The Assembly we are preparing for is now nearly ‘ready to roll’ . As you know we are joining in with a Maori led and hosted international ‘hui’ or conference called ‘Sharing Power: Seeking New Paradigms for Development.’ organized from January 11 to 15. It will be a cultural, social, conceptual and activist forum of people seeking pathways for our economies to be aligned with care for the planet and for people.
We are bringing people from Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, Philippines, Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand. We will have an evening and a day before the formal conference which will be dedicated to the group directly sponsored by the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation for participation in this Aotearoa-Pacific Assembly.
This will be a wonderful chance to gather as a group and to share with each other on activities and roles throughout the region. With Edith Sizoo coming this will bring an important opportunity for her to share news directly from the Mayer Foundation and to bring an update on progress for a UN Declaration of Responsibility. During the more formal part of the assembly Edith will give a formal presentation on the cross-synthesis she has been doing of the many initiatives to mobilize international support for UN level Declaration.
We are especially looking forward to this day as an amazing moment to be together with our friends from across the water continent. There will be senior people and youth, professionals and students, indigenous peoples of the region and westerners, women and men. We will have the chance to hear about the varied indigenous, environmental, educational, economic, philosophical, religious and research socio-professional fields, and from local practitioners and activists .
This assembly will bring a time to share how to mobilize further to realize the innovations and changes required in the Pacific, and to bring our contribution to a global community of responsibility. One thing for sure is that this assembly will bring special links between the larger and more westernized countries with the Asia-Pacific (Philippines) – and Pacific Islands. This will be a unique gathering spanning developed and developing countries with young people, students, professionals, indigenous peoples, a type of gathering that rarely happens at civil society levels.
Sharing Power is associated with the Commission for Economic, Environment and Social Policy under the umbrella of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – and this is the first time such a gathering has been held. Because it is being hosted in Aotearoa there will be a strong platform for indigenous knowledge to be considered along with other sectors and professional interests.
There has been a huge response to Sharing Power internationally, so we anticipate that our regional interests will be enriched by our interactions with great thinkers and doers with common concerns and commitments.
At this point in time bookings are made, cameras are ready, most of the arrangements are done with a few to be finalized. No doubt we will be attending to hosting protocols until the day comes when we will be together at Whakatane. This is a small town which might be hard to find on the map – but is by the sea on the East Coast of the North Island
We have been in discussion with many more people that those who have are coming – from Australia, a theatre group from Vanuatu, Samoa, Tahiti, and the people from Fiji and Hawaii have had to withdraw. All these will continue to be included in our Pacific Across Oceania network. Our next news will be to tell you all about our Pacific Assembly.
Nga mihi – as we say
Betsan, Te Kawehau, Maria
the Citizens' Assembly in Oceania
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