Peace Leadership Award was Prof. (Dr.) Hemlata Talesra, who has consistently worked with WCPA for many years in the educational field, collaborating WCPA with other organizations. Prof. Talesra founded and heads the International Forum for Global Social Justice, Empowerment and Education (IFGSJEE), which promotes the values of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth among educators throughout India. The third recipient of this prestigious award was Prof. (Dr.) Ushoshi Guha, Professor of Law and IPR attorney at her law college in Nagpur, India, who has organized conferences on the theme of “Protecting the Planetary Environment” and has held rallies supporting the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. For many years now, Prof. Guha has also introduced hundreds of law students to theEarth Constitution through her courses and programs. We sincerely thank all three of these recipients for their tireless work on behalf of a decent future for all humanity. Mr. Rakesh Chhokar from the Delhi area appears to be an emerging new WCPA leader. He brought a number of people to the conference from the Delhi area and has led a movement to activate the Delhi chapter of WCPA and establish an office there. Mr. Chhokar helped us honor many participants with awards and mementos and played a key role in the proceedings. On the evening of the first day we held a WCPA meeting in which we primarily discussed our attempt to launch the WCPA Global Communication Center over the past three years. The Center has not yet opened and flourished because of lack of adequate funding, even though Swami Agnivesh has reconditioned a very nice room for the Center in his Jantar-Mantar complex in central New Delhi. It was decided at the meeting that WCPA would begin asking 1000 rupees from new registrants for WCPA membership and that those use who are already members would contribute 1000 rupees to the realization of this vital project. Although this will not solve the problem, since it costs much more than this to hire social media experts who can do this job properly, it is a step in the right direction. We welcome donations and suggestions from all persons on this mailing list for how we can empower the GCC as quickly and effectively as possible. Swami Agnivesh reminded us that donations can be given to the Global Communication Center through his website, www.dharmapratishthan.org or through the Earth Federation Institute website in the USA at www.worldproblems.net We already have categories of honor and recognition for any such donations: Peace Activist (up to $300), Global Citizen ($301-999), World Partner ($1000-9999), and Global Visionary (over $10,000). A special event at the conference was the Skype Interview with WCPA Secretary General Dr. Eugenia Almand and WCPA leader Kalani James Evans whose presentation was streamed live from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. They spoke to us about their work in developing a protocol for establishing the World Electoral Districts called for by the Earth Constitution and described the ways that these district projects could interface with the work for local, sustainable, environmentally self-sufficient communities. The Conference ended in a mood of celebration and excitement once we had competed our proceedings. Music and song filled the auditorium and many participants were dancing and celebrating the precious life, friendship, and wonderful community that we all share. So overall, in spite of some difficulties and impediments, we all left the conference feeling empowered and excited to spread word of the Earth Constitution everywhere, at every time and in every venue. I personally want to thank all the participants who attended. In your presentations and conversations with me I was very much impressed with your dedication and energy in the service of humanity, a protected environment, and a decent future for humanity. Our conference resolution that we all discussed at the close of the second day, is as follows:
RESOLUTION OF WCPA CONFERENCE 2019 We have assembled here as educators, social workers, artists, musicians, environmentalists, and visionaries for a transformed future. We have also assembled here as WCPA activists dedicated to a unified, dignified and sustainable future for humanity. Together, we affirm the following conference resolution: The Constitution for the Federation of Earth declares that a protected and healthy planetary environment is a fundamental human right. Without protection of our planetary biosphere that supports all life on Earth, no other rights can be actualized for humanity. All are dependent on the planetary ecosystem that supports human and all other life. During our conference we have been reminded of the horrors that await humanity if drastic action to protect the climate is not undertaken worldwide very soon. We have been reminded that global and local action are immediately necessary everywhere on Earth. We hereby resolve to unite the quest for spiritual transformation with the drive for structural transformation of our fragmented planetary economic and political systems. We recognize that the Earth with its riches and its beauty belong to all of humanity, not to the wealthy, not to private corporations, and not to so-called “sovereign nation-states.” We recognize that the Constitution for the Federation of Earth affirms that the Earth is our planetary commons, belonging to all, and that our Earth can only be protected through the united sovereignty of all the world’s citizens enacting democratically legislated, enforceable laws for all nations and all peoples. The Earth Constitution and the Provisional World Parliament promote local grassroots empowerment of communities around the planet, protected and promoted by the global framework of unity in diversity provided by the Constitution and the enforceable world laws enacted by the World Parliament. Our conference has seen that Constitution provides a framework of 1000 world electoral districts that, in conjunction with the Global Peoples’ Assemblies established by the Provisional World Parliament, can provide an organizing tool at the grassroots level everywhere on Earth. We have heard from many speakers who have also made excellent recommendations and suggestions for how we can proceed at the grassroots level to implement the planting of trees, recycling, composting, organic farming, and community building necessary to make sustainable living possible for all. We resolve to actively move forward in the coming year promoting environmental protection and action at all levels. We will do this in the name of the Earth Constitution which is promoted and supported by the World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA). We will plant trees in the name of the Constitution’s “Provisional World Government” and in the name of WCPA. We will organize communities in the name of the Earth Federation Movement to ratify the Constitution. We recognize that the Constitution provides the conceptual and legal framework for initiating and protecting grassroots environmental action by the people of Earth in the name of the common good of humanity and future generations. In our thought, action, and deeds, we will everywhere connect local grassroots empowerment for sustainability and the drive for spiritual transformation within the global framework provided by the Earth Constitution. The time for action is now. Tomorrow will be too late. With this resolution, we pledge by our sacred honor and declare our right to act with integrity, clarity, and compassion on behalf of the common good of the living Earth, of the hopes and dreams of young people everywhere, and of generations as yet unborn.