The Peace Report: Walking Together for Peace (Issue No. 2)

8/3/2019 The Peace Report: Walking Together for Peace (Issue No. 2)

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THE'PEACE~ P O R TT h e AMERICANS andSOVIETS WALKTOGETHER for PEAC

'ISSUE NO.2 - OEOICATEO TO THE PEOPLE'S QUEST FOR PEACE ON EARTH - ISSUE NO.2

The Peace Community Is Now a ForceMobilized Citizenry Changes Dynamics ofArms ControlBy JOHN TI RMAN.... /h: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. GorbachevW r i the agreement to eliminate major categories of nuclear missiles in Europe , it will mark ahistoric moment in the nuclear age that begs expl ain .inq . How did th e most vociferous o f all Russophobes,the President most devoted to military bravu ra, agreeto such a sweeping accord?The specu lation about the President's motives hasalready begun . Nancy Reagan wants him to secure his"place in histo ry," The Iran-contra scandal d rove himto recoup through U.S.-Soviet diplomacy . He wantsto undercut the democrats in 1988 . The moderateHoward H. Baker, Jr., is calling the sho ts.There is quite likely some truth in such musings.But major arms-control agreements are more firmlyroo ted in the political culture . Indeed, the fact thatarms control was high on the President 's agenda wasdue significantly to the extraordinary outburst ofpeace activism occurrin g in the 1980s.

It was the massive demonstrations in Europe in198 1 that first riveted attention on the new and peri lous nuclear stand-off on the Continent. At the sametime, a similar if less striden t movement was spread.ing through the United Stat es, coalescing in 6000 local groups that forcefully articulated their concerns:speaking to neighbors, writing pamphle ts, lobbyingCongress. Resolutions were placed on city and stateballots, and were victorious in nearly every test . Acitizens' diplomacy grew quickly as well, establishingsister cities in the Soviet Union, beaming televisedspace bridges around the world, sending delegationsto Moscow.The results of this dissent began to appear, ironic.ally , only aft er it was widely assumed tha t the movement's vitality had been sapped by Reagan's reelection. Two years later the House of Representativesvoted app roval of five bold strokes of arms cont rol.Among them were restrictions on nuclear testing,chemical-weapons production and anti-satellite weapons tests (the last also enacted by the Senate). Thela rge majorities by which these measures were votedattests to the power of the grass-roots peace activismacross the country . Would these politicians havesupported measures that were binding on a reluctantand popular President if they didn't know that thei rconstituences were agreeable - indeed, insistent?Hardly. That legislative performance has been reopeeted in the 100th Congress, backed by an ecceterat ing shift in public opinion.

John Titman is the executive director of the WinFoundation for World Peace in Boston. This art ireprinted by special permission {rom the Los AnTimes, September 24, 1987.The network of local act ivists has been commented by the initiatives of larger and more sopcated organizations. These advocacy "think taprovide policy analysis, legal support, Capitolpressure, high-level exchanges with the Soviets,many other services aimed at prying opencloistered debate on U.S. arms policy.Their work is impressive. The Natural ResouDefense Council negotiated directly with the Sgovernment to mon ito r its nuclear-test site, anprecedented move that has improved confidencSoviet openness to arms-control verification .Union of Concerned Scientists and the FederatioAmerican Scientists have provided qround-breaand probably decisive, critiques of "Star Wars."International Physicians for the Prevention of NuWar has described the human costs of nuclear warthereby discredited the Administrati on 's talkfighting and winning such a contest. As a resultdoctors deservedly won the Nobel Peace PAlong with the millions of activists, in churcity halls and schools, these groups and othersbroadened vastly the public debate over nupolicy and have created a climate of skepticism aReagan rearmament policies.The relationship between democracy and rsentative government is tenuous, especially intion the size of the United States . On a jopic thas complex and secretive as nuclear weapons, dcracy is constrained, virtually locked out . Acircle of experts and officials have made decisforce-fed them to Congress and then presented.to the public as bipartisan, consensual faits accomThe results of thisdecision-makingapparatus - 50nuclear weapons, a $300-billion military budgquarter of U.S. science mobilized for weaponssearch and development - are at least debata blea product of democracy they are not . (Edemphasis.)What the peace movement has done in this deis to democratize this process. Operating on a frac

PEACE COMMUNITY - please turn to pagTHE PEACE REPORT


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Remembering RUSSIA: After the WalBy LARRY STENBERG

Crowds greeted the American Soviet walkers wherever we stopped ; this is a typical scene at a village rally.When I was a young ooy a tn p to theocea n to play in the breakers was the high.light of the year. Every wave was a newadventure. Sometimes I'd underestimatetheir power and be at the complete mercyof the sea miraculously ending up on myfeet while frantically gasping to stay alive.I still don 't know why I'd stay in thebreakers for hours eager for the next en coun ter. Maybe my level of excitementexceeded my fear. Withou t realizing it,I was experiencing enormous exhilarationand exhaustion at the same time .Now that the Ameri can-Soviet Walkhas ended, I feel like I have just returned

to the beach after being tossed around bystrong breakers for four weeks.I'm feeling both exhilarated and exhausted , but the waves haven 't stopped.People 's faces, images of special placesand events keep rolling over me. TheASW was the most powerful emotional experience of my life. I expect a majorityof the American participants feel the same.For nearly a month we were constantlybombarded by contac t with Soviet people and an unending tide of scheduledevents.After returning home and spending afew days at work , it 's clear that I will2 - THE PEACE REPORT

struggle with cultu ral readjustment . I 16 or more hours per day, I got myneed to carefully unravel what I exper- to keep going and savor the expeienced. I f the walk has the slightest im- from the warm and genuine respopact on nuclear disarmament , every the Soviet people .minute of time in the USSR will have My greatest pride came from obbeen well spent . Regardless, I will never the behavior of other American wforget the experience and will join the We handled very demanding schother walkers in a deeper committment quickly adapted to moving anto work for peace. The walk from Lenin- campsite of 300-plus people, freqgrad to Moscow was crammed with hiqh- dealing with rain and mud , adjuslight s. white nights without complaintThe most fascina ting was obse rving daylight is broken by only a few hothe gap between the high tech, advanced darkness, constantly remained opmilitary mach ine and the very simple, fleeting yet frequently emotionabasic lifestyle of the Soviet people, a tacts with throngs of Soviet clifestyle devoid of most modern ccnven- worked hard to form friendshipiencies. The Soviet government may con. Soviet walkers, and fit in time totrol multi-billion dollar missiles com- issues of significance with them.pute rized to pinpoint targets halfway tentively th rough countless formaaround the world. but most Soviet cit i- monies and tried our best to sinzens live only a few steps beyond Third dance at midnight concerts givenWorld standards. honor.The most surprising dynamic was the The most frustrating part of tcontinuous outpouring of friendship and was being under constant surveaffec tion from Soviet people and the especially at our campsites. Manydepth of their passion for peace. Crowds were given for the vivid presencewou ld often stand in the rain for hours formed military and plain clothesmwaiting to shake our hands and greet us ing concerned for our safety and pwith gifts and flowers. Despite the ex- ing our personal property were thhausting schedule which typical ly lasted of reasons . Although I realized the

