Interview with Miguel Hirsch: “in Africa I felt that the worst form of violence is economic injustice”

**Q:** What was your experience of spreading the Peace and Nonviolence message throughout Oceania, Asia, Europe and Africa?

**MH:** The people in each place are outwardly very different – in their characteristics, customs, lifestyle, clothes, skin color, etc.. However, what surprised us was that their aspirations and deepest desires were practically the same everywhere; each man and woman showed a desire to be valued, to be recognized as a human being, to be able to live in peace with decent living conditions, to be able to bring up their children without fearing unreasonable and unnecessary deaths caused by war or other forms of violence.

**Q:** Do you feel any difference now that you are going through America?

**MH:** Indeed, already in Africa I felt that the worst violence is due to economic injustice. And in Latin America this is powerfully resonant too. In other words, people feel the tremendous violence of the impossibility to live in minimal living conditions that equate to a decent life. The worst of the situation is the injustice of the distribution that causes suffering to a huge majority of people, and is accepted as if it is “the norm”, when it is actually an absurdity resulting from the misuse of resources.

If a father spent 50% of his salary on weapons we would consider him to be insane and dangerous, however it is accepted as “normal” when a government does exactly this. We must learn to recognise the government’s actions for the craziness that it is in order for us to be able to demand that the government looks after its people with better education, better health care, better lodgings and lifestyles and with decent jobs.

**Q:** As the only Chilean that has covered the whole route, what have you found regarding peace and nonviolence in your own country?

**MH:** It seems to me that there have been huge advances but at the same time there is progress to be made. I believe that Chile is capable of political change and of being able to provide a model to the rest of the world. But first, we must look after our people and completely eradicate the extreme poverty and eventually all kinds of poverty. And this is easy to do in Chile because it is a country rich in resources.

Let’s use 50% of the military budget (or it would be enough just to decide to stop investing in arms and convert our armed forces into forces that will support the population) to eradicate poverty and properly educate our children and the youth, and many other heavenly things will become reality for our people.

**Q:** When will they arrive in Chile?

**MH:** We two Chileans that are currently participating in the World March for Peace will arrive in Santiago during the night of 28th December or on 29th morning. We hope to be able to actively participate in the events that the local promoting teams have been very carefully preparing this past year – the Carnaval de Cuatro Marchas that converges on the Plaza de la Constitución (the March will then continue to the Plaza de Armas) and the other events which I hope will involve thousands of Chileans. The World March will be a huge success at the end of the year.

**Q:** How can one participate in the end of the March? Where will the final ceremony be?

**MH:** I believe that from 9am on Wednesday 30th December in el Cerro Santa Lucia, La Estación República, La Estación Mapocho and Plaza Almagro, the Cuatro Marchas that I have just mentioned will start, arriving at about 11am to the Plaza de la Constitución. I believe that those interested can visit www.marchamundial.cl to get more details about the events going on in Santiago on this day.

**Q:** What message would you like to share for the future?

**MH:** The world that we want and dream of IS POSSIBLE!! Our aspiration for a Universal Human Nation and our dream to have a humane world where each human being is valued thus living in peace and developing along with the rest of humanity, is all possible. Only we need a change in our conscience; we need to profoundly reject violence as a means of solving conflicts and find new ways to resolve them. Let’s act with decisiveness and clarity through solidarity that will allow us to significantly move forward, as individuals and as a society. IT IS POSSIBLE, it is in our hands to do something about it and let’s start NOW!!

[Translation provided by Heather Armitage]