Italians March for Peace
ASSISI, Italy - About 200,000 people marched from Perugia to Assisi Sunday calling for “all human rights for all” and the end of wars. 
The 24km “peace march” between the two towns in central Italy concluded a “peace week” featuring some 400 initiatives on peace and human rights. These included the 7th assembly of the United Nations of the People in Perugia Oct. 5-6.”Peace and justice walk together” and “Water for all” were among some of the banners at the march. Many carried the famous “peace flags” that marked Italian protest against the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Participants also joined the “Stand Up!” action in line with the United Nations’ “No Excuse” campaign to promote the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight goals agreed in 2000 to cut poverty and to improve health and education. People in the rally sat and then stood up to urge the Italian government to allocate the 0.7 percent of gross national income (GNI) to foreign aid.
The march, the 17th such, was started by peace activist Aldo Capitini in 1961. It is organised by Peace Roundtable, a coalition of Italian NGOs, unions, church groups and local administrations working for peace and solidarity.
The march is the big event for the Italian peace movement, and is a sort of barometer of civil society activities. To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be celebrated in December, the theme of the march shifted this time from peace to human rights.
“It is a way to make clearer which peace we want to build: not just absence of war, but also respect for human rights,” Peace Roundtable coordinator Flavio Lotti told IPS. “We still march for peace, but making more explicit the objectives we are struggling for.”
A call for action issued at the march says human rights are “the legal, political and moral compass to face the current world crisis…Promoting ‘all human rights for all’ means rejecting the idea that the rights of some people can be sacrificed in the name of security, development or the interest of the richest, strongest, the most aggressive.”
The shift of focus created some conflict among supporters. Gino Strada, founder of Emergency, a network of healthcare initiatives in war zones, declined to participate. But the larger expected drop in participation did not happen.
Amongst the biggest contingents was “No Dal Molin” from Vicenza in Northern Italy, about five hours drive from Perugia. Dal Molin is a disused airport due to be turned into a U.S. military base.
“The U.S. base Dal Molin is a wrong step, that has to be opposed and changed,” protestor Andrea Tapparo said, waving a flag showing a red line across a military aircraft.
“Instead of pre-emptive war, we want pre-emptive peace, and block construction of the military base,” Tapparo told IPS. “Our struggle against the base is an icon of the bigger struggle for peace. It is not just a local issue, it has an impact on people who might suffer wars.”
The Burmese struggle found strong support. Many wore a red t-shirt symbolising the Burmese protest.
Human rights were also at the core of the United Nations of the People, attended by more than 700 delegates from 50 countries.
Two main themes were discussed at this meeting — justice in Africa, and peace in the Middle East. Groups from Nairobi in Kenya, where the last World Social Forum was held, participated in the first, and representatives of both Israeli and Palestinian groups in the second.
“We agreed on the need to invest more in civil society and solidarity,” Lotti told IPS. “Civil society is fostering real social change that is not visible from the top but is tangible at the bottom…we ask governments to acknowledge the work being carried on by civil society groups who are working for social change.
“We believe human rights can be enforced only through policies and politics. We are speaking out loud that we want more from our politicians.”
In a press release promoters asked politicians to “listen to understand the demands and proposals” of activists and “make room for those who are never listened to by the media.”
Alongside the United Nations of the People meeting, the third edition of the United Nations of Young People was held in Terni, near Assisi. More than 700 young people from Italy, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East met to discuss ways of contributing to a better world.
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service.
“About 200,000 people marched from Perugia to Assisi Sunday calling for “all human rights for all” and the end of wars”
Amazing and heartening to know that there are more enlightened people out in the world. I think we would be hard pressed to assemble 2,000 people for such a march in this country. Why is it people in this country view such sentiments as weak and soft? As a great man once said “It takes great strength to be a man of peace”
Americans march, but no one knows about it because the MSM won’t report it. At least this march in Italy got some coverage.
The Italians are fundamentally more well-educated than we are and have a much higher literacy rate than we do.
Meanwhile, back in the UK approx 3,000 anti-war (aka: pro-peace!) protestors marched in London today, ignoring the police rustling up a bogus old law which said they couldn’t!
“One of the organisers, Lindsey German, said the authorities and MPs had underestimated the determination of the anti-war movement. She said her message to the government was that it would “never draw a line under this war until you bring all our troops home.
-And we don’t want the troops brought home just so they can be sent to Afghanistan or the Iranian border. We want a permanent break with George Bush’s murderous, imperialistic policies.”
-right on sister!
read full article @ ::: http://www.guardian.co.uk/antiwar/story/0,,2186367,00.html
What is the figure for the largest anti-war prostest since 2003 in the US?
50,000?
Lets not get tied up into a numbers game. The truth is that the vast majority of the people of our nation strongly oppose the war, enrich the rich, policies of the Bush administration. Further, I’ve attended, and helped organize rallies/marches that either go uncovered, or are vastly under-reported in terms of participation.
Our job at this point is to try to find those tactics for protests that regular working folks and their families will feel comfortable participating in. We’ve been working on developing town hall meetings that folks can testify to the hardships of the war/economic policies. Also, we’re pushing for resolutions from city councils, county commissions, etc. In everything that we do, we make sure that the trade union movement is part of the leadership, as well as vets/military families.