Reprinted by special permission from The Sea ttle Times, July 28,


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certain value in them accompany ing us,the size and constant visibility of securityseemed far more than necessary. Towardthe end of the walk, I wanted to push outand have more privacy. When we weref1l1ally able to completely move aroundon our own. Moscow had militia andmilitary everywhere. The Soviet ecvemment seems to have a deep fear that civildisobedience may grow from almost anysize crowd. Their police state mentalityreached comic proportions when over3000 military types policed our Fourthof July concert which was attended bythe 400 walkers and 25,000 very well behaved and disciplined Soviet people ,nearly all of whom had tickets because oftheir political connection.Mymost memorable moments occurredin three different setuncs. The first happened early in the walk in the beautiful,lush countryside between Leningrad andNovgorod . We had walked past severaltiny country homes and I was in need. ofa restroom facility . Not in a mood to beparticular, I asked the first friendly face.Well over dJ1 hour later I found myself ona sprint to catch up with the o ther walkerswho fortunately stopped for a ceremonyat a war monument a few miles down theroac:l . In between the bathroom and thesprint, I experienced full-blown Sovietchann and hospitality . Using the primiuve bathroom lead. to tea, cakes, ecevee.saticn, hugs, tears, and eventually an ex.change of addresses. r left this Soviethome with a commi tment to write ,learned that the grandmother of thehouse had lost her husband and two ofher children duri ng World War Il, andthat the daughte r with whom she livedwas one of two surviving children . All oftheir desire to befriend me was inte rpreted by a teenage son who kep t apologizing for speaking broken English, althou ghI informed him that his English was farbetter than my Russian. I will alwayscherish the small, handmade Russian dollthe mother handed me when I dashed outthe door.The second memorable experience cceurred when we walked into Novgorod. Isensed something electrifying was aboutto happen when lines of people appearedfive miles out of town and be9an to foldin behind us for a walk to the Square ofVictory . By the time we were within amile of the square, we were being greetedby and followed by a sea of humanity.At the square , tens of thousandsjoined in. I had. an oppor tuni ty to be onthe stage for the formal ceremony whereI etched a permanent image in my mindof the largest crowd I have ever seen, butmore than mass. it was the feeling of sup 'port and respect for OUt being there thatpermeated the air that I will never forget.The Novgorod crowd was estimated at100 ,000 or more!The third memorable experience oc.curred in an Intourist hotel which wasa part of Camp Solnechney located just

outside of Moscow . It was abou t 10:00in the evening. A qroup of dissidents hadbeen invited to speak to interested American-soviet walkers which had been arranged after considerable neqotiation.When I arrived, heated debate bet weendissidents and some bardccre party lineSoviet walkers was in full swing. I quietlysat next to a Soviet I had not seen before.Our very short but intriguing ccnversa.tion went as follows: The stranger turnedto me and said, "My name is Nickolas.I'm from Moscow and '" member of thecommunist party ."Having met enough party members, Iresponded by in troducing myself andtu rning to listen to the panel of Sovietdissidents . A fewminutes passed ; Nickolasturned to me and said, pointing towardthe dissiden ts, " I want to kill all or them.'

PhotobySharon

The author (Jeft) is loaded with gifts, theresult of.a remarkable disp!ay of ~ n e r o s it y and frie ndship of the Idea of ordinarypeople walldng together fo r ~ d c eSomewhat shocked by his candor, I re

plied, "What if they should want to killyou?"In a typical party line reponse. he said,"That is a very interesting puzzle."Seeing the slightest opening, I added ,"Maybe we most want to kill what wefear and maybe that fear is a mirror reflectio n of ourselves."NiCkolas greeted my comment with along pause while he looked back andfor th at the dissident panel and me untilhis neck got sore . Finally, he said in amuch softer voice, "And you are as myfather."On the next breath, I smiled and said,' -r hank you ," which ended our briefconversa tion .About an hour later, Nickolas foundme in the lobby and handed me a postcardwhich read "For my American 'Father,'Yours truly , 'Son.' Peace and love. Pleasewrite ." Nickolas Borison.The graciousness of the Soviet peoplewas aStonishing. We were treated. like roy.alty everywhere we went . One of themost heartwarming example s occurred inthe middle of nowhere.Our entourage was not looking torward to camping in an open pasture . Wearrived shortly after a downpou r and

were amazed by the community preparation for our arrival. The open, wet, anmuddy pasture proudly displayed a hundred or more aXefoot wooden platformto keep our tents of f the ground . To thright of the plat forms wert 16 ou thousealso freshly made and paint ed just for oucomfort. Next to the row of outhousestood a mobile wat er tank which habeen riwed to a long pipe with '" series ofaucets so we could clean up.The local citizens had.also hooked ua power line so walkers could use shaveand hair dryers, although only a handfuof walkers had bothered to bring sucmodem wonden . But the rear clinchewas setting under a very lar1]e weedframed canopy at specially made bencheand table s eating a sit-down three-coursmeal joyfully served up by local citizensThe evening was topped off by a largtroop of community singers and dancerwho came to our surrealistic pasture tentertain us around a huge bonfire. Thanight I went to bed with mud up to mankles and a mounting affection an

Iondness for such givingpeople.The most humorous as well as ironievent s tarted in the Moscow airport budidn 't end until 12 houn later when wlanded in Washington, D.C. Before departure, we spent an hour in Soviet customs saying qoodbye to Soviet walkenmany of whom had become dear friendsThe goodbyes came amidn hugs, songslaughter, tean, constant snapping of pictures. and various forms of rowdy behavior. After 12 hours of being mashed together on our charter flight, we bordereon ecstatic when we landed on th . goodold USA; we hit U.S. customs tired but inhigh gear.When we started shooting pictures,booming voice crackled over the loudspeaker infonning us that picture taking was not allowed in U.S. customs anddirected us to put our cameras awayFor an instant, I thought we had takena wrong tum and had landed in a strangecountry . Our immediate response was uncontrollable laughter and cheers. Whewe reqained our composure, we launchedinto a 2OQ-voice rendition of "Americathe BeautifuL"Any lisu of mosts should include amost disappointing. But , for me even thaevent had a bright side. After th . re

span_ from the Soviet people and beinheadline news throughout our walk, coming 0(( the plane to a small handful ofTV and news reporters was a disappointment.The Conqressional reception scheduledfor UJ on the next day was even moreanti.cJimatic. We filled our buses withwalken in antic ipation that at the end oour hour-plus journey to Capitol hilwould be acknowledged by Congressionaleaden and applauded for our dfom . Ait turned ou t , only a few members oCongress sent a staff representative. Butthe twelve of us from the stat. of WashTHE PEACE REPORT - 3


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Remembel"ing RUSSIA': Affer the Walk

On the Road to Peac

inqton were honored and pleased whenSenator Dan Evans and Nancy Evans entered the room. As it turned ou t, Dan wasthe only member of Congress whoshowed up. I left the reception proud tobe from the state of Washington, but i tcu t deep to th ink about cur phenomenalreception in a foreign land and the barely lukewarm recepti on in my own COUR t


