[Re-posting ‘A Cry for Peace and Nonviolence’. A cry from my heart in 2009, but still resonates in my heart 15 years later!]
On Thursday 17 December 2009, I attended the last day of the East-South African route of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, hosted in the facilities of the St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town by various organisations, including Southern Africa Peace Alliance, Network Ubuntu, Youth Ambassadors for Peace, Living for Change-Gandhi’s Association. About twenty persons were present at the event.
After the reading of the Manifesto of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence (An open letter from an ordinary citizen to the world’s powerful) by Samira Weng, a young leader of a team that came all the way from Mozambique, we formed a circle in the interior yard of the Cathedral. Then a torch of peace and nonviolence was lit.
It was a time to remember words such as of Martin Luther King: ‘Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.’ The torch passed from one hand to another around the circle. I felt deeply moved when I held the torch in my hands, thinking about past and ongoing violent conflits and their consequences back home in the DR Congo and the Great Lakes region in general.
The torch finished its tour around the circle. Then two ladies sang two songs about peace and nonviolence, which got me deeply moved again. When the meeting was over I had the opportunity to chat with some participants from South Africa, from Mozambique, from Zimbabwe, and one from Holland. It was a wonderful time.
While I am typing these words there is a cry in my heart. A cry for peace and nonviolence, not only in the DRC, my home country, but also in Sudan, in Somalia, in Irak, in Afghanistan, in Palestine-Israel and all over the world where violent conflicts are prevailing. This cry stimulates my determination to do my part in striving to promote peace and nonviolence.
Recently, I was inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of President Barack Obama. I agree with him when he says that ‘for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate’. ‘Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice’. ‘We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace’.
The World March for Peace and Nonviolence was the first March to pass through all the continents. Over 94 days (from the 2nd of October 2009 in Wellington, New Zealand to its conclusion in Punta de Vacas Park of Study and Reflection, Argentina on the 2nd of January 2010) and through more than 100 countries, some 120 activists converged from different routes proposing peace and nonviolence.
My latest blog posts/articles:
- La justice élève une nation, une société
- The 9th Edition of the African Transitional Justice Forum in Kinshasa
- Highlights from an Advocacy Mission at the African Union in Addis Ababa
- Comprendre la mémorialisation et ses implications
- Highlights from the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
Gentil Kasongo 