DIRECTOR GENERAL'S ADDRESS

Dear Delegates and Faculty Advisors,

Albert Einstein once remarked, "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." Someone once told me that the biggest crime against humanity is 'Silence'. And we, as the youth of tomorrow, cannot remain silent as the earth is ravaged with venality. Today, the world is plagued with innumerous nodi – Political, Cultural, Religious, Racial and Economical. And a day doesn't pass without news of it: From the Peshawar Massacre of December 16, 2014, the missing 200 hundred school girls abducted by extremist group Boko Haram, the attack on Charlie Hebdo from the 7th to 9th of January, 2015, to the Syrian Unrest, the Spread of Ebola, Climate Change and Global Warming…The list is endless.

With this in mind, I urge you all to break that silence. Gone should be the years of unquestioned obedience, for it is time to stand for change. Over the years I have realized just how desensitized we have all become: we remain unconcerned as long as it doesn't directly concern us. This 'sympathy' sans 'Enpathy' only showcases our shortsightedness and egomania and with every turn of the newspaper page, our silence is like acceptance. Can we, thus, as the driving force of the world, accept terrorism? Accept poverty? And accept disease?

In spirit, Model UN is just this- a platform to stimulate change, one for delegates, both novice and experienced to gain a comprehensive understanding of the world and its issues so that maybe, in the future, some might actually become the harbingers of change- political, economic and social.

And therefore, it is my privilege to invite you all for the fourth annual session of MCGSMUN in the spirit of "Uniting for Peace" that every delegate may engage in 3 days of fruitful debate and deliberation. The conference has been so designed as to challenge all delegates to broaden their intellectual and creative outlooks and to test and surpass the clichéd boundaries and constraints in thought that we unknowingly impose upon ourselves. I hope that you all will take back something of value from the conference and will make both friends and memories that you will cherish for good.

I look forward to seeing you all this April, so that we may, together vanquish the sounds of silence and raise our voices for peace, harmony and solidarity!

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more,
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share and no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
- The Sound Of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel

Shagun Bose
Director General
MCGSMUN 2015