Bridges of Peace: The Diplomacy of Akio Matsumura

When everyone takes responsibility for peace whether they be diplomats, mechanics, plumbers, tradespersons, politicians, actors, dentists, doctors, those not working, mothers, children, youth – then we will start to see an awakening never seen before.

This is a little information about one person who has committed himself to peace. I found him as I was interested in looking up the Global Forum of Parliamentarian and Spiritual Leaders on Human Survival. This was mentioned by David Suzuki, so I thought I would have a look into it. The next blog overviews the Global forum.

Here is informaiton on the founder.

http://akiomatsumura.com/akio

Akio Matsumura is a renowned diplomat who has dedicated his life to building bridges between government, business, and spiritual leaders in the cause of world peace. He is the founder and Secretary General of the Global Forum of Parliamentarian and Spiritual Leaders on Human Survival with conferences held in Oxford, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Kyoto, and Konya.

Akio’s view is two-fold:

That we, one and all, are governed by two sets of laws: spiritual/religious law and political/state law. Political lawmakers are able to take action in the short term, but are often curtailed by narrow, short-sighted interest groups. Spiritual/religious laws emphasize long term vision but often lack the ability to make immediate change. Although it is difficult, we must reconcile these two systems of governance in our approach to all of humanity’s major issues: peace, population, hunger, religious/ethnic conflict.

That the conflict between Islam and the West will be the greatest cause of violence throughout this century, but that it is only one manifestation of ideological clashes. Cultural, national, tribal, and religious borders have always existed but now intersect more frequently, leading to greater levels of violence. One great need is to transcend ideological–cultural, religious, political–barriers by emphasizing commonalities instead of differences.

US Senator Claiborne Pell and Akio

Akio has proven time again that these barriers can be transcended, even in the most unlikely circumstances. Both the power of his ideas and his tremendous organizational ability were first on display in the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival, which he founded with support from the MacArthur Foundation after several decades of work within the United Nations.

Accomplishments

From the World Business Academy.

In the last two decades of the 20th century, Akio created many of the events that spoke of a higher sense of connectedness between all nations and cultures across the earth:

1999

European Parliamentary steering meeting at Parliament Building, in Berlin

1997

Secretary-General, Central Asian Parliamentary and Spiritual Conference, at Konya, Turkey

1995

Organizer, World Assembly on Reconciliation hosted by Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat, at Jericho

1992

First Secretary-General, International Green Cross

1992

Secretary-General, Parliamentary Earth Summit Conference, at Rio de Janeiro

1990

Secretary-General, Global Forum Conference hosted by President Gorbachev at the Kremlin

1982 – 1993

Advisor to United Nations Development Program

1988

Secretary-General, Oxford Global Conference of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival, hosted by Archbishop of Canterbury, at Oxford University

1985

Founder, Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival

1984

All-Arab Regional Parliamentary Conference on Population, at Tunis

1983-1989

An Initiating Member and Advisor of the InterAction Council of Former Heads of Government

1981

Conference Coordinator, Asian Parliamentary Conference on Population, hosted by the Chinese Government, sponsored by the UNFPA

1979

Chief Coordinator, World Parliamentary Conference, hosted the Sri Lankan Government, sponsored by the UNFPA