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1999 - Extracts from other Adresses |
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Mr
Boutros Boutros-Ghali ( ) It is therefore as a diplomat that I should today like to pay a very warm tribute to the members of the Community of Sant'Egidio, a tribute to their genius for dialogue and mediation, their patience and their discretion, their humility and their determination, their generosity and their altruism. These are all qualities that give us hope that the war men wage on one another can also, thanks to men, be resisted. They are all qualities which also remind us that peace cannot be reduced simply to the absence of war and that it cannot be brought about and strengthened except by development and democratisation ( ) __________________ Address
by Mr Jacques Delors ( ) Much has been said for some while now about universal public awareness, and world public opinion. There are also conflicting arguments about the respective roles of the major international organizations, nation-States and what is known as civil society, itself divided into organized and non-organized civil society, the former being held fast by the employers', trade-union and other organizations, and the latter acting in the framework of the non-governmental organizations. And of course, there will in the future be a great debate about what international organizations should be responsible for and what kind of dialogue they can have with non-governmental organizations which have not been given any mandate by universal suffrage but which are often the salt of the earth. In this forthcoming debate, I think that the Community of Sant'Egidio will be able to keep its special character and not turn into an institutionalized pressure group. And all through being available and faithful to its values __________________ Mr
Abou Drahamane Sangarι ( ) A great man of letters predicted that the twentieth century would be religious. His vision was perhaps correct, but it remained unclear what religion was going to do for the century that has just ended and for the one that is beginning. By the calibre of its members, by the stand it takes on matters as sensitive as the death penalty, which it condemns without reservation, by the broad scope of its action and the great variety of fields in which it operates, the Community of Sant'Egidio demonstrates that faith can also break down the walls of indifference to the sufferings of others which, unhappily, has become a feature of the culture of our times ( ). __________________ Mr
Louis Michel ( )You and your friends embody, better than others, a civic consciousness based on a watchful commitment to a just, generous and open society. You wage your campaign with determination but with moderation and discernment, without the aggressive and frequently vain obstinacy which too often characterizes legitimate struggles when they are expressed in a rough or improvized way. I know and I feel nevertheless that you carry within you the inspiration of revolt healthy revolt but you channel its expression so skilfully that it is transformed into human progress ( ) . |
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