Rondine nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The official announcement comes from the Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies, Marina Sereni, today at Montecitorio in occasion of the 2014 Annual Report 

(Rome, July 9th 2015). “I know that in Rondine a new generation of world’s leaders is growing, leaders who will be brave enough to engage in dialogue, who will be able to seek and dig to understand the reasons of conflicts. Today our world really needs this courage and for this reason I had the idea to nominate Rondine for the Nobel Peace Prize 2015 and I am very happy to tell you that the application has been accepted”.

These are the words that the Vice President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Marina Sereni, used to announce the nomination of Rondine Citadel of Peace, the only Italian association nominated so far, for the prestigious award, during the 2014 Annual Report of the Association which took place on July 9th at the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

«We are pleasantly surprised and honoured – said enthusiastically Franco Vaccari, Founder and President of the Tuscan Association – but this recognition is, first of all, an extra motivation to continue working to address the conflict and remove the poisonous concept and abominable enemy that comes from non-confrontation.The enemy has always been represented by the other, and today we are facing a total enemy. We must defuse this degenerative mechanism. We have to spread a new culture, a new anthropological project that starts from the ability to listen and to communicate, by accepting differences and divergences”.

An announcement that found the warm applause of hundreds of people, including friends and supporters of Rondine, gathered in the Chamber of Deputies to support the Association. Among them all the speakers invited to give their contribution, who have greeted the news with enthusiasm and raised the candidacy through their support.

Luca Lotti, Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister, participated too, highlighting that “the work of Rondine is irreplaceable. The nomination to the Nobel Prize seems almost a duty. The mission of Rondine is fully shared by me and by the Government in the spirit and in practice”.

A real dream, the one carried out in Rondine, also made up of difficulties, as told by Agharahim Poladov, “Rondine d’Oro” (former student), now ambassador of peace back in his country, Azerbaijan, to continue spreading the message of peace of Rondine. “We went through so many barriers together, shoulder to shoulder, as we ran in a relay race, in the sun and in the snow, just to try to save the baton; sometimes we had to protect it, sometimes we had to hide it, sometimes we carried it high with pride. This baton represents hope. This application does not mean that we are nearing the finish line, but that our baton has become greater”.

In this occasion he also had the task to present the new generation of the International Hall, and pass the baton to the new 18 students of Rondine from the Middle East, Balkans, Caucasus, America and Africa.

Other speakers who gave their contribution during the event, Giampaolo CantiniPlenipotentiary Minister and Director DG Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mons. Nunzio Galantino, CEI Secretary General, Matteo Melley, Acri Vice President and President of Carispezia Foundation and Ken Hackett, US Ambassador to the Holy See present at Rondine’s Annual Report, together with many other Ambassadors and Diplomats from those countries with which the Association collaborates in the world. “Starting from below and not from the top in addressing conflicts; this is the way to the resolution”, stated the Ambassador. “More than half the world’s population live in situations of conflict and more than half are youngsters. Peace building is a practice. We must help young people to be visionaries, to imagine a different future in which we can defuse the conflict”.

The initiative, moderated by Francesco Bonini, Dean of LUMSA University,received the sponsorship of the Chamber of Deputies and is part of the official programme for the Commemoration of the First World War Centenary promoted by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers – Structure of Mission for the anniversaries of national interest.