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Citizen to Citizen

mass graves, and the thousands of build ings destroyed. They are still rebuildingfrom that experience, and they neverwant it to happen again.While walking, eating, and camping together. the Soviet and American walkersexchanged hours of conversation, rangingfrom the personal to the political. Theywere so deeply engrossed in getting toknow each other that they barely noticedthe 3lh weeks of rain, mud, and relentlessmosquitoes.The Soviet Peace Committee who cosponsored the walk, want ed to treat uslike royalty by bussingus everywhere andputting us up in their very best hotels.The American sponsors, the InternationalPeace Walk, Inc. (IPW), however, arguedlong and hard for the privilegeof campingand walking.Joe Kinczel, computer analyst fromChicaqo and one of the IPW Ofl}m izensaid, "The real essence of peace walking isto get to the earth, to put your feet onthe land and walk. We're concerned aboutnuclear weapons, but a larger issue isfor people ' to become unified once again."Walking allowed the participants thepersonal contact to probe the reasonsthey each learned to view the other as athreat . Tom Johnson, director of IPWcommunications, said. ' 'When I expressedto the Soviets I met how people in theUnited States are afraid of communism,they were surprised by that. As long aswe perceive them as an enemy wanting totake us over, we'll continue to have anarms race. We need to change that view."Despite fears that our activities wouldbe limited and closely watched, we t ravelled and moved about freely. Therewere several visits of American walkers

to Soviet homes and many occasions forour group to talk freely with Soviet didsidents and refuseniks (people who haveapplied to emigrate and have been reofused).The walkers ranged in age from 8mon ths to 80 and represented a diversityof occupa tions: artists, peace actfvitists,writers, attorneys, mechanics, doctors,acton . a sheep farmer, a military chaplain, a numerologist, marine biologists,and more. They came from 31 Americanstates and from each of the 15 Soviet reopublics. Most of the Soviets were welleducated Soviet Peace Commit tee vclun teen .Over the course of the 450 mile trek,deep friendships formed among the walken , and plans are now transpiring foranother American Soviet walk to takeplace next year in the United States .As a participant in the AmericanSoviet Peace Walk, I felt I had the c pportuni ty to witness the history of peace inthe making. Among both the Americanand Soviet walkers, I saw a commitmentto the creation of peace and a convictionthat ordinary people around the planetcan bring it about. These dedicated Individuals, many of whom crossed the U.S.

in the Great Peace March, or have workedtoward peace for the past 10 to 20 years,star ted me thinking about my part in thepeace movement.I decided that as a journalist, I canbring the message from the Soviets wemet who begged us to tell other AmeriPhoto by Sharon Almerigi

By STAN SMITHI went to Russia this summer. 1 was

one of 231 Americans out of 5000 aplicants selected to walk with 200 Sovietsin a peace march from Leningrad to Noscow from June 4 to July 8.We travelled over 400 miles in threeweeks, 1618 hour days, by foot , bus, andferry. I have never had a course in Sovietculture; I have only a rudimentary knowledge of socialism and communism, and Idon't speak Russian.Wewere greeted by 15,000 to 200 ,000Russian people. We American walkerswere allowed to meet refuseniks, thosedenied passpor ts to leave the SovietUnion, and with " trust group" members,those Soviet citizens who openly disagreewith their government's occupation ofAfghanistan and Eastern Europe . Bothmeetings were unprecedented in thatprivate citizens, Soviet and American,met and talked openly about problemsthat heretofore were denied or thatspeaking would have resulted in arrestand/or imprisonment .I had never met a Soviet before I wenton this trip . Now I can call a Soviet artist,journalists, militiaman, philosopher , teacher , linquist, and peacenik - friends!Nothing in my life adequately preparedme for this trip; it was overwhelming.

cans of their desire tcr.pesce. Perhaps insmall way this will help to dispel thmyth s and stererotypes tha t keep us searat ed from our fellow earth citizenSharon AlmerigWriter & Radio Show ProducStudio City, Californ

II is impossible to answer in so shorspace many questions about the SovUnion today . However, there is one thsane, rational individuals have aboSoviet -American relations more than aother. "Are we as two people so differethat we are condemned to dest roy eaother and the whole world?"No! We are not so different that whave already been sentenced to die. Ware beautifully and wonderfull y alike acan live - but we must learn to recogniand celebrate our mutual digni ty aworth by investing greater energy acreativity to overcome the barrierslanquage, politics, and distance .Current events in the Soviet Unimake the possibility of increased eductional , cult ural, and personal exchanbetween our two peoples more feasibthan at any other time in the postwar erSpecifically, the current democratic rIorms in the Soviet Union representwindow of opportunity that Americaand Soviets alike must take advantaqe oGoodwill effor ts, especially citizen-tcitizen diplomacy, to lessen the antagoism and hostili ty between ou r two coutries are a vital necessity to lessen the liklihood of purposeful or accidental sucide by our species. l a s n ~ for th

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time being is a blue sky of hope for kitesof human nobili ty , courage, integrity , andhonesty of every kind to soar .One such noble spirit is LudmillaSaraskina, a Ph.d in 19th century Russianlite ratu re, who writes for The 20thCentury and Peace, the journal o f theSoviet Peace Committee . I would like toshare a passage from Ms. Saraskin 'sarticle , "What Children Play at .""Now that we have suddenly seen howsmall ou r planet is and how very near at a distance of several minutes - we arefrom each other, the old notions aboutpatriotism and civic duty catastrophicallyfail to work . One cannot love one'sMotherland and one 's 'own ,' sittingbehinda tall fence and looking with fear througha narrow slit at the 'others.' The verynotion about one 's 'own ' and 'others'have undergone a radical change . Todayand , we hope, for always patriotic educetion will mean that education of peoplewho love their Motherland as a part ofthe world and who love the whole worldas they love their Motherland . To be acitizen means not to dig a hole for ot hers,not to predict inevitable doom for them. . . to be a ci tizen means to increasewarmth and love in the world and to becapable of mercy and compassion , tru st ,and understanding . . ."To study peace and bring up newgenera t ions in the spirit of peace as theonly way of life - no less valour and ccur.age will be required for war, but immmeasurably more love and patien ce, dedi cation, and kindness. So that ou r childrenshou ld not kill each oth er tomor row, wemust teach them peace today and learn itourselves."I read this article quite by accidentduring my first week in the Soviet Unionand immediately asked to meet thi swriter, Saraskina. Ludmila and I met theday be fore I left the coun try . We talkedabout our world. We did not spend ourprecious hour to accuse o r condemn eachot her . We did not criticize or even dis cu ss the faults and follies tha t ou r twosystems suffe r people to live with . Instead, we pledged through an interpreterto be honest , to criticize our own count ry only, and to work cooperatively bysharing information and insights aboutcommon problems and issues demandingglobal solutions.It is impossible to judge the tru e valueor possible outcome of ou r single briefmeeting and pledges. Truly , time is thePest and final measure of relationships;likewise, I believe Soviets and Americansalike must wait and hope glasnost is morethan a brie f pa rt ing of the clouds. Yet ,inspite o f my personal and professionalreservations regarding these mat ters, Idid come home with joy and hope.I find tha t in the knowledge that weare NOT so different , we must NOT destroy each other , The Soviets are a good6 - THE PEACE REPORT

and noble people. I have renewed hopeth at the world is not co ndemned to beincinerated because I kn ow now that themamas and papas of the Soviet Unionlove their ch ild ren as all parents do .They want their children 's future to befree of nuclear te rror ju st as Americanparents do . Furthermore, as a "citizen

