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25.02.2022
AS THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ART (AIAP/IAA) AND THE OFFICIAL PARTNER OF UNESCO, WE DECLARE OUR UNSHAKABLE OPPOSITION TO ALL WARS.
As the International Association of Art (AIAP/IAA) and the Official Partner of UNESCO, we declare our unshakable opposition to all wars.
No winners or losers emerge from a war. Each side loses lives, honor and prestige, and the whole world pays for the pain and misery that results. Our historical records are filled with shameful accounts of wars and the consequent judgment and condemnation of the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity and nature. As the French politician Jean Jaures said in 1903, “Courage lies in not allowing force to settle conflicts that reason can resolve.”
We urge all concerned parties to intervene immediately in the ongoing war in Ukraine. We do not wish to speak as diplomats or politicians who sympathize with any of the factions involved, for we side only with peace, human rights and democracy. We don’t want to judge what is right or wrong in the ongoing polemics that have led to war between Russia and Ukraine. We only ask the United Nations and other international organizations to join the side of peace at once to stop the ongoing bloodshed that sadly began yesterday.
We remind Russia that no country’s interests can be defended by bloodshed. The price of war is always paid by the most helpless: the children, women, disabled people and those murdered, whether they are civilians or soldiers, animals or other living beings. The agony of wartime atrocities and losses is suffered by all those involved, as in the First and Second World Wars.
As artists of the world, we cherish friendship, love, and human solidarity leading to art, dialogue, peace, democracy, and universal human rights in every part of the globe. We urge Russia to stop this invasion of a sovereign country and end this war quickly. The problems that have led to it must be solved peacefully at diplomatic tables. With the pandemic our world has paid a high enough price in suffering during the last two years; we do not need any more human-driven death and waste. We want peace immediately.
Peace in Ukraine, peace in Russia, peace in the world!
Bedri Baykam
International Association of Art -Official Partner of UNESCO
President
Executive Committee Pavol Král
Katarina Jönsson Norling Dolores Ortiz
Franklyn King Glover Ryoji Ikeda
Christos Symeonides Maria Moroz
Marta Yglesias Piza Francis Desiderio
