"Languages for Peace"

[Harold F. Schiffman]

"LANGUAGES FOR PEACE"



Under the High Patronage of the President of he People's Democratic
Republic of Algeria, UNESCO and the League of Arab States

An international conference around " A Multilingual Policy to Promote
Peace through Languages " is to be held in Tlemcen, Algeria, from Sept. 28
to Sept. 30, 2002. It is jointly organised by the Aboubakr Belkaid
University in Tlemcen, the City Council and the international association
"Le Monde Bilingue" based in Besançon, France.

The aims of the Tlemcen Conference are:


1.  to develop the spirit of a new world linguistic order based on early
immersive bilingual education within a multilingual system.

2.  to submit to the vote of the participants a final resolution to be
known as the "Tlemcen Manifesto "

3.  to establish a prospective " Conseil Méditerranéen des Langues" (
Mediterranean Council for languages) to embody the cultural and linguistic
exchange among the Mediterranean countries and regions as an echo to the
moto of the Tlemcen Conference: "Languages for Peace".



In his complimenting letter to " Le Monde Bilingue", dated July, 19th,
2002, Mr. Jean-Pierre Raffarin , the French Prime Minister writes: " I
warmly welcome this venue which aims at promoting a linguistic policy to
serve cultural diversity. It stands in defence of a cause that France
greatly values. That this conference has received the UNESCO patronage is
a witness to its universal interest and a proof of its pertinence. That it
is to be held in Algeria shows the attraction for and the meaning of the
multilingualism prevailing in this country. Besides, the coming
celebration of " Algeria Year 2003" in France clearly speaks for the place
reserved to the French language in our mutual exchanges and relations."

Jean-Marie Bressand, the Franche-Comté born pioneer of bilingual education
and town-twinning stresses that the proposed solution for learning
languages is : " to be distinguished from "francophonia" i.e. the defence
and promotion of French, in that it is not just for the salvation and
promotion of French but also for the flourishing of Arabic and other
languages world-wide". He further emphasises that " it is not a war
declared to the English language -- which remains indeed an exquisite
language-- but one should prevent it from becoming the sole medium of an
exclusive thought."

In November, 17, 1999, at the 30th UNESCO General Conference , Mrs. Gloria
MONTENEGRO CHIROUZE, former Guatemala Ambassador in France, now permanent
envoy to UNESCO, supported and helped by all the representatives from
Latin-American and Arab countries, had the 187 nations to sign the
resolution on multilingualism initiated by " Le Monde Bilingue".

Several distinguished speakers will be present in Tlemcen, among them Mrs.
Khalida TOUMI, the Algerian Minister for Culture and Communication, Mr.
Bernard STASI, French Ombudsman and former minister who in last January
jointly with Mrs. Christiane TAUBIRA, MP for French Guyana, lodged a
request for the 2002 Peace Nobel Prize to go to " Le Monde Bilingue".





Related Websites:             www.tlemcen2002.net
                                        www.tlemcen2002.univ-tlemcen.dz
                                        www.lemondebilingue.asso.fr

Your comments:                tlemcen2002 at mafco.ch


________________________________ MAFCO Manfredo Ferrari Consulting
Responsable for Communication and Security at the TLEMCEN2002 Conference
in Algeria CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland) www.mafco.ch

Phone: Manfredo Ferrari (Italy): 0039 339 641 36 36
(Board Member of the "LE MONDE BILINGUE", since 1992)