G20 Foundation Publications Turkey 2015 | Page 63

DEVELOPMENT 63 Iraqi Kurdistan by Alfredo Cunha Niger by Alfredo Cunha Bangladesh image by Alfredo Cunha It is urgent to establish an effective intercultural and religious dialogue, to create bridges of dialogue that lead to knowledge and acceptance of others in their legitimate diversity. The Future of Mankind belongs to us. It is up to us, citizens, if we are determined and perhaps motivated, to print a decisive qualitative leap in our collective destiny, making our utopias of today the realities of tomorrow. Civil society can, should and must demand and obtain as soon as possible, an end to poverty, the great wars and corruption and an effective and most urgent fight against climate change and its already frightening consequences! It is urgent and necessary that the next 15 years may consolidate and complete the work begun with the Millennium Development Goals in 2000. This is the last opportunity to stop the despair and conflict and ipso facto, the massive migration flows that may jeopardize the already endangered democracies in the West, the Middle East and Asia. And we, responsible and participatory civil society, have the duty to do everything in our power to make our voice heard and to make this wish come true by and for human beings like us! If we don’t do so, it is the future of humanity which will soon be in question, 100 to 200 years from now, and we may and should all be accused of not paying assistance to Humanity in imminent danger. Q www.ami.org.pt