Europe for Peace Piacenza in Verona at the “Arena di Pace”

On Saturday 18 May Europe for Peace Piacenza will be holding a large public assembly in Verona at the “Arena di Pace”, which will also be attended by Pope Francis.

An event born in 1986 – explains Roberto Lovattini – which is now being resumed after a few years. Peace remains as central as it was then, and it could not be otherwise given the ongoing wars, but now we are also witnessing a powerful and overbearing attack on the environmental sustainability of planet Earth. The defense of our Planet and of the possibility of coexistence between people, their cultures and all the subjects who inhabit the Earth could become the engine of a profound change for the better in our existence. Different ideas and models of life are being compared. The idea of ​​war as the only solution to conflicts that arise between nations as opposed to a non-violent solution entrusted to diplomacy. Competitive individualism where the good of the few stands out and on the other hand cooperation and solidarity, where everyone can find their place to live with dignity.

Europe for Peace Piacenza in Verona at the “Arena di Pace”

Petition

As Europe for Peace Piacenza and the Associations that are part of it, engaged in education for peace and non-violence, we denounce with great concern the increase at a global level, confirmed by all official data, in the arms business, which has always been one of the main causes of the outbreak and continuation of wars.

The Italian Government intends to dismantle Law no. 185 which in 1990 introduced in Italy “New rules on the control of the export, import and transit of armament materials”. Under the pretext of making “some updates” to “make national legislation more responsive to the challenges arising from the evolution of the international context”, we want to:

• place under government control and limit the enforcement of arms export bans,
• reduce information to Parliament and civil society to a minimum
• eliminate, among other things, from the official annual report all documentation regarding the operations carried out by credit institutions in the import-export of weapons and
  Italian military systems.
  If the proposed changes were approved, citizens would no longer know from the Report how many and which weapons are exported and would no longer have information on the national and foreign banks that derive profits from the arms trade, in particular towards authoritarian regimes and countries involved in armed conflicts .
  Law 185/90 was an achievement of the Peace associations which in the 1980s, with the campaign “Against the merchants of death”, promoted a broad popular mobilization denouncing the scandals of the Italian arms trade. Mobilization which led the Italian Parliament in 1990 to define rigorous rules to prevent the export of military materials not only to states subject to embargo measures, but also to countries involved in armed conflicts, to governments responsible for serious violations of human rights and towards countries whose policies conflict with the principles of article 11 of the Constitution.
  As Europe for peace Piacenza we support the commitment of the Italian Peace and Disarmament Network which has followed the entire parliamentary process, expressing concern from the beginning about the ways in which national legislation is being modified and highlighting the intention to weaken control over foreign sales of weapons made explicit by several

Representatives of over 80 Italian civil society organizations met on

April 17 at the Libera headquarters in Rome to relaunch the defense mobilization

of law 185 of 1990 which regulates the trade and export of Italian weapons.

pressure groups linked to the military industry. In a moment of widespread international crisis, facilitating the sale of weapons abroad means increasing global insecurity to encourage easy profit for a few.
For this reason we want to make known and support the national mobilization in defense of Law 185/90 that the Italian Peace and Disarmament Network, together with numerous associations, has launched, to prevent the Italian arms trade from returning to being the subject of a dangerous opacity that

• does not favor the promotion of peace and common security,

• fuels wars and violence,
• supports violations of rights,
• causes innocent deaths in many areas of the world.”

We therefore invite citizens to join the petition, which can be found on the website of the Peace and Disarmament Network https://retepacedisarmo.org/petizione-basta-favori-ai-mercanti-di- armi-fermiamo-lo -emptying-of-law-185-90/ and to send signed letters to the parliamentarians elected in our constituency using the text which is always found on the same site.