On November 2, 2009, activities for the World March for Peace and Non-Violence continued in the Czech Republic. The day began with an important press conference with the participation of Alena Gajdusova, First Vicepresident of the Senate, Rafael de La Rubia, President of the organization World Without Wars, the global organizer of the March, Otakar Mika, an expert in issues relating to nuclear weapons, Dana Feminova, local spokesperson for the World March, Jan Tamas, President of the Czech Humanist Party, and Mr. Tomas Tozizka, coordinator of the world network against poverty. They all agreed and emphasized that it is important for all countries to make the decision to reduce armaments and to assign new roles for their armies, with the goal of ending the investment of financial and human resources in destructive purposes and beginning to direct them towards human development.
Rafael de La Rubia, international spokesperson for the March, highlighted that at this point, more than 23 countries and hundreds of cities have been visited where marchers have been welcomed by the people, presidents and parliaments, and that this tour has become the biggest ever recorded in human history that asks for peace and non-violence.
Later there was an activity in the Senate that included the participation of ambassadors and consular representatives of numerous countries in Europe and America, including Mexico, Palestine, Belgium, Croatia, and Portugal. This activity was coordinated by the vice-president of the Czech Senate, the honourable Madame Alena Gajdusova, and over the course of the event, diplomatic representatives were asked to pass on the message of peace, non-violence, and progressive disarmament to their respective governments. At the event, Rafael de La Rubia pointed out the participation of a Costa Rican Member of Parliament in the March’s base team, highlighting that, for approximately the past 60 years, the country has voluntarily and unilaterally chosen to exist without an army.
In the afternoon Rafael de La Rubia had the opportunity to meet with Pan Sdidla, Commissioner for the European Parliament’s Commission for Social Affairs, where they concurred on the necessity of accomplishing the objectives proposed by the world march, namely the gradual reduction of weapons and stopping investment in war in order to do what is more logical, namely investing in peace and in the human development of people.
photo gallery
[http://picasaweb.google.com/imagenpressenzaspain/ConferenceInSenateCzechRepublicPrague#](http://picasaweb.google.com/imagenpressenzaspain/ConferenceInSenateCzechRepublicPrague# “http://picasaweb.google.com/imagenpressenzaspain/ConferenceInSenateCzechRepublicPrague#”)
*(Translation provided by Jaimie Boyd Guevara)*
