Photos from the 11th session of

Photos from the 11th session of the Provisional World Parliament in Nainital,
India, July 2-8, 2009

___________________________

       The Provisional World Parliament holds sessions under the authority of Article 19 of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. Only legal world citizens, who have signed the Pledge of Allegiance to the Constitution and recognize it as the supreme law for planet Earth, may be voting delegates (non-voting observers are welcome in all Parliament sessions).
              As voting delegates, these world citizens consider proposed provisional world legislation and resolutions within the legal framework of the Earth Constitution, its guaranteed rights, its spirit of creating a decent world order for all citizens of the Earth, and its universal, democratic, and participatory institutions.
                Provisional World legislation passed in the 11 sessions of the Parliament to date can be found at www.worldproblems.net and is being published in the three volumes of Emerging World Law, edited by Eugenia Almand and Glen T. Martin. Volume One appeared in spring 2009, published by the Institute for Economic Democracy Press.
_________________________________

Many of the participants from the Parliament taken in three photos

The Parliament session took place in one of the large meeting rooms of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the Himalaya Mountains near Nainital, India. Sri Aurobindo was one of the great visionaries and advocates of democratic world government.

Lighting the candle of peace at the opening ceremonies: at the left Justice A. P. Misra, former Supreme Court Judge of India and Honorary Sponsor of WCPA. At the right Dr. Dauji Gupta, former Mayor of Lucknow and longtime WCPA Vice-President.

To the left is Dr. Santinath Chattopadhyay, Director of ISISAR in Kolkata and WCPA Vice-President. To the right Justice Misra. In the center Dr. Glen T. Martin, President and Speaker of the Parliament.

Seated at the right is Dr. Eugenia Almand, official Secretary of the Parliament and Deputy Secretary General of WCPA Worldwide. Dr. Almand required her own table in order to keep abreast of the official records of the Parliament.

Next, behind Dr. Almand is Dr. Santinath Chattopadhyay, then Dr. Ramanujam Ananthanarayanan, a Vice-President of WCPA and Secretary General for WCPA Asia, with offices located in Chennai, India.

Next (in the white suit) is Dr. Phichai Tovovich, a Vice-President of WCPA, Director of WCPA for Thailand, and President of the Office of the World Peace Envoy in Thailand. Next to him, once again, is Justice Misra.

Dr. Preeti Shankar makes a presentation to the Parliament. Dr. Shankar is news editor for the City Montessori School of Lucknow and an important supporter of WCPA in India. She and her brother Sushil did a wonderful job as local organizers for the Parliament and Peace Conference. She also served as Deputy Secretary to the Parliament. On the left is Dr. Elizabeth Agnew and on the right E.P. Menon.

Dr. Eugenia Almand sponsors a bill before the Parliament. Dr. Almand has drafted some of the most sophisticated and important pieces of legislation that have come before various sessions of Parliament.

Presenting at the microphone is N. Saraswathy Devi, renowned International Lawyer from Malaysia and an Honorary Sponsor of WCPA. She introduced a bill prohibiting the trafficking of human beings for purposes of sexual exploitation or other purposes. Beside her, once again, is Dr. Dauji Gupta.

Ms. Nomaxabiso Mahlawe, one of the delegates from South Africa, critically analyses a bill before the assembly.

E. P. Menon, renowned Indian peace activist in the tradition of Gandhi, and Director of the India Development Foundation in Bangalore, actively participated in the debates. At the left is Dr. Patricia A. Murphy, Chair of the International Advisory Board of International Philosophers for Peace and a primary organizer for the IPPNO Peace Conference that followed the Parliament. At the right, once again, is Nomaxabiso Mahlawe from South Africa.

The press in India is not afraid of the idea of world government and came to the Parliament regularly for interviews such as this one in which Dr. Ananthanarayanan, Director for WCPA Asia (with his hand raised), is making a statement. In the orange dress, once again, is Dr. Preeti Shankar, who sent notifications and releases to the media on behalf of the Parliament. One of the reasons the Parliament has met in India for 4 of its 11 sessions, is the great affirmation of the idea of global unity in diversity that permeates the culture in India and makes its press open to transformative and liberating ideas.

In the second last row, on the left with the beard is the widely recognized Islamic thinker Dr. Rashid Shaz, author of 12 books as well as international social activist. Next to him, once again, is Dr. Patricia Murphy, Professor of Philosophy at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Next going to the right is Dr. Elizabeth Agnew, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Next to her is Dr. Matjaz Mulej, Professor Emeritus of Systems Theory from Slovenia and attending on behalf of the International Federation for Systems Research. He is a widely recognized author and intellectual leader in Eastern Europe.

Finally, partly cut off in the photo, is Dr. Slavko Kulac, professor at the Ekonomski institut Zagreb, Croatia. Dr. Kulac as present with his associate, Dr. Marija Pavkov. Drs. Kulac and Pavkov offered to host the next session of Parliament in Zagreb in June of 2010, a wonderful gesture from two important world peace leaders in Eastern Europe.

On the closing day of the Parliament some of the delegates participated in a group photo. In the top row from the right are Dr. Eugenia Almand, Dr. Slavko Kulic, and Dr. Marija Pavkov.

Seated in the second row, with a white dress, is Esther Franklin, who came with her daughter, Pennie (right of her), and grand-daughter, Natalie (third row, just above Esther) to present a wonderful CD dialogue made by Natalie and some of her friends entitled "Are you a global citizen?"

To become a global citizen is a wonderful accomplishment for a human being. It can be done as a personal, moral affirmation, a real step forward. Or it can be done by signing the Pledge of Allegiance to the Constitution for the Federation of Earth, in which case one becomes legally a world citizen, having all the rights and responsibilities guaranteed by the Constitution. The Pledge can be found on the home page for this website.