Its certainly true that the corporate media is difficult. They don’t represent us. We had a rally of over 500 at the atrium of the Ohio State House last month and the local corporate press didn’t cover it. It wasn’t a wash, however. Many unionists and retirees attended. Many folks are coming out that never had before. We get them to cover what we can, raise hell with them when they don’t and have a local alternate media form that always does cover it.
We are able to work with numerous local elected offials. Many mainstream churches are now willing to speak out.
We need to remember that we are the MAJORITY, actually, the vast majority! We can’t let corporate spin dr’s get inside our heads. We are actually winning, we’re turning things our way. We need to keep up the fight! Our allies are here, and around the world!
Union Guy: Thanks! I needed that. Makes me feel that all is not in vain.
I’ll bet that THEY did not have to apply for a ‘permit’
While I appreciate that people need to feel ‘comfortable’ protesting
BUT
When everything is done all nice and legal and ‘comfortable’ what you end up with is a
PARADE
it appears even italy has renounced the genocidal explorer,columbus…ROCK ON,ITALY….!!!! signing off for now to go have some spagetti and antipasto and a nice glass of italiano vino…chow….sally(the zappacrat)
The son of Bush’s God said in his sermon on the mount, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of GOD”
Who has the nerve to tell the chimp, he has blown it big time.
In the U.S. if you are for peace and against war, you are considered a traitor. If you love war and are for it, you are considered a patriot. That doesn’t say much for the USA, does it. At least not in my humble opinion.
I’ll play the protest march numbers game. Obviously the September 15th March on Washington (orgnaized by A.N.S.W.E.R.) didn’t get enough coverage (duh!). My husband, 12 yr old son and I flew from CA to DC to join what organizers say was a group of about 100,000 people on a warm, breezy day to march from Lafayette Park to the Capitol. It was great to see the mix of old and young, human and canine, button down shirt and T-shirt crowd in attendance.
There were about 1,000 anti-anti-war protesters (pro-war) people and the best argument they could come up with to protest us was to call us hippies and tell us to use soap! I just had to laugh.
My friends at home thanked us for going because not everyone was willing to take their kid(s) out of school, even though this was an educational trip as well as a statment to our politicians that we need to get out of Iraq NOW. As I tell everyone, I can’t complain unless I’m willing to take action. And, my friends know I do a lot of complaining lately.
Save our democracy. Save our country. If you can’t write letters, find a march and be present. Besides, it’s a great way to meet people!
It is to bad that our Catholic Church doesn,t come out openly opposing the taking of life[except abortion],in the sixties the church and its preists were in the forefront of the peace movement.If they have large numbers marching in Italy then the church must be involved!
“The vast majority of Americans oppose the war.”
I doubt it. If they really did, they would be going for Kucinich not Hillary, Obama, or Edwards in campaign donations and in the polls. Ti’s not the case. They wink. Most Americans I am sad to surmise are supremacist or are quasi-so. Almost always all the House and Senate members vote for the bloated military budget increases. And Iraq is just a place to use it to get their oil. If you want to learn an almost exact number of “peace” people just note the number who vote for Dennis in the primary.
Yes, 200K marched here in US in September. Not a word from MSM.
hopalongcassidy–
I think the vast majority of Americans are for peace and are with us on the other issues. They would vote for Kucinich if they knew he existed and what he stood for. The problem is the media not covering Kucinich and our issues, and the fact that lots of working class people are disengaged from politics because they’ve been so disappointed by the system. Just take a K sign out to a bluegrass festival like I did the other day, and see how many like-minded people come up to you and ask who the hell he is. After 5 minutes they’re taking a pin and donating money to the campaign.
Unionguy, I see the same thing you do: a vast movement for peace and common sense worldwide has begun to recognize its potential strength. For now, we have the internet to connect, but we certainly need to put constant pressure on the corporate media.
One way is to bombard them and their advertisers with notices that we are BOYCOTTING them until we get real news and commentaries such as in ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’.
bigchange, hey, thanks for your comments. I’m a bluegrass fan, too. I noticed at the last festival that I went to, which was about 6 years ago, not one person stood up and pledged allegiance to the flag.
Another reason people don’t vote any other way but the usual Republican and Democrat is fear. I’m sure a lot more people would have voted for Nader if they weren’t so afraid that Nader wouldn’t make it. Many knew of Nader. Fear kept them from voting for him.
Everyone knows where they stand in Italy.
The best advocates for peace have often been retired generals (Omar Bradley ,Dwight Eisenhower) and people like Gandhi ,Martin Luther king, Mother Teresa. She said “your smile is the the beginning of peace in the world…especially if you smile often at someone you do not like.”
Peace marches at least here in Toronto have a lot of yelling and screaming activists (semi-pro marchers) and frankly are a bit scary for peace loving citizens. They usually burn a fag (USA,Israel).
What does that achieve.?? I like Mother Teresa’s way better and since I have started smiling more often ,so many difficult situations have become friendly.
My only enemy is the guy I see every morning in the mirror when I shave; everyone else is a brother and sister.
As for reaching for peace here is Moshe Dayan.israeli general:”When you want peace you speak to your enemies, not your friends”
When I see that happening I’ll know the USA etc want peace. In the meantime war is so much more profitable to them (Naomi Klein ,Crisis Capitalism)
“In the U.S. if you are for peace and against war, you are considered a traitor. If you love war and are for it, you are considered a patriot. That doesn’t say much for the USA, does it. At least not in my humble opinion.”
This is why I am a Proud Unamerican!
The “secret” is that we must visualize peace.The Italians are right to march for peace.