Culture and Media

Gaza children’s artwork, is an exhibition of paintings and drawings done by children in Gaza following the Israeli 22 day assault earlier this year. As a result, over 300 children were killed, many more injured, 1,400 children orphaned of at least one parent, 30 percent of children suffer serious mental health problems and all the children are traumatised.

People the world over must find non-violent ways to oppose American military force lest they suffer the fate of the Vietnamese and the Iraqis. In response to the menace of the U.S. military-industrial complex, non-violent soul force needs to be considered in international conflicts just as it was used by Mahatma Gandhi in India and by the Reverend Martin Luther King in the U.S.

The World March for Peace and Non-Violence definitely experienced one of its emotional highpoints on the morning of October 7th. The base team members were invited to attend the formation, before their very eyes, of the largest human peace sign, executed to perfection by over 12,000 students from schools in the town of Lucena, in the south of the Philippines.

The Municipality of Resistencia, in the Chaco province, Argentina, and the Community for Human Development, held a tree planting event as a symbolic act to demand world peace. It took place in Kohanoff Park, in the capital of the Chaco, where 20% of its inhabitants are indigenous and the humanitarian situation of the native towns they live in is catastrophic.

The bagpipes (la gaita) will leave the Galician region of Fisterra, and accompany the Base Team travelling through the towns and cities of Galicia and Portugal. It will go from Madrid to Punta de Vacas, Argentina. In each location a bagpipe player will sound it in homage to all emigrants, a Galician song to diversity, solidarity among peoples, to Peace and to Non-Violence.

On October 4, the Moroccan capital, Rabat, became a platform for the launch of World March for Peace and Non-violence. During this extraordinary day, the entire city saw a march of residents, associations, artists and elected representatives who wanted to give a public demonstration of their commitment to a world without violence and war.

A Press conference was held at 11 am at the Culture House with the participation of several organizations, singers, actors, and public figures who have endorsed the march in Sweden. Afterward, participants played music, gave speeches and formed a symbol of nonviolence with lighted candles in Norrmalmstorg Park, chanting together in concert with the wind: “World Without War”.

Brussels, capital of Europe, is mainly known for hosting many international decision-makers, who, as of late, receive strong protests. An Emotional commemoration at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, initiated with the Embassy of India, was held in Brussels, Friday morning October 2, followed by the launching of the World March.

On 2 October Maximiliano Guerra, Juan Leirado, Jorge Marrale, Silvia Pérez, Miguel Cantilo, Raúl Porchetto, among other well-known Argentinian artists, celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi and declared international day of non-violence by the UN in Buenos Aires. This was the context in which these influential celebrities spoke to Pressenza.

A symbolic march through the downtown of the Argentine city Rosario by the longest flag in the world, “High in the sky”, passed through the city’s downtown in order to commemorate the inauguration of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. Students and young people went from Pringles Plaza to the National Flag Monument, where they assembled the Sign of Nonviolence.