On Wednesday 3 December, on the final day of the II International Conference on the abolition of foreign military bases, Guillermo Sullings, spokesperson for the Humanist Movement in Argentina, spoke about the World March for Peace and Non-Violence which began in Wellington, New Zealand, on 2 October, and passing through Buenos Aires on 29 December, will culminate on 2 January 2010 in Punta de Vacas beside the Cordillera requesting a world without weapons and war. In turn, he spoke about his experiences of the World March’s progress up until the present day.
On the final day of the Conference, Sullings spoke about the importance of the committment towards the World March for Peace and Non-Violence. He said: “The World March is aimed at cultural engagement. The aim is that by raising people’s awareness, a point is reached where they feel they must engage, because when people feel they are able to strive for something, this “something” starts to take on a concrete form in reality.
Within a few minutes, his speech became very illuminating. He also said: “When the March arrived in New York, the base team representatives were received by Bon Ki-moon, General Secretary of the United Nations. This provoked a two-fold feeling: on the one hand it is interesting that he knows about this March and is manifestly in agreement with ending the arms race. The other feeling is that this is completely useless because this organization is managed, with regard to the arms race and peace, by the five permanent members of the security council who are the main producers of arms”.
The Conference proceeded to close with words from the hosts on this third day, with the expectation that the third one held offers a more positive panorama for the future of Latin America and the world.