Moscow Meetingby FREDA AMSEL~ \ 1 ' " " " " " ~,,;.. ... . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .......~ J I I I . " " I I l \ ~The Universe IsMy Country

Humanity I s M y Fam ilyI was one of 231 Americans to join200 Soviets in the first peace walktoget her from Leingrad to Moscow . Shewas one of the thousands of welcom ingSoviets that greeted us along the way.I tossed ou t a few of the Russianphrases I learned to do so well, and shecarne back with several sta tements. expect ing me to know the language. West ruggled to understa nd each other and ,for some reason, she thr ew out the word :Hebraic. When I questioned her in fl uentYidd ish, she was overcome with joy in being able to converse with me.She had not spoken Yiddish in more

years then she could remember , and I wasthe only one on the Walk th at knew it.She told me of her entire family beingkilled by the Fascist s. Th is was a story Iwas repeatedly hearing from many Sovietcitizens who were affected by the 20million peo ple they lost du ring World WarII. Although I was prepared to accep t aninvita tion to her flat , I somehow sadlylost her in the huge crowd.The next morning, as we were all Vsiting a memorial monumen t . I heard myname:, "Free-dish-ke," (for Freda) beingcalled. Fellow walkers had d irected her to

diplomat, " I now know, personalldividuals in the Soviet Un ion whoeach day to end thi s insane nuclearrace . I find qreet strength in the cknowledge that we are no t alone ipeace making. Stan SWorld History High School TeMoscow,

me. She ca rne il long way by taxi. hegifts, and present ing me with pho tplease take bac k to Ame rica . To wand where , she did not say. Shewanted me to share her story : The pgirl in th e cente r of one pho to . surred by her family , was her at 16 yeage. W", both sobbed uncont rol lahshe told o f t he " fi- year bloodbath"occurred in her town when the Faco nt i nually butc hered adults and chiShe can st ill remember seeing pabodies vih rutin g, afte r being axedShe la ter married a Russian whofive years Olga . Her daughters andfamilies all belong to th e commparty. Altho ugh she knows peoplehave left , she herself is retired and coto live in Russia. She feels safe and sin the co untry , that she says hasvery good to her. Aware of our talkloudly in Yidd ish , I aske d whethermaking her uncomfortable . She asme tha t in 40 yea rs, she has nevperie nced anti-semitism.With thousands of people surrouus on each of the two days we met ,Iro nic that Casey Kuscm , popularjockey of Lebanese nationality . anwife, Jean . were at our side bot hA priority to their peace activist lworking towards improving Arabrelat ion s. [ also be lieve. by no cdencc . Rabbi Mel Hech t and hisMicki, resident s of Las Vegas, werethe second day to witness thisoccurIt is at Rabbi Hecht 's suggestion thawriting this story to share with reeverywhere. I WOlS una ble to sepoin t o f taking her pictu res, whknew were her only copies. Theexplained that she needed to do torder to finally lay the experience toThe inciden t was too emot ional fto pursue any additional details. Howit is in the synchro nization of aevents and circumstances that I feestory warrants attent ion. It was onlof very many experienced by fwalkers and I had on our peace and fship mission.

Freda ANumerology ConsuNorthridge, Calif


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We American and Sovie t peacewalkers ask our brothers and sisterseverywhere to join this new walk into the future.

6 , A redire ction of resources from the military to the coope rative solution of national and global problems.

PEACE AND FRIENDSHIPJuly 8, 1987

of nuclear and

A reduction of conventional weapons to a level that willmake it impossible for any country to engage in offensiveoperat ions;

The immediate and speedy eliminat ionother weapons of mass destruct ion;3.

4.

....The above statement , developed out of small group discussions, reflects thepersondl opinions of the individuals whose signatures have been affixedthereto. The IPW dnd SPC, having issued d joint statement of purpose, dis-claim dny endorsement or adoption of the foregoing.1 f i . 1 f i . 1 f i . 1 f i . 1 f i . 1 f i . " 1 f i . ' ' ' ' ' ' - THE PEACE REPORT is a nonpropublication designed to inspire andmotivate toward a more peaceful woIn order to continue our efforts, weneed your int erest and support. A detion of any amount will be greaappreciated. Please send your ccntrition to : THE PEACE REPORT, 410 WCoast Highway, Suite 300, Newp

Beach, CA 92663. Phone : 714/675 17

AS WE GO TO PRESS, we have estebIished a reqular schedule for publishingTHE PEACE REPORT. Deadlines formaterial are :February 1, 1988 Issue NO 3MdY1, 1988 Issue No.4AUCJUJt I, 1988 Issue No. 5November I , 1988 Issue No. 6Considered unique in its concept,

""This is a concluding statement prepdred by an expanded group of walkerswritten at a meeting at the conclusion of the walk prior to the Americdnwdlkers departu re from Russid.

5. An agreement among all the nat ions that space be usedexclu sively for peacef ul and cooperative pu rposes;

i ~ ? ~ ~ : m ~ : ' ~ s ~ ~ ~ w : ~ : 'a We, the participants of the American-Soviet Walk from Leningradto Moscow, are committed to seeking an end to the arms race and= create a permanent peace. Through person-to-person contact , wehave discovered the deep reservoir of good will between us. Whilewalking and living together we have learned mutual respect, open-ness, and to lerance. We affirm that our common humanity is morecompelling than our differences . We are committed to the resole -tion of conflicts through peaceful means. We invite people of allnations to part icipate in a similar process of building tru st, recog-i ; i ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ ~ t hrou gh international cooperation can we solveWe call for :1.: A dramatic increase of direct contact between citizens, of all cou nt ries;2. A verifiable global freeze on nuclear testing and a pledgea by all nat ions not to be th e first to use nuclear weapons;

a,a

By BILL SOMERTON

Some SpecialExperiences

Bill SomertonUniversity ProfessorLafayette , California

There were somany special experiencesduring the American-Soviet Walk , it isdifficult to choose one such happening asthe single most significant one. Thw , Ihave taken the liberty of giving threerather typical experiences.As J was entering one of the towns onthe Walk, I was almost completely SUf'rounded by Soviets who had jo in ed theWalk. Out of the crowd of bystandenalong the road, a large qrizzled manbroke through the crowd, grabbed me ina near rib-cracking bear hug and kissedme on both cheeks. As we stood holdingeach other with tears streaming down ourcheeks, we were in full communication.Later, I rationalized that I was cryingbecause he hur t my ribs - but wonderedwhy I was crying.Entering Novqorod. a young Sovietman joined me and started a conversation . Turned ou t he was the ed itor of theyouth newspaper in the city and, becauseof my work with youth , we had a longand interesting conversation . (I found outlater from his discussion with anotherwalker that 1was the first person he hadever had a lengthy discussion with in English.) As we approached the center ofthe city , a large crowd had gatheredarou nd me tryi ng to communicate and

asking for my autograph. This went onfor some time and 1 became completelyseparated from the rest of the walkers. Inwhat was described as a shoulder-to.shoulder and belly -to -back Soviet crowd,it was hardly possible to move. Some ofthe Soviets, seeing I was lost, came to myrescue. One moved ahead of me opening apathway and one behind me pushed methrough. Before I realized it, I was infront of the welcoming platform with myfellow walkers.A more lcnq-term experience was myfrequent and lengthy discussions with aSoviet chemical engineer. Turned out tha tboth of us, being technical people. agreedfully that drastic reduct ion in arms development and production was absolutelyessential to the preservation and enrichment of human life.We discussed means of utilizing theresources now being wasted on armaments to develop cooperative technicalprograms, Americans and Sovie ts workingtogether to discuss human problems, bothnational and global. I plan to continuethis dialog through correspondence withmy Soviet friend .


