Tear Down This Wall

PNND joins Nobel Laureates to commemorate the 20 th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

PNND Council member Jonathan Granoff and Global Coordinator Alyn Ware joined the 10th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin from 9-11 November to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.


GSI President Jonathan Granoff
The Summit, entitled “Breaking down new walls and building bridges to ensure a World of Human Rights and a World without violence” brought together Nobel laureates and civil society leaders who have made a significant contribution in building the bridges required for an equitable, sustainable and peaceful world.

Keynote speakers included Mikhael Gorbachev who spoke about Soviet reforms that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall; Thomas Stelzer (representing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon) who spoke about the UN Secretary-General’s five-point plan and the importance of collaboration between the UN, governments and civil society in reducing reliance on militarism and re-investing in development; Mohammad Yunus who spoke about the capacity we have to destroy the wall of poverty; and Frederick Willem de Klerk who described the process he led in reversing South Africa’s nuclear weapons program and the walls that had to come down to end apartheid.

The Summit adopted a final statement calling for the breaking down of walls that stand in the way of a nuclear-weapons-free world; walls between rich and poor; walls between cultural, religious and ethnic communities; walls that prevent combating climate change, and walls between generations.

Mr Granoff, who served as a principal drafter of the final statement, used the occasion to unveil a “Tear Down This Wall” banner, reflecting the Summit call for the ‘walls of nuclear weapons’ (including those in NATO countries) to be dismantled.

5. Italian Parliament adopts comprehensive disarmament resolution


Federica Mogherini
On 23 June the Italian Parliament adopted by consensus a resolution submitted by PNND Council member Federica Mogherini calling on the government to increase its efforts for nuclear disarmament. The resolution highlights a number of proposals and initiatives including the Hoover Institute plan, Nuclear Weapons Convention, UN Secretary-General’s five-point plan for disarmament and European Parliament resolution of 5 June.

The resolution calls on the Italian government to:

work as President of G8 with other G8 leaders to take substantial steps towards the goal of a total elimination of nuclear arsenals;

foster, within NATO, a discussion on the need to rethink the role and importance assigned to nuclear weapons; to promote a constructive dialogue towards a European Nuclear Weapon Free Zone; and to advance the goal of zero nuclear weapons.