2007 Ordinary General Meeting

At its 2007 annual meeting in Brussels (Belgium), the General Assembly of the IONA (International Organization New Acropolis) wishes to highlight its fifty years of continuous activities in support of philosophical thought, culture, international understanding, tolerance and protection of the environment.

It therefore resolves:

1. That as an International Organization it has carried out important activities in pursuance of the above aims in over fifty countries throughout North, Central and South America, as well as Asia, Africa and Europe.
2. That during these fifty years it has worked closely with both international and national or non-governmental organizations, as can be seen from its activities and achievements over these years, which are regularly detailed in the Yearbooks published by the IONA.
3. That, within the possibilities of the national member associations of the IONA and within the framework of their activities, it has decided to continue to support the eight Millennium Development Goals approved by the United Nations, as they “form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions”.
4. That given the presence of national associations affiliated to the IONA in the countries of Latin America, and the close links between some of these and the Organization of American States (OAS), it also resolves, as a civil society organization, to continue to support the important work of the OAS on behalf of the countries in the region and, in particular, to support its efforts to make education more widely available and to work for sustainable development.
5. That in respect of the member countries of the IONA within the area of the European Union, it was decided at this General Meeting to support the proposal of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to designate 2007 as the European Year of Equality of Opportunities for All, the principal objective of which is “to launch a major debate on the benefits of diversity for European societies, and to make people more aware of their rights to enjoy equal treatment and a life free of discrimination”. This is especially relevant as one of the basic principles of the Founding Charter of the IONA is “to promote the spirit of universal fraternity among people of all creeds, races and social backgrounds”.
6. That, as a philosophical movement of a humanistic nature, the IONA has made commendable efforts in the area of cultural development to “enable human beings to develop their potential and to live in harmony with nature by understanding its laws”, as its Founding Charter states. It therefore proposes to its member associations all over the world, which together have several thousands of members, that they intensify their activities over the coming year to promote the values of harmonious coexistence among human beings and work together to make known and defend the fundamental rights which all human beings without exception should be able to enjoy.
7. That the ecological and environmental protection work which the IONA has carried out worldwide over these last fifty years has had a significant impact on the protection of our environment, not only in terms of prevention, but also in hazardous rescue operations in cases of natural disasters, in which the GEA (Active Ecology Group) branch of New Acropolis has played an important role, as is reflected in the notes of thanks from governments, humanitarian organizations and others detailed in our Yearbooks.
8. That, particularly among young people, the IONA has been very effective in promoting volunteer groups which are active in society, combining individual and collective life and developing a spirit of solidarity with people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
9. That in the globalized world in which we live, the IONA has become an excellent means for disseminating philosophical thought, since its member associations all over the world, as stated in its Founding Charter, propose “to awaken a holistic vision of the world through the comparative study of philosophy, science, religion and the arts”. This principle has led it over all the past years to carry out quality work in the dissemination of culture and freedom of thought, and to continue to do so in the future.
10. Over these fifty years, following the teachings of its founder, the philosopher Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi, the IONA has developed a culture of “values education” in the different activities of its associated centers around the world. As the UNESCO later pointed out, values are a factor in the search for the “common elements of spirituality found in all sacred traditions”. These have been consistently promoted by the IONA as part of an education in those lasting values.
11. That the philosopher Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi, founder of the IONA already pointed out in numerous publications and lectures that the deterioration of the ozone layer would give rise to a warming of the planet, which would result in the melting of the polar icecaps. He stated that the consequence of this would be an increase in sea levels and an advance of cold waters, which would produce the contrary reaction to warming: a micro ice age. With these studies he anticipated what has now been pointed out by a number of major scientific associations. Along the same lines, the General Assembly of the IONA also wishes to emphasize that the philosopher Livraga Rizzi noted that this process of physical micro-glaciation would have important psychological consequences, generating phenomena of isolation and a neo-medievalization of society.
12. That in the face of these phenomena of deterioration in human relations, the IONA is in a position to stimulate awareness of these issues and, through its work of integrating cultures and peoples, to counteract the above-mentioned process of neo-medievalization.