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Anon Quote: "1 looked at the enemy andthe enemy was me."~ ~ ' ' ~ ~ " " " " " , - : , , , , , , ' " X > , , , , ," " ' ' " X > ' ' ' ' ' ' '' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ~ ' ' h ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ~ ~ ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

On July 1, 1987, approximatelAmerican and Soviet "citizen diploarrived in Moscow - not on foot bthe Volga River on a luxu ry cTheir jubilant arrival in Moscowcountless cities along the way, wasby crowds and cu rious Soviets who gthem as well as by the Soviet medtracked them all along the route.This historic walk began in Len24 days earlier where 231 Amjoined 200 Soviets at their first cajust outside Leningrad . From thaton, negotiation and compromise bthe focus of the staff from the Intional Peace Walk (the Americancommittee) and the Soviet Peacemittee (officially recognized peacein the USSR). Where we stayed,grounds!hotels/University dormswhere and how much we walked ,we ate, where we visited - all thesehad to be worked out . ClearlAmericans and Soviets had two diperspectives on what constitutes awalk" and it was exactly these diffethat had to be worked out on a day-basis.Part of the success of the walwith the ability of the AmericaSoviet groups to work together avelop an experience that was meanto bot h. Indeed, the U.S. Sta te Dment, who chose not to be involvethe walk as they assured us, " Iteven get off the ground!" upon oturn to the United States requeblueprint of how we made itOf equal importance is the imppeople meet ing people . All alonroute from Leninqrad to Moscowere greeted by hordes of SoviNovgorod , 5000 peop le were expeline the streets andlor join uswalked th rough town - 25,000 aAnd the greetings we received wemerely handwaving, but more sobraces, handshakes and exchanges operson's hope for "mir y dru(peace and friendship).Naturally, behind every mee tinsto ry which space in this newslett enot permit . However, if you areested in learn ing more about theience of the American Soviet Wahow its success fits into the greatture of world peace and nuclear dament, contact Sallie and Alan O1134 Judson, Evanston, IlL 6312 /49 1-1134. We have slides andwords to share with you .And, fo r those who wan t to be panot her peace walk, an exciting cois being developed for next year. Cus and we'l l keep you posted.

Sallie GSocial WEvanston, I

\

TheTwoCulturesAs viewed by FredaAmsel

AS WE GO TO PRESS, Ed and AdrienHelm of Washington , D.C., continue theirvery busy d in thei r involvementwith the United Methodist Peace andJustice organization and both are adeptat making presentations of their slide andvideo photoqraphy of last summer'sAmerican Soviet Walk. Adrien 's cut -8 - THE PE ACE AEPORT

We pu rsue ind ividuality . . .They promot e duality .We're taught perseverance . . .

They 've learned patience.We foster competion . . .They function on cooperation.We cherish our freedom . . .The y thrive on disci pline .Wewant to succeed in life . . .They don 't want to suffer any more.We strive for future comfo rts . . .They strugglewith the pains of the past .We demand a lot from life . . .They require very little.We relish ou r possessions . . .They take pride in thei r professions.They emulate us . . .Weexclude them.Our environment contributes to self expression . . .Their history compels a need to exist.

They 're control led by bureaucracy ...We're manipulated by greed.Thei r money is spent on education, monuments, medical care, and retirement . . .Our priorities are on promotion, fashion, furniture , and entertainment.Their country is the "Motherland ,"Wecall ours "Uncle Sam."

reach of her experiences in the SovietUnion was highlighted by her columnon the Opinion pages of USA Today ,a national newspaper with a circulationin excess of five million copies. That'sgetting her peace message out to a tremendqus number of people. Conqret ulations!

ATPRESSTIME


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he Oldest Walker Voices His PerspectivePhoto by KDKidder

"Dear Friend s at Novgorod :"There are no words to describe howdeeply moved we Americans have beenby the reception you have given us. We

ing "Mir y druzhba" (peace and friend ship) - and sometimes weeping whenthey weren 't smiling their unfeigned delight at seeing a large body of Americanswho, like themselves, wanted to end allwar.At each village and town , and at onebig collective farm , the local officialsgreeted us. Almost always they told us ofthe sufferings of their community duringWorld War II. Along the way localchoruses and dance groups in beaut ifulcostumes entert ained us - the firstAmericans that many of them had everseen. And always, a lovely young womanin local costume offered us bread andsalt - an ancient symbolic act of hosprtality .At Novgorod , the oldest Russian city ,it fell to me, the oldest walker , to represent the Americans. I had never seen sucha dense crowd in my life . Estimates wentas high as 100 ,000 who turned out togreet us, and there was no mistaking theexcitement among the Russians. Theywere witnesses to an unprecedentederuption in their midst of a lot of Americans who, by their very presence, weresaying that they did not agree with thebelligerent foreign policy of the Reaganadministration. As I looked down on allthose faces in the Ncvqorad square, hereis what I said:

Pat Herson of Van Nuys , California, is the smiling ambassador for peace greetingthese Russian women at a villages top on the American Soviet Walk from Leningradto Moscow during the summer of 1987.controlled all aspec ts of the logistics andpolitics of the venture. I t seemed to thiswalker that their efficiency in the logistical realm greatly exceeded their leadership in the direction of Americen-Sovietfriendship and disarmament.But all of this changed, as I expectedit would, when we arrived in the SovietUnion . From the first we were overwhelmed with the most generous andthoughtful hospitality. And the walkers,a great many of whom seemed to be moreinterested in personal relationships thanin politics , were astonished by the individual outpou rings of friendship they en countered at every turn. And the re wascontinuous evidence of the expansion ofSocialist democracy under the popularpolicy of glasnost .After sightseeing in the beautiful cit yfounded by Pet er the Great , we had thepainful experience of visiting the Piskaryevskoye Memorial Cemetery which holdsthe bodies of bearly 600,000 victims ofthe 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad.From that solemn and unforgettablestarting point , ou r Walk began . As 230Americans and 200 Soviet walkers wentinto the count ryside , people poured outof picturesque farm houses to greet us.We got armlcads of flowers. Our pocketssoon bulged with little gifts that childrenand young people and old people (mostlywomen) gave us, and ou r daypacks andhats and shirts were festooned with pinsand emblems.At every crossroad , peasants lined upand shook our hands and joined in chant-

"Good morning, God!"With these cheer y words a feistyng legislator began her invocation inhe Colorado Sta te Assembly one day lastune. The next order of business was thetroduction by Representative Dorothyupert of a dozen of the 22 Coloradansho would soon leave to take part in aeace walk in the Soviet Union . Afterhis ceremony , we set ou t on our journeyarrying a letter which Governor Royomer had prepared fo r us to take to thet people - a letter which expressedstrong desire for peace and disarmament.omer was only one of 23 officials inarious states who had endorsed the Walk,nd 35 United States senators and reprehad lent their support to thenprecedented venture.The first stop on our trip was theof a private school in Virginia., from June 8 to June 15, 230 walkrs, including 80 vete rans from the Greateace March, camped and took part in ann program designed to get usainted with each other and to suggestways in which we might cope with theSoviet reality we were abou t to encounter.Soviet dissident emigres came to ourcamp and offered their version of Sovietreality , but the State Department barreda representative of the Soviet Embassyfrom coming out to meet us race-to- face.We had to content ourselves with a videotaped interview with that official.

