The WM has continued to grow since being made public a year ago because it is open to the participation of all social sectors without discrimination. It matters neither from where the endorsements come nor the affiliation to which they belong. The only requirement is to work shoulder to shoulder in the convergence of these common objectives: the eradication of nuclear weapons, “zero tolerance with weapons of mass destruction”; reduction in military spending; the signing of non-aggression treaties between countries; abandonment of occupied territories; and the renunciation by States of the use of war as a means to resolve conflicts.
These are the general proposals of which we want to “create consciousness” with this WM.
There will be a March, a symbolic journey through various countries. But the important thing is not this journey, the important thing will be the quantity of activities that will be activated in more that 300 cities of the world on the 2nd of October, the day the WM starts.
We will be in places of conflict, places where tragedies have occurred, places with closed borders, marginalised and forgotten places. We are going to try to open these borders, to reconcile the injuries of these conflicts, at the same time as opening new forms of relating, interchange and cooperation between peoples.
But, as we are in a centre of study and reflection we can also speak about giving an inner dimension to this WM. It is not only a march “outside”. We can make our inner March; to also journey through our inner places of conflict, our places of contradiction, our enmities, our inner battles. We can also deactivate our violent behaviour, and in this work we will also be “doing the WM for Peace and Nonviolence”.
Friends, this Park of Study and Reflection has been built on historic land. Many civilisations have passed through here. There have been wars, invasions, conquests and re-conquests, full of blood-thirsty stories, where madness reached extremes of misfortune. In the last violent episode, that took the worst form: that of “civil war”, it brought members of the same town and even the same family into confrontation.
But there have also been moments of splendour in an era in which Europe was submerged in shadows. In the Middle Ages, when Toledo was known as Tulaytulah, the “doubly tolerant”. Here the three cultures: Arabic, Christian and Jewish lived side by side. Toledo became a centre of irradiation of knowledge. People came here from across Europe seeking knowledge. This World March comes also from these lands as a new attempt, one more contribution, to decisively leave behind human prehistory.
We have 104 days to go until the start of the first world march. Friends, the majority of us are already protagonists of this march, but to those who are not, we invite you to participate, to be the architects of the greatest human adventure in favour of peace and nonviolence.
Friends, in 149 days we will meet again here when the WM passes through this park on the 15 of November.
http://picasaweb.google.com/InauguracionParqueToledo
