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Peace, Nonviolence and Empowerment - Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century

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Peace, Nonviolence and Empowerment - Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century was a conference held in New Delhi 29–30 January 2007. The conference was held to commemorate the centenary of Mohandas Gandhi's satyagraha movement.[1] It was organized by the Indian National Congress.[2] 122 organizations from 90 countries participated in the conference.[1] A number of Nobel Prize laureates attended the event, including Desmond Tutu, Lech Walesa and Professor Mohammed Yunus.[3] Nelson Mandela addressed the meeting via satellite link.[4]

Congress President Sonia Gandhi attended all four panel sessions of the conference.[1] The conference appealed to the United Nations to declare Gandhi's birthday (2 October) as the International Day of Non-Violence.[1] Subsequently, on 15 June 2007, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted 2 October as International Day of Non-Violence, a motion tabled by the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma.[5][6] The conference appealed to create an international civil society forum to institutionalize Gandhian approach of non-violence.[1]

Domestically, the conference received criticism for being used to promote the political ascendancy of Rahul Gandhi. However, Rahul Gandhi held a fairly low profile at the event.[1]

Participants

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The following people (among other people not listed in the following list) attended this conference:[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f DNA. Gandhi’s birthday, non-violence day?
  2. ^ Rupesinghe, Kumar (1 September 2007). "Commemorating the Gandhian Satyagraha centenary". Daily News. Sri Lanka. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  3. ^ The Island. The Satyagraha Centenary celebrations and the relevance of Gandhian philosphy [sic] to Sri Lanka
  4. ^ Bhalla, Nita (9 August 2007). "Mandela calls for Gandhi's non-violence approach". Reuters. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  5. ^ UN News. UN declares 2 October, Gandhi’s birthday, as International Day of Non-Violence
  6. ^ Mainstream Weekly. Impact of Gandhiji’s ‘Non-Violence’ on UN Agenda
  7. ^ Anand Sharma (2007). Gandhian Way: Peace, Non-violence, and Empowerment. Academic Foundation. pp. 300–310. ISBN 978-81-7188-648-7.