However, Jack Kidd, a disside nt retired U.S. Air Force General , d id come toour camp in response to an invitationfrom William Mandell, one of the walkerswho, unscheduled, led several informativesessions.General Kidd , a farne r nuclear warplanner, gave a chillingly realistic appraisal of the danger of nuclea r weapons, andhe presented plans he had developed forridding the wor ld of this menace . Recent ly, he had discussed the nuclear dangerwith a group of retired U.S. and Sovietgenerals, all of whom are try ing to puttheir full weight beh ind moves for disarmament . (You can obtain copies o f Kidd 'sentire program,which he calls "Star Light"by writ ing him at Route I , Box 70A ,Earlysville, VA 22936.)The walkers were clea rly more impressed by wha t Kidd and Mandel had tosay than they were by the remarks by BillCourtney, U.S. Consul General dsignatefor Kiev. This career diplomat stroveqood-naturedly to fill us with all thestandard suspicions about Soviet motivesand intentions.Worry about attacks from the rightseemed to be the main conce rn of AllanAffeldt and Joe Kinczel who effectively

FRANKLIN FOLSOM

THE PEACE REPORT - 9


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hope we can prove worthy of the trustyou have shown us."I have been introduced as the oldestAmerican walker. I was 10 years oldwhen the walkers and peasants in thiscountry overthrew their masters and too kcharge of thei r own lives. I was 10 yearsold when the new Soviet governmentissued its first decree which was an appealfor peace."When my son was 10 years old, I wasa seaman on a ship that brought suppliesto the Red Army. By that time Sovietsociety had grown strong enough to drivethe war .maklnq Nazis out of this land ."When I left home to come on thiswalk , my t o -veer-old grandson askedto tell Soviet children that American kidswant peace." Now this old man wants to make apro phecy for the futu re. The peace movemen t th roughout the world is growing theway this peace walk grew today. Fourhundred of us started out this morning.At every crossroad people joined us. Aswe ent ered the city , first scores , thenhundreds joined us. Finally , thousandscame off the sidewalks and became a partof the human river that has filled thisgrea t square."In this same way , the peace move ment is beginning to grow in the UnitedSta tes. There are more than 5000 peaceorganizations in my country , and myprophecy is that before another 10 yearspass, the peace movement in the worldwill force the elimination of all nuclearweapon s everywhere. Bef ore the year2000, there will be universal disarmament.Then th ere will be no mo re need toorganize walks against war. The Sovietpeople, the American people - all peopleeverywhere - will be able to walktogether in peace."Mir y druzhba !"After these words, it was my duty tointroduce the youngest marcher who wasonly eight months old and whose parentsspoke for her . Several other Americanfamilies with children made the enti rewalk , and the kids were a great hit .At one stop, a Soviet mother saw thatone of our babies did not have a carriage.She rushed home, got her own babycarriage and brought it as a g ift.Acts like that occu rred all along theroute . Women opened their homes towalkers who needed toilet facilities . Thenthey ope ned their refrigerators and impromptu parties developed. After a fewof these parties, walkers were invited tostay overnight in farmhouses , and theyaccep ted, somehow ca tchi ng up wit h thewalk the next day.As we proceeded , walking sometimesand riding in buses sometimes, we hadamong us many Soviet walkers who spokeEnglish , and a few Amer icans spoke Russian. During the hours and days of walkingand camping together - o r staying tcgether in ho tels o r dorms - friendshipsbegan to develop across national lines. I10- THE PEACE REPORT

for one saw a great deal of MuhahatshoHikmatov, a chemist from Dushanbe inTadjik is tan , a cit y which has just cornplete d a sister-city agreement with myhometown of Boulde r, Colorado. Also, Isaw a great deal of Nick Burlak, anAmerican-bern Soviet citizen who servedin the Red Army and met Americantroops at the Elbe in World War II . Nickis a write r and, I found , is the brother ofAnn Burlak , famous in depression yearsas the Red Flame, an organizer of southern textile workers and the unemployedin America.When the walk was over , I carried amessage from Nick to his sister who nowlives in Boston whe re I wen t to visit myson, Michael . . . in many ways the Walkhad unexpected dividends in human experience .A bad cold that developed into a net too-serious case of pneumonia kep t mefrom having all the experiences I shouldlike to have been part of in the latt er halfof th e Walk . But I did hear abou t the experiences that walkers had visiting churches and synagogues. One of the walkerswas a cleric in the Russian OrthodoxChurch. Among the American walkerswere a rabbi and a woman who is anEpiscopal deacon. Several times Sovietdissident lay persons met with walkers,and a few times they tried to join us butwere unsuccessful , apparently because ofthe behind-the-rimes diligence of local security guards at hotels who didn 't understand glasnost.At all times we had access to representatives of the huge Soviet Peace Committee which acted as our host and did awonderfu l job of making arrangementsfor us. A new organization , the SovietGreens , was represented on our Walk byits vice presiden t, Gregory Temkin. Thisgroup combines concern for peace withecological concerns and includes manyscientis ts and conservationists. The SovietPeace Commit tee welcomed this newgroup and generally opened up wideopportunities for us to communicate withthe Soviet people. For example , on thelast day in Moscow, Genrick Borovik , thewriter who is the new head of the SovietPeace Committee, was host on an hourlong TV program which focused on theWalk , and reached , I am told . about 120million viewers. On this program, on JulyII . I read to this vast audience a draft ofa concluding state ment tha t summarizedwhat we walkers wanted to tell the worldafter our three weeks toget her (see page 7for tex t of this statement) .The International Peace Walk did no tissue any official statement when we hadcompleted our mission, being con tent tolet a rock concert be the final statementof cooperation between the Soviet andAmerican citi zens. Bands from both theUSSR and USA entertained Muscovitesfor hours in the Moscow lznaulov Stadium, and General Secretary MikhailOcrbachev sent to the concer t a message

greeti ng the Walk.I thought something of more sthan a roc k concert should concWalk, so I read the followi ngSoviet peo ple who were viewingprogram:"The Soviet -American peacerives in Moscow at a momenthope . The peace movement isthroughout the world in responsdanger to all human life that comthe evergrowing stockpiles ofweapons and othe r weapons of mtruction. The great hope at the mthat a first step toward nuclearmen t will take place very soon.moval of one class of nuclearwould be an impor tant beginnhope that no new crisis or no oborn ness will block this initiatoward freeing all humanity frgreatest da nger it has ever hadAs we cit izens from two verysocieties have walked together,begun the process of building frand trust . We are confident thaope rat ion can con tinue and g

foresee tha t we can work togethkinds of imagina tive ven ture spreserve the fragile planet on whimake our home.Togethe r we may - in a wpeace - develop new non-energy sources such as bringinfrom the sun do wn to the ear th .such international cooperation thbe no earth left on which any olive.With all this in mind we Soviecan peace walkers step toward toand we ask all our brothers aneverywhe re to join this new walkfuture.With this I conclude my repoAmerican Soviet Walk . Steps havbegun toward having a similar waU.S. nex t year in which large nuSoviet cit izens will participate.tion abo ut this Walk can befrom the International Peace W4603 Cheltenham , Bethseda, M20814, Phone : 703/6522463.

