Marking its passage through Geneva, the World March for Peace and Nonviolence urged the people of Switzerland to vote “Yes” on November 29th on the initiative to support a ban on selling weapons to other countries. World March Switzerland spokesperson, Dani Horowitz, made the following statement at the press conference: “We fully sympathize with the Swiss people who fear they may lose their jobs and their livelihood if our country were to renounce a major sector if its economy: weapons manufacturing. Nevertheless, we cannot reasonably accept a situation in which we fill our bellies by killing people. We cannot justify creating employment at the expense of other people’s lives. That is unacceptable to me.”
During the event, a representative from the Group for a Switzerland without an Army (GSSA) encouraged the crowd gathered in the ‘Place des Nations’ square to pursue a coherent foreign policy that excludes participation in conflicts and indirect killing, to stop profiting from a trade that eats up valuable resources which could be put to much better use in Swiss quality of life and education, and to send a strong signal in favor of disarmament and conversion of the arms industry into renewable energy infrastructure.
In the morning, the marchers were joined by more than 300 persons, including a group of marchers arriving on foot from Chambéry and from the Balkans. This festive procession made its way from the Place Neuve to the Place des Nations, advancing along the shore of the lake in the fleeting warmth of sun piercing through on an otherwise overcast day.
Photo Gallery:
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/31287976@N07/sets/72157622773852128/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/31287976@N07/sets/72157622773852128/ “http://www.flickr.com/photos/31287976@N07/sets/72157622773852128/”)
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/31287976@N07/sets/72157622649032459/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/31287976@N07/sets/72157622649032459/ “http://www.flickr.com/photos/31287976@N07/sets/72157622649032459/”)
*(Translation provided by Patrick C. Yancey)*
