Nobel Peace Prize winners
lead peace march in Porto Alegre

by Jerry L. Van Marter
Ecumenical News International

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — Nobel Peace Prize winners Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Adolfo Esquivel of Argentina led several thousand peace activists — most of them participants in the ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches — on a festive march through the streets of Porto Alegre Thursday evening (Feb. 21).

        “You know, they marched in Berlin, and the Berlin Wall fell,” Tutu told a roaring crowd. “They marched in South Africa, and apartheid fell. Now we march in Porto Alegre, and violence will end!”

        The 90-minute march began at City Hall and wound through downtown streets to a plaza outside the Hall of Justice. There, Tutu said: “We have an extraordinary God, but this mighty God needs you. God wants peace in the world.”

        With the crowd shouting "No!" to war,

Christ’s sake. Let us work for justice for Jesus Christ’s sake. We won against Communism. We won against apartheid. Now will we win against war and violence?”