Purnima Anand: Thank you very much. I am really very happy to meet all of you, I am listening to some very valuable speakers. And thank you to the Schiller Institute for organizing in this historical moment, at this very difficult time of the world. Because today we are all actually thinking about what can be done and how we can stop this war. This is a dialogue of civilizations where we have to understand where we have come as a result of this war, and what are our moral values; what is right, and what is wrong.
So everything is messed up and now such dialogues can bring new light and new hope that we are united and we are thinking positively to do something on the ground. These are really my congratulations to the Schiller Institute, Madame Helga, and the whole team, because for the last one month you are continuously organizing such dialogues, and this dialogue is really spreading all over the world. The message is going out.
During the last two months and also when the Russia-Ukraine war started, I did not find any other peacemaker organizations and peace leaders and peace task forces to make the balance between both countries’ conflict. But now the Schiller Institute is taking this initiative. This is really important and today my presence can add to this discussion. The BRICS countries are very important and BRICS countries are able to make the balance between superpowers and the current conflict. Because Iran is a member of BRICS with China and Russia, they are veto power members and I think this is a time of testing for the BRICS countries, when they should showcase their unity; that they are having influence in the world and that they are united and can control the unhappiness happening. So it is high time for BRICS nations to become involved, because the main thing is that Iran is not listening, the U.S. is not listening, and the UN is not listening. So how can countries stop it?
Earlier the United Nations Security Council was there and they intervened. They either stop such things or conduct the negotiations. But at the current time there is no negotiation, nobody is coming in from the front lines to stop this war. President Trump keeps wasting time, stalling. First, after starting the war, he gave 10 days to Iran to stop it; then he extended that for 5 more days. Today Indian media news is going on about President Trump is pausing this time for 40 days and the Indian bullion market is rising. So this is the information in India, I don’t know what it is in Europe and other countries. But if he is expanding the time, this is also a trick, and this trick is not solving the problem. It is only passing the time while all these countries are in conflict. The Hamas problem is creating economic pressure on all countries, especially the energy crisis. And this energy crisis is not only a world problem, it is a problem of every woman in her house. War is not only affecting the economy of nations, it is affecting individuals as well. In India we are being very highly pressured. We don’t have ready access to cooking and heating gas. This is our situation as a result of this war.
So I would like to say here, we should take steps on behalf of the BRICS countries. I am suggesting that the Schiller Institute get together with other think tanks and organizations, such as our friends speaking here from Beijing, China, and from Iran and Malaysia, all BRICS countries, we can pull them together to make the campaign. We can call on the BRICS nations to organize an urgent meeting in the United Nations. And if the United Nations is not listening, let’s put together our White Paper outside and present it to them, because it is a voice of unity that we cannot leave Iran alone to die. We need all countries together and we want all people to be safe and the conflict should be resolved.
Every conflict has its own conditions. When the Russia-Ukraine crisis started, everybody put much pressure on Russia. They put DASHAN (shadow fleet) sanctions on Russia. At that time, initially, the world did not understand what was at stake for Russia, what was at stake for Ukraine. Everybody was thinking Ukraine is a very small country and Russia is a big country, so Russia must be wrong. But slowly, slowly everybody began to understand that behind Ukraine were America, NATO and Europe, and they were creating the conflict.
