Today it is one year exactly until of the beginning in Wellington (NZ) of the “World March for Peace and Non-violence". The 2nd October 2009, will be the 2nd anniversary of the day declared by the United Nations as International day of Non-violence, and the birthday of Gandhi, when the WM begins its journey through more than 90 countries until ending up in January 2010 at the foot of Mount Aconcagua, in the Andes Mountains in Argentina. (AR).

A permanent core team of 100 people (of different nationalities and ages) will travel during 90 days through more than 200 cities in five continents. Dozens of convergent routes will join the primary route as the march develops.

The idea of the WM has been studied for more than one year, during which time the viability of the project was investigated. By June this year the possibility of carrying it out was clear and the decision was made to go ahead with a March beginning in October 2009. In the three months that have passed since then we have received countless adhesions to the WM and the number of countries initially foreseen for the journey has been doubled.

The WM can gather together thousands or millions of people from all fields and social sectors, and in particular the youth who are supporting the project with more resolution. It’s astonishing the tremendous ideological, racial, generational, and cultural diversity that is converging in this common objective of Peace and Non-violence. By encouraging and developing this tendency it can become a manifestation without precedent in history.

Given the moment that we are living through it is not necessary to speak about the motivations of the organizers. The need for Peace and Non-violence is self-evident and it can happen that in a very short time it ends up settling in the social consciousness in the same way as the ecological consciousness has been installed in recent years. Today it is necessary to re-define the concept of peace and violence and its consequences and to bet socially for non-aggression, non-belligerence, dialogue, agreement and a rejection of war, in synthesis non-violence as a way for the resolution of conflicts.

The official web site of the March, www.marchamundial.org , is already receiving the first adhesions and initiatives, from individuals as well as organizations, who are beginning to catch the spirit of this March, organized by World without Wars International. In its short public life the WM has already received the adhesions of more than 100 organizations and personalities such as Desmond Tutu, Federico Adult Zaragoza, Bruce Gagnon, Maximiliano Guerra, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Ariel Dorfman, Alejandro Jodorowsky.

On October 2nd presentations of the WM will take place in more than 100 cities on 5 continents. In the following months there will be advance presentations of the march for the different continents: in Milan for Europe, in Buenos Aires for America and in Nairobi for Africa. The official launch will be carried out November 15th in the Symposium "Ethics in knowledge" in Punta de Vacas Argentina.

We ask the media for the maximum dissemination of this proposal that is both necessary and good for all.

Rafael de la Rubia
Internacional Promotion Team of WM
Coordinador MSG-Internacional/World Without Wars-International

www.marchamundial.org