Right before the opening of the international campaign f?r a democratic parliament at the United Nations, KDUN-general Andreas Bummel expressed his optimism during two interviews. To the German news magazine Telepolis, he explained that ?the UNO must be fundamentally strenghtened?, which could only be realised via democratisation: ?Here the parliamentary assembly will play a key role, even if it is still fiction for some people.?
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http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25031/1.html)
In talks with Dr. Yavuz ?zuguz, initiator of the online portal Muslim-Markt, Bummel underlined that this is acting in an area, which needs ?long time strategies?, ?but therefore they [the goals of the KDUN] will have an even greater impact?.
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http://www.muslim-markt.de/interview/2007/bummel.htm)
The first press conference took place in Dar As-Salam on Saturday, April 21st. Two days later, the appeal as well as the list of signatories were published and offered to international media. At the same time, the british Independent covered the start of the campaign, giving room to voice his opinion to the Israeli peace campaigner Shimri Zameret, who equals the idea of a UNPA to ?the successful creation of the International Criminal Court?. He comments on the need to offer the people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine a forum, which goes beyond the interests of their governments.
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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2474470.ece)
On April 24th, the known for being critical british Guardian joined the coverage. It is being remembered that the idea of a world parliament leads back to Alfed Tennyson in 1842, but has not succeeded until today. ?But this time it could come to swim?, the article says. The author mentions the problems of existing global governance, which acts without democratic legitimasation, and describes the system as ?a tyranny speaking the language of democracy?. The question would be no more if decisions were to be made global, but how one could secure that decisions would be made democratically. The plan to install a UNPA step by step and to be consisting of national parliamentarians in the first place, is being critisized for being a possible danger to the legitimisation. However, everything had to be done to realise these plans, and so the author concludes that even if all reactionaries will stand against it, the rest has to support the project. (
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2064088,00.html)
At the same time, the German Frankfurter Rundschau presented a general overview of the program and the supporters of the campaign. The positive effects that a UNPA could have on global governance, were highlighted.
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http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/aktuell/?em_cnt=1122063)
On 4/25, 24 Hours Vancouver presented yet another general overview and cited the former UN-parliamentarian and KDUN-supporter Ian Waddell, who pointed out the need to give the world population a voice in international politics.
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http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2007/04/25/4127691-sun.html)
On 4/26, The Epoch Times (Canada) covered the press conference in Vancouver and cited the support of participating speakers, who also had to face doubts.
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http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-4-26/54552.html)
A video of the press conference is provided by Google:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-8794976811459483847On 4/28, the Khaleej Times Dubai pointed out the lacking support from the USA and concluded, that this strenghtens the need for a vigorous debate. (
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2007/April/editorial_April57.xml§ion=editorial&col)
Further reports were published in the Tages-Anzeiger (Switzerland), the Reformatorisch Dagblad (Netherlands), as well as The Record (Canada). Further press conferences were held on 4/27 in Berlin and Madrid.
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