Chapter 1

In the 21st century it has become necessary to abolish war itself as an accepted means of settling international disputes, much in the same way as we have abolished slavery in the 19th century and colonialism in the 20th century. 

 

“Reaffirming further that the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and of this Protocol must be fully applied in all circumstances to all persons who are protected by those instruments…”

Chapter 2

 

Chapter 3

 

... the uncertain combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons carries a high risk of a potential catastrophe. Is there a military justification to accept that risk? The answer is no.

The technological revolution applied to information technology, has been diffusing power away from governments and empowering individuals and groups to play roles in world politics — including wreaking massive destruction — that were once reserved for the governments of states...

Chapter 4

 

Chapter 5

The 20th Century will go down as the bloodiest century in all of human history. We will have lost 160 million people, killed at conflict... If we want to avoid repeting this tragedy in the 21st Century, it is high time to start...

Do not bombard Buenos Aires, we cannot defend ourselves. 
The guys in my neighbourhood hid inside the pipes, 
They spy the sky, wear hemmets, smoke crack, while listening to Clash. 

 

Chapter 6

 

Chapter 7

 

The possibility of integrating all the countries in the region to advance on the declaration “LATIN AMERICA: REGION OF CITIES FOR PEACE” is based on the search of consensus with a view to decide on a regional policy to banish war, terrorism and armed conflicts of any origin whatsoever from the continent. 

 

Chapter 4 - The Terrorism

 

 

“September 11 revealed the deeper changes that were already occurring in the world. The technological revolution applied to information technology, has been diffusing power away from governments and empowering individuals and groups to play roles in world politics — including wreaking massive destruction — that were once reserved for the governments of states. Privatization has been increasing, same as terrorism, which is but the privatization of war.”
Joseph Nye, The Paradox of the American Power. 

 

 

 

September 11 (11-S) marked a turning point in the history of international terrorism. Not only were the level of violence and the death toll in the World Trade Center bombings original because of the cruelty infringend on them but it was also the first time terrorism took advantage of new information technology as the approppriate tool to coordinate simultaneous attacks on several USA strategic points. 

 

Therefore, that date marks, horrifyingly, the first global attack in the history of terrorism. However, it was not the last one: only a week after 11-S, terrorists carried out some other attacks using antrax, a deadly bacteria which was sent to journalists, politicians and civil servants in New York and other major cities in the USA by mail. In addition, on 11 March, in Madrid (11-M) and on 7 July, 2005, in London (7-J) , the Al Qaeda terror organization made use of similar coordinated techniques during the assaults over neuralgic points, with a high concentration of civilians in the rush-hour, thus repeating the slaughter. 

 

According to official figures, all three main attacks, whose authorship was indicated to be led by the Islamic Organization of Osama Bin Laden, killed 2,449 people and left thousands wounded, most of whom were civilian.

 

In reference to the damage infringed on heritage listed buildings, it has been considered to be invaluable: only the attacks to the World Trade Center on S-11, resulted in the complete destruction of the Twin Towers, the WTC Building 7 and the Marriolt Hotel, in addition to four New York underground stations and to the Saint Nicholas Orthodox Christian Church. Altogether, 25 buildings in Manhattan were ruined and seven others, located in the business complex of the World Trade Center, were blown down. Part of the Pentagon, in Arlington, was severely damaged by the fire and the plane crashing onto it. Shortly after, an entire lateral section of the building collapsed. 

 

However, without having made fully use of the advantage offered by communication technology but with equally destructive force, international terrorism had already perpetrated two bombing attacks in Buenos Aires: one on the Israeli Embassy and another one against the Argentine Israelite Muttual Association (AMIA) , carried out in March 1992 and July 1994, respectively. Both deadly operations killed a total number of 114 citizens, with more than 500 wounded, besides the overall destruction of the headquarters used by said institutions plus a number of nearby buildings. 

 

In this horrendous way, international terrorism turned up in a city which had previously undergone state-sponsored terrorism on at least two occasions. One of them, very specific though too well remembered for its cruelty: on June 1955, the Navy Aviation Force dumped an air attack on Plaza de Mayo and on downtown Buenos Aires, with the purpose of assassinating President Juan Domingo Perón, which killed 364 citizens, injured more than 800 people and left almost a hundred permanent crippled, among whom there were children, women and elderly people. Another more recent attack which greatly affected not only the city but the whole country: thousands of deaths and forced “disappearances” in the course of the harsh illegal repression by the military dictatorshiop which ruled the Argentine Republic between 1976 and 1983.