Fw: [ArchTheoMeth] afghanistan

The following petition is being circulated by UNESCO's Bureau of Public Information. For background information, see http://www.unesco.org/opi2/afghan-crisis/ UNESCO International Petition to Safeguard Afghanistan Cultural Heritage We, the undersigned, plead for an immediate end to the Taliban edict to demolish Afghanistan's cultural heritage. We further urge the Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to enter into dialogue with the international community - including the Arab and Islamic governments that overwhelmingly have condemned these actions - in order to explore proposals to safeguard this irreplaceable cultural heritage from further, senseless destruction. The edict of the 26th of February 2001 to destroy pre-Islamic and Buddhist objects-including the world's largest standing Buddha statues at Bamiyan-runs counter to all the basic principles of respect, tolerance and the wisdom upon which Islam is based, and is a breach of the Taliban pledge made in 1999. We plead with Taliban authorities to stop this irreversible assault on two millennia of Afghanistan's artistic and cultural achievements, treasured not only as the spiritual birthright of Buddhists everywhere but also as a universal cultural heritage for people of all faiths and nationalities. -Please sign and also forward this e-mail to friends, family, news groups, mailing lists etc. -To avoid adding ">>>" onto the chain, please preferably cut & paste the entire petition and list of names into a new message prior to re-sending. -The 100th, 200th, 300th etc. name to sign is requested to also forward the updated list of signatures back to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at e-mail: "unesco.press@...". 1) W. Bruce Stewart 2) Ruth E. MacKinnon Stewart 3) Kathryn J. Stewart 4) Myriam Arcangeli 5) geoff carver 6) Piotr Gasiorowski