Europe

On October 25th, “The March for Equality” concluded in Madrid, having begun on September 23 in Barcelona. It finished with a protest against reform of the Immigration Law. The protest came to a close with the reading of a declaration that lists reasons for opposing this law, which is presently going through the parliamentary process.

As the centerpiece for Fall of Berlin Wall Celebration, convening in Berlin, Germany, 9-11 November 2009, the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates will join heads of state and government invited by the German government for the national celebration.
Chaired by Mikhail Gorbachev and Walter Veltroni, co-chairman of the summit, the event is hosted by the City of Berlin.

The five anti-nuclear activists who used their bodies to peacefully block access to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston last autumn, told Reading Magistrates’ Court during their trial that they were acting in a non-violent way in order to prevent future war crimes involving nuclear weapons.
More details can be found at: www.tridentploughshares.org

Every year the United Nations organises this week to coincide with the anniversary of its founding. The aim is to raise awareness among all of the UN’s member states of the danger posed by the arms race, to propagate the need to put an end to it and to foster a better public understanding of the urgent task of disarmament.

CND welcomes the decision by politicians in Plymouth to oppose plans for a nuclear waste factory in the center of their city.
In preparation for a major protest demonstration march on Saturday 31st October, Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, welcomed the decision of Plymouth Council leader to challenge nuclear dump at Plymouth’s Devonport Dockyard.

Klaus Wowereit has been honoured with the Principe de Asturias a la Concordia Award, 2009, before an audience at the Teatro Campoamor di Oviedo (Spain), for transforming the capital of Nazi Germany in World War II into the modern, open and tolerant city of today which, amongst other things, will host the Summit of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Twenty members of the World March Base Team were received by the Director of the Gorbachev Foundation in Moscow to whom Rafael de la Rubia handed the Manifesto for Peace and Nonviolence. The march spokesperson talked about the importance of the Base Team’s presence in Moscow, where he himself founded the association “World without Wars” in 1994.

After several years’ absence, the Belgian anthropologist, Pat Patfoort, an international mediator in the field of the transformation and nonviolent management of conflict, returned to Milan to present her method at the conference, “Building Nonviolence: training in peace and the nonviolent resolution of conflicts,” and the seminar, “Defending oneself without attacking.”

Rajagopal, founder of Ekta Parishad, a movement that promotes non-violent struggle in favor of the landless in India, is currently touring Europe. In Madrid, he held a meeting with various organizations to share information and create a network of support for his initiatives, aimed at making legal changes to assist the poorest segments in Indian society.

Here we publish Mikhail Gorbachev’s open letter to the President of the United States, congratulating him for his efforts to bring about a significant change in the international climate and on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2009, asking the support from Americans and from men and women of good will throughout the world.