FranklinBoulder, C

AS WE GO TO PRESS _ . . BobVictorville , California, has kept hibusy since the Walk editing andcondensed video tapes from aboutof raw footage taken during the Lto-Moscow Walk for use on cablular TV stations and by other wpresentations all over the countryDay , Oc tober 25th, he joined Jat a Model UN Day event at Miswhere he record ed the ent ire evencamera. His dedication and workpromo t ing peace and goodwillis tru ly appreciated by everyonthe results of his considerable talearea of communication.


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Three Walkers Working to Make a DifferenceBy ROBB TERRELL.ad ccordinq to Carl Hagelberg, one of the230 American walkers participating inthe unique even t of Ameri can Sovietcitizens going from Leningrad to Moscow,each American exposed to the " veryst rong med icine" of the walk was "one ina million." This included himself , a27-year resident of Palos Verdes Estates;Caro le Shakely, of Hermosa Beach ; andBill Sanders , a na tive Californian living ina condo in Redondo Beach .While their experiences in the SovietUnion were unique within the highlystructu red walk , th ese three South Bayresidents have drawn the same conclusions. Much work is needed to help theaverage American ci tizen realize that theSoviet peop le are not the bad guys theyare generally believed to be ." I went there with the impressionthat the Russians were the enemy;" saidCarole , a hiqh-schc ol English teache r andmother of an 18year old son. " Bu t whenthese little old women came up to meduring our parades in to these small villages and large cities, and they were crying, pleading with us to tell PresidentReagan no t to drop bombs on them , Irealized the enemy was something else."Carl, ez-veers young, attempt ed tohold down anticipation of what he mightsee in the Sovie t Union , try ing to followth e advice he has given his six children."When you have l ittle info rmationabout a place, all you can do is create apicture in your imagination," said theformer TRW engineer. "The ent ire pic.ture will be incorrect , so you might aswell no t specu late."Within his over 100 recorded experiences, Carl discovered that besidesseeing the soft , calm, quiet peop le whodo not want world domination, there wasnot the "oppression and strict authoritywe imagined .""Although the militia was around ,there were no weapons in sight ," he said,adding tha t "people anticipa te the oppression, expec t it because of the type ofmisinformation we get. Then , they reactto what they have imagined ."Bill Sanders had a different preconception of the Soviet people . While realizingthey were not the enemy, he imaginedthem a drab, homogeneous c rowd livingin colorless cit ies und er a uniform, reqimen ted life. What he found was different ."The large cities were rathe r gray,"said th e unmarried landlord , "but , therewas plenty of color in the people. By thatI mean they are each an individual personality. I guess that 's common sense, butall qroups seem monolithic unt il you getto know the individuals and see the variety . My stereoprype of the Soviet peoplewas shattered."

While th is walk was for some an Introduction to Peace Movement action, forthe se three California particpants, th iswas nothing new. Dropping what Caroleemphasized as "an illusio n of powerle ss.ness," th eir collective actions before theWalk ranged from local community workto participating in previous peace walks." I teach for peace," said Carole en thu siastically . "In my lessons, I try tohelp the students understand tha t peopleare the same everywhere and that each ofus must do something to keep the wielders of the weapons from blowing us allup ."Carole also was committed to theGreat Peace March across the UnitedSta te s in 1986 . Unable to attend becauseof her teach ing, she suppor ted the walkfinanci ally, a constant contribution overthe 9mo nth trek from Los Angeles toWashington , D.C." Fortunately, I 'm of f in the summerand was able to go to the Soviet Union ."For Bill and Carl , the Walk in theSoviet Union was not the ir first such ven .ture . Bill took part in the InternationalMarch for Peace in Central America inDecember 1985 and Janua ry 1986. Organized by people in Norway and sponsored in the United Sta tes by the Officeof the Americas , the trek from PanamaCity to Mexico City was also traversed bybus rides and with walking. Walkers wereable to talk to people along the way, butthere were major differences between thiswalk and the one in the Soviet Union ."Because we went through severalcountries, there were more political flavors ," Bill said. "There was also a betterchance to meet peop le on the st reet because we were not accompanied by ou rpeace counterparts."Shortly after their experience , Bill became a volunteer a t the Califo rnia RegionSANE/Freeze office in Santa Monica . Healso gave time to the Office of the Americas and to local democratic c1u bs.Carl also part icipa ted in a previousWalk for world peace. His journey wasthe Great Peace March . Unlike his younqest son, Gus, Carl was una ble to devotenine months to walking across the ccn tinent . Instead , he amd his wife, Ruthie ,walked the first day , and then met theMarch where th ey could drive to it in aday 's time.

"I didn 't part icipate regularly un tilNebraska ," Carl said. "Then, I jo ined for10 days. Later, I rejoined in Philadelphiaand completed the rest of the route intoWashington, D.C."Besides walking various parts of theglobe , both Bill and Carl have taken partin civil disobedience actions. Last May ,1987, Carl was arrested with severalo thers for their demonstrati on on the

Nevada nuclear test site . Since the PeaceWalk in the Sovie t Union , Bill has alsobeen arrested. His arrest was with severaothers at the grounds of the CaliforniaAir National Guard base at Van Nuys Airport for pro testing U.S. milit ary aid tothe Nicaraguan contras.Both men found out about the recenpeace walk from the same two local ectiv. Ists , Donna Newberg and Marian Anderson. Carl knew them from the GreaPeace March . Bill knew them from hivolunteer work.Carole found out through the networkcreated by the Great Peace March . Noneof the three California part icipants kneweach other befo re the Peace Walk in theSoviet Union .Finding ou t about the Walk was onlythe beginn ing of getting there. Becauseonly a limited number of people were allowed to participa te by the Soviet PeaceCommittee, there was an extensive ap plication to complete. Once this was mailedto the International Peace Walk office inIrvine , California, along with a precessing charge, applicants waited for phonecalls."They called me and did an interviewover th e phone ," Carole said. "Theywanted to know how I'd react to negativecomments about America , or what I'd doif someone told me about some horribledeed they were abo ut to per form. I quesI answered the questions O.K., I got togo."Beyond acce ptance, there was a $2500per pe rson cos t to cover airfare and aweek 's orientation outside Leesburg, Virginia, prior to departure. For Bill, themoney came ou t of savings. Carl tried toreplenish his account by sending le tters toall the people he contacts through hisonen:tan Jaguar repa ir business, his twosatellite cab le venture s, and his runningclub ." I did this two weeks before I left , so Jdidn 't see the response until I returned.There was $ 1200 waiting for me."" I count that qui te a victory ," he continued , "because much of that moneycame from some very wealthy and very

conservative people. There was onecouple who had bee n very down on theGreat Peace March . But , through talkingto th em rationally and non threateningly,they were moved to where they gave me$250."Fund raising for Carole con sisted ofindividual donations through people inand around her hometown, HermosaBeach .Other evidence of the diversity ofthese three walkers emerged in their pu rpose for going ."O n the Great Peace March," said Carl,"1 found myself saying I was doing some-THE PEACE REPORT - 11


