First President to officially support the March

Michelle Bachelet, the first woman president in Chilean history, is also the first president to officially endorse the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.

The President endorsed the March during a meeting with Latin American spokesperson for New Humanism, Tomas Hirsch and former adversary in the last elections.

Hirsch defined the meeting as warm and friendly and said the President asked several times how to support the March. She will receive the marchers when they pass through Santiago and other joint initiatives are being studied now.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence will begin in New Zealand on October 2, 2009, the anniversary of Gandhi's birth, and conclude in Punta de Vacas, in the Andes Mountains, on January 2, 2010.

During these 90 days, the march will cross 90 countries, over 100 cities and six continents, covering a total distance of over 160'000 km.

The goal of the march is to send a clear signal against the conventional and nuclear rearmament race, for the renunciation by governments of war as a way to resolve conflicts and to create a global awareness of the need to condemn all forms of violence.

Many important personalities have already given their endorsement to the march, including the Peace Nobel Price Desmond Tutu, the orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta, the linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky, the Nobel Price writer Jose Saramago, the directors Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Jodorowsky, artists such as Viggo Mortensen, Philip Glass, Pete Seeger, Noa and Juanes, and Carolyn Carson, sportsmen such as team manager of Juventus Gianluca Pessotto and the vice president of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini. Among the organizations, Amensty International in Chile, Mexico and Paraguay, as well as Greenpeace in the Czech Republic and in Hungary have given their support.

To promote the World March committees are forming all over the world to organize events, concerts and conferences.

http://www.theworldmarch.org/press-releases/read/-/president-bachelet-endorses-the-world-march-for-peace-and-nonviolence/