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World Peace Council

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The World Peace Council (or "World Council of Peace," or "WPC") is an anti-imperialist, "non-aligned" international movement of mass action. As an non-governmental organization (NGO) member of the United Nations, the WPC cooperates with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), International Labour Organization (ILO) and other UN specialized agencies, special committees and departments. It also cooperates with the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union, the League of Arab States and other inter-governmental bodies.[1]

History

The World Peace Council (or World Council of Peace) was formed in 1949, replacing the permanent committee of the World Peace Congress, in order to promote peaceful coexistence and nuclear disarmament.

It was involved in many demonstrations and protests from the late 1940s to the late 1980s and attempted to lead the peace movement though it was largely sidelined beginning in the 1960s by the New Left which distrusted the Soviet Union and its supporters in the "old left". The People's Republic of China resigned from the council in 1966 as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, a move that undermined the WPC's credibility among Maoists and their sympathisers who dominated the New Left in many western countries.

In 1971 the World Peace Council contained some 600 people from 104 countries. These people were recommended by national organizations of Peace followers, by the World Federation of Trade Unions, by the Women's International Democratic Federation, by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and other organizations. Its governing bodies were the Presidium and the Secretariat.[2]

The WPC was especially active in those areas bordering U.S. military installations, in Western Europe, believed to house nuclear weapons. It waged large campaigns against US-led military operations, especially against the Vietnam war. At the same time, the Soviet-sponsored and Communist-dominated WSG did not condemn similar Soviet actions in Hungary, Afghanistan or elsewhere.

As a result of confrontation between western and Soviet delegates at the 1962 World Congress for Peace and Disarmament, forty non-aligned organisations decided to form an international body apart from the World Peace Council, the International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace.[3]

WPC was significantly penetrated by Soviet intelligence.[4] According to the WPC, 90 per cent of its funding for WPC came from the Soviet Union (WPC, Peace Courier, 1989, No. 4)

The covert support of the Council by the Soviet and Communist Bloc was matched by the covert operations directed against it by the Western agencies. For example, Phillip Agee noted in his book "Inside the company CIA Diary" that actions were taken to neutralize the group's propaganda campaigns against the US and its allies. Efforts were made to prevent the organization from having meetings outside the communist bloc, and other forms of harassment were employed as well.

Following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, the council dwindled down to a smaller core group.

The WPC had its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, at Lönnrotinkatu 25 A, until the 1990s when the Council moved to Greece. In the past the WPC awarded the International Peace Prize. It published two magazines: the New Perspectives and the Peace Courier.[2] Its current magazine is called Peace Messenger.

In May 2004, the Council held its world congress in Athens attended by representatives of 100 peace groups from around the world. The 2008 world congress of the World Peace Council was held in the Venezuelan capital Caracas from 8–13 April. The 2008 congress showed a greatly increased membership of WPC with more than 120 peace groups from 76 countries in attendance.[5]

Presidents

See also

References

  1. ^ "Information letter about the World Peace Council". World Peace Council. January 7, 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  2. ^ a b Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian) (3rd ed. ed.). Moscow: Sovetskaya Enciklopediya. 1971. vol. 5, pp. 450–451. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Oxford Conference of Non-aligned Peace Organizations
  4. ^ Richard Felix Staar, Foreign policies of the Soviet Union, Hoover Press, 1991, ISBN 0817991026, p.79, p.84
  5. ^ Caracas Capital Mundial de la Paz

External links

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