"...In this environment, I heard about a 7,000-mile walk for peace, human rights and environmental causes being organized from California to New York via Texas and the Deep South, then through Europe to Moscow, Russia. I answered the call. It was something I could do, a project I could sink my teeth in, increase my contribution to the causes, and perhaps inspire others to do likewise. While it would be years before group reality television shows like Survivor became popular, this walking group experiment was a type of Survivor, only with a higher cause than getting on TV and making some bucks. The project ended up making it to Moscow to deliver thousands of peace messages and letters, while raising a slew of awareness through the media and personal contacts."
I think maybe it is time to do another walk, "reality" style, again, for peace. Anyone interested?
1984, the nuclear arms race proceeded at a furious pace. Some United States leaders talked of a "winnable" nuclear war against the former Soviet Union. Then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan and then-USSR Premier Konstantin Chernenko had not as much as met in the previous four years.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its traditional "Doomsday Clock," which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to three minutes before midnight in 1984. That was the closest it had been to midnight in three decades.
The crucial times demanded extraordinary action from citizens, and some answered the call. One method of trying to break through this wall of East-West division was a walk of some 7,000 miles from California to Moscow called "A Walk of the People - A Pilgrimage for Life." The author participated in this action when it reached Texas and remained with the project longer than all but two others.
Participants met hundreds of people from all walks of life in many countries, including government officials and religious leaders. They collected letters, poems, drawings, and other messages of peace to distribute to people beyond the wall. They also raised awareness through the media, being covered by more than 1,500 newspapers and 500 radio and television stations in the U.S. and Europe.
The author continued to participate in such breaking-down-the-walls projects after that one ended in late 1985. As U.S.-Russia relations improved, the "Doomsday Clock" rose to 17 minutes in 1991 after the Berlin Wall tumbled down. Some observers said it was mostly internal pressure from Eastern European citizens demanding political reforms that caused the wall to fall. These people were inspired by Americans' actions to get beyond our governments' barriers and meet them to tell them we didn't want war.
Walking through the Wall is the author's personal account of those somewhat dark, somewhat exhilarating times. It is a story of not just trying to walk through barriers like the Berlin Wall, but of attempting to break through internal walls, walls between walkers, walls between one's self. The project was similar to the television show, "Survivor," in that it put people together in an intense setting that required them to use all of their resourcefulness, and work with each other towards a common goal. But the goal was something higher than money, fame, and entertainment; it was trying to avert a nuclear war.
Today, the "Doomsday Clock" is back down to seven minutes, as the Bush administration refuses to sincerely work for peace and seeks world domination, or at least domination of the Mideast oil trade. So, it's time for more peace pilgrims to step forward. And they have, including a group of women who walked across the U.S. for peace in 2002. The author has also stepped up his peace work. In telling this story, he hopes to inspire more people to work for peace and justice, to keep attempting to walk through the wall.
http://www.booklocker.com/books/959.html Walk of the People - A Pilgrimage for Life
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The Walk of the People - A Pilgrimage for Life was a walking event organized by peace activists Dale James Outhouse and Pamela Blockey O'Brien to bring attention to the perils of impending nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The walk started on March 1, 1984 in Point Conception, California, and traversed 7,000 miles, ending in Moscow, Russia on December, 1985.
History
In 1984, the global nuclear arms race proceeded at a furious pace. Some United States leaders talked of a winnable nuclear war against the former Soviet Union. U.S. President Ronald Reagan and USSR Premier Konstantin Chernenko had not as much as met in the previous four years. More nuclear weapons had been installed in Europe on both sides of the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain, pointing at each other.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set its traditional “Doomsday Clock,” which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to three minutes before midnight in 1984. That was the closest the clock had been to midnight in three decades, with it being at 12 minutes in 1972, when the U.S. and former Soviet Union signed SALT I.
Since political leaders were not even talking, the crucial times demanded extraordinary action from citizens. One method of trying to break through this wall of East-West division was a walk of some 7,000 miles from California to Moscow, Russia called A Walk of the People – A Pilgrimage for Life. The project was organized primarily by peace activist Dale James Outhouse and Pamela Blockey O'Brien, a long-time organizer of peace, human rights, and social justice projects and member of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Start of the walk
On March 1, 1984, a handful of people started walking from Point Conception, California. The participants proceeded to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, then the Deep South, picking up people along the way. By the time the project reached Washington, D.C. in November 1984, the number of full-time walkers was up to 15.
The walk continued to New York City, then to Europe, with a contingent eventually reaching Moscow in December 1985.
Participants met hundreds of people from all walks of life, government officials, and religious leaders, and collected letters, poems, drawings, and other messages of peace to distribute to people beyond the Berlin Wall. Besides that direct people-to-people action, members raised awareness through the media. The walk was covered by some 1,600 newspapers and 500 radio and television stations in the U.S. and Europe, from CNN to national television in France.
Some participants continued to participate in similar breaking-down-the-walls projects, including the Great Peace March, a larger group that crossed the U.S. in 1986, and a walk in India in 1987-88. By 1988, the “Doomsday Clock” was back up to six minutes and continued rising as East-West relations improved.
Book on project
One participant, journalist Kevin J. Shay, wrote a book about the inside story of the project called Walking through the Wall. The book won a 2002 International PeaceWriting Award, sponsored by the Omni Center for Peace, Justice, & Ecology of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Peace and Justice Studies Association of Evergreen State College, Washington.
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