Europe

On Sunday 27th September, from 10:00 onwards, the annual bicycle festival was held in this town on the outskirts of Madrid. Around 2000 locals took part and the March logo was displayed on their race numbers. At the end of the event a manifesto was read about this planetary initiative in favour of peace and nonviolence.

A number of testimonies of the situation suffered by the Mapuche nation in Chile were put forward at the 12th period of sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Danielle Mitterrand, who was in Chile in April as part of a mission for the “France Libertés” Association, of which she is president, spoke out on the nation’s behalf.

With a farewell at the World without Wars headquarters in Madrid, the Spanish members of the Base Team got ready to leave for New Zealand, where the World March for Peace and Nonviolence will start on the 2nd of October. In this gathering they talked about some of the particulars of this adventure for peace.

Last Wednesday, in Rome, Umberto Veronesi and Luisa Morgantini took part in the presentation of the World March for Peace and Non-violence which will reach the Italian capital on November 12th. A delegation will take part in the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates the previous day in Berlin. Silo has been invited to speak.

An exhibition of pictures by the Argentine painter Irene Montemurro has opened in Madrid, in the Hispanic-Central American Centre. The painter supports the search for liberty in women through vitally nonviolent experience. The exhibition, which will continue on until 1st October, is dedicated to the World March for Peace.

Montserrat Ponsa, member of the base team, has begun the World March in her hometown, L’Ametlla del Vallès (Barcelona), before leaving for New Zealand. Journalist and the only Catalan who will complete the entire route, she was accompanied in her personal first steps of the March by her neighbors, local and regional politicians, and representatives of various organizations.

In this article, the author analyses some of the factors that establish the “Bolivian Process”, led by President Evo Morales, as a peaceful, non-violent humanist process. A new revolutionary constitution that extends rights to more Bolivian citizens at home and abroad and Morales’ response to conflictive situation corroborate this assessment.

Barack Obama has abandoned the controversial Pentagon plan to build a missile defence system in Europe. The plan had long tensed the relations with Russia. It also represents an stategic shift to not threaten Iran but to go to the negotiations table instead. “Europe for Peace” and the Czech Nonviolent activism against the missile defence shield helped to get to this decision.

It is a very important gesture of détente and peace by President Obama and we want to highlight it and applaud it around the world. We support all efforts of the US President to advance towards global nuclear disarmament. We invite Obama to support the World March, something that has already been done by almost 20 National Presidents and Governments of the World.

At the Faculty of Political Science at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Complutense University of Madrid), Evo Morales spoke about his political project and explained before professors and students: “I learn from contact with the people, to better serve the people… Governing is simple: it’s a matter of taking initiatives, of listening to proposals.”