CLC: “Peace Route,” an ideal march from Gaza to Kiev
To respond to the appeals of Francis, a peace march is being organised where each participant, through his or her part of the route, completes the entire route between Gaza and Kiev. This is the initiative of the Christian Life Community for Advent. By filling in a Google form, anyone who wishes can join the “Peace Route”. “The chosen route symbolically links the key places of the two wars closest to us and has at its heart all the innocent victims of violence and hostilities anywhere in the world,” Romolo Guasco, CLC president in Italy says.
Fighting for peace
In a letter to CLC, Guasco writes: “Are we getting used to war? It is a terrible question that I often ask myself: wars around the world are no longer in the headlines, except for sensational events, and when we come across these news stories, we often read and listen to them in a distracted way. But the numbers are terrible and growing every day: one million Russians and Ukrainians have died or are wounded; 6.7 million Ukrainians fleeing their country and another 4 million displaced; 42,000 Palestinians and 1,500 Israelis between Gaza and the Israeli border. Then there are the dozens of other conflicts: Lebanon, Syria, the Sahel, Ethiopia, Yemen, Myanmar… 56 ongoing conflicts according to the 2024 Global Peace Index. The crave for arms and defence is increasing. Calls for an investment in arms of 2 percent of the GDP of European countries are being made. Italy doubles its war exports, which now represent 4.3 percent of the world’s total, and Leonardo (30 percent public company) is scheduling an industrial plan for 24-28 years with orders worth 105 billion euros. On November 4, “National Unity and Armed Forces Day”, (national unity was quickly forgotten in Rome and the Villagio Difesa, costing 600,000 euros), was organized for a whole week at the Circus Maximus. We are making a special call to the young generation. First of all, let us rediscover in ourselves, in the style that characterizes CLC, the desire to fight for peace and to confront the structures of sin that desire war! On the occasion of the beginning of Advent, we propose a common initiative that will lead us to walk together, if only symbolically. The “Peace Route” is in fact a march for peace, fragmented like the “Third World War in pieces” that Pope Francis often speaks of… It will be a symbolic initiative to keep alive the awareness of the ongoing conflicts and at the same time show our closeness to all their victims. We have chosen to start the march on the first Sunday of Advent, so that the preparation for Christmas can be an experience that is both spiritual and current, and that, with the concreteness of the journey, prepares the pilgrims to welcome the Child Jesus in their daily lives”.
How to participate
Each participant is asked to run a 10 km route that will be added to the other routes run by participants from all over Italy. The route can be covered individually in one or more days, or as a group, adding up the km of each member. The goal is to cover a total distance of 3,336 km, which is the distance between Gaza and Kiev. Those who participate will be assigned one of the 335 stages of the route, which can be symbolically walked anywhere (in Italy or abroad, in the city or in the countryside…). The routes, divided into 12 macro stages, will cross Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Each participant’s walk will contribute to the completion of one of these stages. On the way, it will be necessary to take a photo (a panorama, a representative object, a selfie…) to send as a proof of one’s walk.
