Peace in the News...
Soldiers, students, officials march in Manila for peace
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:39:00 10/07/2009
MANILA, Philippines—International peace advocates Tuesday joined soldiers and other Filipinos in the streets of Manila to press for world peace and nuclear disarmament.
Led by a brass band, more than 2,000 students, soldiers from the Philippine military, government officials and NGO workers joined the colorful World March for Peace and Nonviolence in Manila’s Malate district.
“The purpose of the march is to create awareness and consciousness for peace and nonviolence because this is a very important issue... It’s all for nonviolence,” said Gemma Suzara, spokesperson for the Philippine leg of the march.
Suzara said that around 3,000 groups around the world were holding daily marches, which began on Oct. 2—the United Nations International Day of Non-Violence and Mahatma Gandhi’s 140th birthday. Marches will be held in different countries until Jan. 2.
The movement aims to stop countries from building up nuclear arms and to convince them to agree to avoid using war as a means to resolve conflicts.
Italian Marco Inglessis said the movement was two years in the making, with the world march kicking off in Auckland, New Zealand. He said organizers were impressed by the response from Filipinos.
“It was impressive, wonderful. We did not expect this,” Inglessis said.
He said that from the time they walked out of the airport on Monday, there were a lot of “people waiting for us... It was something unexpected for us. It was not the same in New Zealand or Australia.”
Inglessis said the movement wanted to spur world peace, beginning with individual renewal towards nonviolence.
“What we propose is starting from ourselves, acting in a nonviolent way. For us, violence is not just physical violence, it is religious violence, economic violence, sexual violence. Physical violence is just one of them,” he said.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:39:00 10/07/2009
MANILA, Philippines—International peace advocates Tuesday joined soldiers and other Filipinos in the streets of Manila to press for world peace and nuclear disarmament.
Led by a brass band, more than 2,000 students, soldiers from the Philippine military, government officials and NGO workers joined the colorful World March for Peace and Nonviolence in Manila’s Malate district.
“The purpose of the march is to create awareness and consciousness for peace and nonviolence because this is a very important issue... It’s all for nonviolence,” said Gemma Suzara, spokesperson for the Philippine leg of the march.
Suzara said that around 3,000 groups around the world were holding daily marches, which began on Oct. 2—the United Nations International Day of Non-Violence and Mahatma Gandhi’s 140th birthday. Marches will be held in different countries until Jan. 2.
The movement aims to stop countries from building up nuclear arms and to convince them to agree to avoid using war as a means to resolve conflicts.
Italian Marco Inglessis said the movement was two years in the making, with the world march kicking off in Auckland, New Zealand. He said organizers were impressed by the response from Filipinos.
“It was impressive, wonderful. We did not expect this,” Inglessis said.
He said that from the time they walked out of the airport on Monday, there were a lot of “people waiting for us... It was something unexpected for us. It was not the same in New Zealand or Australia.”
Inglessis said the movement wanted to spur world peace, beginning with individual renewal towards nonviolence.
“What we propose is starting from ourselves, acting in a nonviolent way. For us, violence is not just physical violence, it is religious violence, economic violence, sexual violence. Physical violence is just one of them,” he said.