World Citizens Australia

Chris Hammer reports - For a small organization, World Citizens members past and present were very well represented at the International Peace Research Association Conference at the University of Sydney, 6-10 July. Talks were presented by:

Daryl Le Cornu, on "A Just and Lasting Peace: The UDC's quest for a Reformed International Order 1914-1919". I wasn't able to attend this, but Daryl tells me the UDC had hundreds of thousands of members at the time.

Andrew Greig, on "Taming War". A discussion of his ideas for the adoption of non-lethal weaponry in peacekeeping and battlefield operations.

Jim Page, on "Star Trek and the Problem of a Culture of Peace: The Moral Equivalent of War Revisited". Discussed the essay by William James claiming that the human spirit needs room for exhibitions of daring, endurance and courage, and suggested that instead of war, space travel could be the right arena.

Chris Hamer, on "The Penrose Voting Scheme for International Councils", A discussion of the optimum weighted voting scheme for international councils, which should be adopted in any scheme for global governance; and "How do we Get There from Here? Paths Towards Democratic Global Governance". Argued that we need to follow the example of the European Union, and find an evolutionary path to global governance, starting perhaps with a Community of Democratic Nations.

Erik Paul chaired a session on "Peacebuilding in Southeast Asia"; Jim Page chaired a session on "Healing, Inner Peace and Self-development Strategies"; and Chris Hamer convened a workshop on "World Governance and Peace".