On Saturday 16th the World March for Peace and Nonviolence arrived in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
For that day the peace coalition “Ne v mojem imenu!” (Not in My Name) organized a peace demonstration in the morning in Prešeren Square (at the statue of the poet with the same name): various personalities took the microphone to speak with their positions, interspersed with moments of music from multiple artists. The international team of the World March (2 persons from Spain and another from Italy), coming from Croatia, also had its public intervention, explaining the values of this initiative.
Following is an extract of the public invitation to the demonstration:
“Ukraine-Palestine-Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, DR Congo, Armenia, Haiti… Are we numb to the numbers of civilians killed, squeezed between different news items, day after day, month after month, year after year?
What will we say to the survivors, the starving, the sick, the displaced few, crammed into dehumanised camps? To the abused children, the war orphans, the sex slaves? Armies of boys and men on this side and the other? How will we bid farewell to those that are no more? How will we heal the traumas of those who survive and those born to them?
Where are your conscience and mine, united in the knowledge that there are no just wars, no just genocide, and occupation, still less justified crimes against humanity?! United in the knowledge that there is not one world here and another one there, and that I do not look away when the dignity of another human being is trampled upon. That I am not, you are not, we are not silent witnesses to the devastation wrought by the bloody hands of politicians and other voracious beasts of capital who decide the fate of this world. And who has failed humanity a long time ago. WE REFUSE TO FAIL HUMANITY!”
This event was followed in the afternoon by an informal meeting between pacifists from Slovenia and Italy to discuss the current situation in this european area and about with possible further actions in the future, especially with other pacifists in Austria.
