On October 2, 2019, the 2nd World March for Peace and Nonviolence has been launched at Km.0 of Madrid, which will cover the planet until March 8, 2020, when it will end in the same place.

After Rafael de la Rubia’s words of launch at the emblematic Puerta del Sol in Madrid, the place where the 15M Movement began, the attendees went to Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Centre), where the route of the March was explained, as well as its central themes, antecedents, etc.

Álvaro Orús Video

We reproduce here the words of Rafael de la Rubia, coordinator of this 2nd March, in the launching act:

“Ten years ago, on October 2, International Day for Nonviolence, we converged in Wellington (New Zealand) with friends from different parts of the world to begin the March, which ended three months later at the foot of Mount Aconcagua in Punta de Vacas Park, in the Andes Mountains.

That march, against all odds, crossed five continents, was supported by thousands of organizations, institutions and hundreds of thousands of anonymous people. There we discovered that many accepted stories were lies. Those that speak of the good, the bad, the differences in skin color, language, clothing or religion.

We discovered that all the lies created had an interest in generating fear, dividing and manipulating. We discovered that people were not like that and, above all, they did not aspire to be like that. The majority dreamt of having a dignified life, of being able to bring the best to their loved ones and to the community.

And so here today, at the Puerta del Sol, we pay tribute to some of the fathers of nonviolence: Mahatma Gandhi, Luther King, Mandela and Silo, the wise man of the Andes.

We also remember that this place gave birth to the last nonviolent movement that has emerged from these lands, the 15M (a plaque that is there remembers it).

As then in Wellington, today in Madrid, a small group of people from different backgrounds begin a new challenge that aims to become the Second World March.

Today we celebrate, with many cities from the five continents, the beginning of this March.

It should be said that this is not just a peripheral journey through the surface of the planet, through the surface of the earth. To this walking along roads, places, countries… you can add an internal journey, going through the depths of our existence, trying to match what we think with what we feel and with what we do, in order to be more coherent, gain more meaning in our lives and eliminate internal violence.

Then, friends, we will always travel westward, following the solar star until we return to this same place after circumventing the planet. Here we will meet again on March 8, 2020, we will exchange and celebrate what has been done. Thank you.

Translation Pressenza London