One year ago, due to Irak's occupation by Us and British troops I wrote this Declaration.. One year has past and once again these situations require our attention... I leave you once more with my thoughts..

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March 18, 2003

My friends,

Some of you might allready know me, and for those who don't I will just say that I am Paulo Peralta a 22 years old student from Portugal, and it has been my desire for as long as I can remember to become a Diplomat, because I do believe that the true Peace in the World comes from the possibility of mutual understandment in order to solve problems that may exist between countries, cultures and people. It is obvious why I write these lines in English, in spite of wanting to do it on my own language, however many of you wouldn't understand it, so I ask for your understandment.
For the past days we all from Europe to Asia, America, Africa and Australia come across the news of a new and most possible war on Irak, due to the dictatorship that is rulling that country. On the moment, millions where those who all over the world came to the streets and said " Not in my name ! ". The quickest and easier response those who like war - yes I do say like because it's impossible to say they don't like it when we can see that nothing will stop them - is that those who are against this inevitable war are either in favour of Saddam Hussein or against the
American People.
At this point I must say I am against this war, and that I am neither pro-Irak's present regime, wich is in fact a dictatorship, neither I am against the American People, wich I respect as my own European People. In spite of all the problems everyone might have in this recently called " Old Europe " - being France and Germany, but just on a quick note to the person who said it wich I won't mention his name, as I do recall Benjamin Franklin wich was an American President said: " Tous les Hommes ont deux patries. La France et sa même" ( Every Men have two nations. France and it's own ), so. from me to that person: The Old Europe salutes you - the same I am a proud and honored member and with strong roots in at least four of these countries, no one with a little part of it's brain active and still functioning supports Saddam Hussein or is against the American People. I don't support Saddam Hussein, however I also don't support George W. Bush's maniac war against a country just because he wants to rule and just because he wants to put an end to Peace in this same World I live in, however some times I think that it's just a bad dream.
Many are the people to whom I am sending this e-mail or letter, and not only to people from this land I still call my own. So that you know the nationalities of all those who are receiving this e-mail I'll make a quick list of your countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Russia, United Kingdom, South-Africa, Belgium, Canada, United States, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Australia, Chile and Czech
Republic. Your religions are pretty much different as well, since some of you are Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Protestants. For as long as I can remember I always liked to know different cultures and different people not considering any of you as a number, as a nation or as a political or religious belief, but as a person that in one or other situation I had the pleasure of meeting, so now you are receiving these simple words that represent my own state of mind.
Let no one of you think I will feel ashame to be a proud citizen of this great nation wich is Europe, the Old Europe. Yes I wasn't wrong. I am a European citizen, born in Lisboa, wich was allready declared one of the Peace Capital Cities of the World and now she is being pushed to a war. Yes I am against this war. Not because I am pro-Saddam Hussein. Not because I am against the American People. Not because those who are against the war are marked as being members of a political group wich I don't have, but because I don't believe that war will solve anything.
My European homeland wich goes from Portugal to Russia and fron Iceland to Georgia, has allready gone through to many problems, wars and in some times starvation. We don't need another war. Addressing especially to those of you who are American, recently reading an American newspaper, I have read something like " Have the
European's forgotten what we have done for them ? ", referring to the help the United States young soldiers did helping Europe to get rid of the Nazi occupation on the 1940's, I was shocked to see what were your newspapers saying about us. NO we haven't forgotten nothing of that, and NO we aren't against your people, however don't ask me or millions of other to stand beside your President and your Administration. His ideas and ways of action are the ones we are against. I have the higgest respect for each and every one of you. Some of you are really close friends to whom I have the higgest respect and
admiration, being this one of the reasons why I send you this text, however not knowing what you might think of it, I won't stop saying that I am an European, I am against war, I am against Irak's dictatorship, and I am not against any people or culture, either it is European,
American or Muslim. However I will stand up and point my finger to all those people or situations I do believe that are against Peace. Either it is in Irak, in the United States, in Israel or in Portugal wich is the place that has seen me since the day I was born until this day.
What makes me unhappy is to see a divided Europe due to some people who are unfortunatelly rulling our countries. The thing that makes me happy is to know that these same persons can be replaced how many times we want and that the divisions that are present in our
governments are not represented on the minds of our people. There is a mutual understandment between our people that war isn't desired and once again the ones that are divided are those who are on the governmental positions. In a land that has in the past century seen so many deaths, destruction and war at the hands of the maniac dictators, there can be no place for those who want war. In a land that was now trying to construct a peacefull nation, I must condemn those who now want to
transform this land on an belicist nation.
Speaking as a Lisboa born citizen, an European, and a citizen of the World, a world that in my belief can't have a place for terror, either from dictators or from those who like to ban terror with terror, I must say that this country where I live has in some periods said NO to some kind of agressions. During Napoleon's Invasion of Europe, he asked to all the British citizens who lived here, to be deported and to their belongings to be delivered to him, our King said NO. In 1974 our troops and then our people said NO to the dictatorship and to the colonial war wich was killing our people and the people of our African colonies. We said NO to the Yugoslavian agressions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and more recently we were thousands to say NO to the Indonesian agression in East
Timor, so at this point it is my time to say NO to those who support wars for oil such as the United States Administration or dictatorship's such as the Irak's Administration.
I do really hope - strange word these days - that you brave people did took a chance to reed this long text and in some way agree with this, but as freedom supporter I am, I will understand if you don't agree with my opinion, and I assure you I won't invade your house. Those who would like and want please react to this, because it's from
dialogue we should came to an agreement and not from shooting a gun demanding an agreement. If you consider me as to be another fool that just talks... well each of us acts and reacts the way we consider to be appropriate to the time, however some of us prefer that the way to act is to point a finger and not a gun. I just believe that I live in a World with so many cultures that could be used as well as the knowledges each one has to improve life, and we just use those knowledges to be indifferent to each other, to kill one another showing how powerfull we are.
And now I will end my letter not bothering you anymore but hoping you had the courage to see this to the end...

With my deepest regards and respect to all of you who are my friends...

Paulo Peralta