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thing important for the first time in mylife. Gus was there when I said that , and,of course, disaqreed, saying I had raisedsix kids. But , the feeling was there and itcarried over. Solving the nuclear diJemnais the most important th ing anyone canbe striving for. The Soviet Peace Walk wasa way for me to help do that ."What Carl was also hoping for was anextension of the one-to-one relationshipshe had created through his Jaquar andsate llite cable businesses since quitt ingthe large corporation scene at TRW."With one-to-one encounters there isqreat satisfaction that can't be achieved inhuge corporations or through some distant , non -personal connection," he stated."When you deal directly with someoneand see who they are, it 's easier to get direct, useful feedback."Carl's decision to go on the Walk didnot come easily, as did his reasons for going. There were his three businesses toattend to , and there was leaving his wife."There were all sorts of adjustments tobe made," he reflected. "But, gradually, abit at a time, I made those adjustments.Then I sent in the first $500 and I wascommitted to the project."For Bill and Carole, the decision wassimpler. Carole's teaching job gave hersummer vacation, and her son was able totake care of himself and the house.Bill had only to make sure his tenantsknew he was away and could call someplace else when problems arose." I had to go because a walk in theSoviet Union seemed so interesting anduseful," he said in a rare display of animation. "I t seemed necessary for people inthe United States to see the Soviet peopleas personalities."And see, he did. Among the lessons helearned to pass on to as many people aspossible was about the relative economi csecurity felt by most of the Soviet citi zens he met ."They seemed relaxed about their fullemployment. They have universal medicalcare. Nobody is economically well off byour standards, but for them, that seems

O.K. They were surprised how many peeple lack this feeling of economic securityin the United States ."Bill also learned of the horrors ofWorld War II, their Great Patriotic War. Itwas in every speech, at every monument,in the schools he visited, in the museums.The loss of 20 million people and most oftheir industrial machine influences cur.rent government decisions."The people aren't ready for militaryventures," Bill reported. "They wouldhave to be convinced that any such ven.ture was for peace. This is the stance oftheir government , a posture of defense ,and United States planners should consider th is posture ."The scars of the Great Patriotic Warcame face-to-face with Carole."These little old babushkas - old grandmothers - would come up to me as we12- THE PEACEREPORT

walked down their streets," she said witha look of pain, "and they 'd be crying,pleading with us not ot bomb them. Oneof the American women had a babushkatake her aside and cry on her shoulder,and clutch her, and say to her , 'Please,don 't shoot us.' This is their message."Before Carole departed from her Hermosa Beach home, she had another message of her own."My focus is on peace ," she said of hermotives for going on the Walk, "andachieving that has come to mean individuals taking action to create inner peaceand then working for it around them .What they must dc.alsc, is realize that thepowerlessness that most people feel is anillusion. All of us as individuals, acting together, against the arms race can stop thebombs and make peace in the world. Mygoing on this peace walk was a statementof that."Besides the tears of the old women,Carole, Bill, and Carl went their respective ways within the walk, collecting impressions that developed their collectiveconclusion that the Soviet people are notour enemies. Carole collect ed videoimages of you ng people along the route.Youths eager to communicate throuqhinterpreters, gestures, and music of theirown composition, sang and spoke ofpeace and of the importance of good international social relations.Bill, while somewhat bound to one ofthe 11 buses as the bus facilitator , hadless time to venture outside the hecticwalk schedule. Relying on other's stories,he concentrated on the direct policymessages that came across at the sometimes three -a-day rallies along the route ."There was an overwhelming policy toremember the Second World War. I'd seeit in the parades we'd be in, and at thememorials. And the enthusiasm about itand the importance of our being therewas a genuine expression by the people .The government couldn 't put tears intheir eyes or flowers in their hands."Carl's accounts were wll documentedin his diary. In it he described the welcome at Leninqrad Airport and the children 's poem "I want to live and not todie, learned especially to recit e for theAmerican walkers. His sto ry of the 20 to50,000 people who lined the stree ts formiles into Novqorad left him with thefeeling of a "hero 's welcome."At a hotel where the walkers partlycamped and partly checked into rooms,there was an impromptu ceremony doneby the American Soviet war veterans onthe walk. Carl described his view."We interrupted the dance proqram

q:oing on to announce the tribute. Thecrowd parted and we, about 10 in all,walked bareheaded, flowers in hand, tothe campfire and stood there in silencefor perhaps three minu tes. This wasfollowed by tears and hugs. A big Russianand I walked slowly, almost bridalprocession pace, back to the hote l,

arms around each other's waists."Carl also captured an emotionalthe morning the Americans left M"Looking out the hotel windowa good view of the goodbyes beSoviets and Americans. The gebody lanquage, timing, exchaddresses. All the people are coindividuals and absolutely indquishable between Sovietsand AmerWhat the three South Bay particlearned on their unique journeysthe same route from Leningrad tocow was that the people of theUnion are not the enemy in therace."The problem is governmental,Carl, "and at least one half our resbility .""The enemy is not the people,"said emph atically. "The enemy isthing else.""The people of the Soviet Uninot the enemy . This was a beliefirmed by the Walk ," Bill said. "Gments decide wars. If the people wcontrol, there would be no warsenemy is those who wen t to gainand more power. This exists in theUnion and in the United Statesweapons are for the enemy togames," in their battles againstother.Spreading this common conctakes these "one-in-a-million" Ameoff again in different directions.has already had a story about herlished in the Daily Breeze. She hadone int erviews on two local radtions. In the comingyear, she plansher video in various edited formssent her impressions of the Walkstudents.Carl's emphasis for disseminatiknowledge about the Sovie t Unupon speaking to people one -t"The fact that I, a respected, lc nresident of the neiq:h borhood , wethe Great Peace March, the AmSoviet Walk, and my arrest in Nchanged some of the weal thy cenves around here," he said. "TheyI'm not crazy. So, they sJowly selisten to me. 111 talk to them whetheir cable systems, or do work oncars, or while I'm running with tI'm watching to see if I'll push taside," he said contemplatively. "get back to the old way? Will I retthe TRW hallways? No! I write dowstories and Ruthie types them. Ttalk to people."His collection of I Spic tu reboards of the Walk have alreadyused to stimulate discussion and etion at a small meeting on his"My life has been permanentlydeeply changed . I see myself in a dent way, now . I'm dedicating my lthe Peace Movement."

Robb TTeLorton, Vi


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ENORMOUS REGARDS FROM THE SOVIET UNIONGreetings, Dear Friends in the U.S.A.:My name is Valery ; I live in a big city Leningrad. 1 am 26 years old ; I am a metalworker whose job is repairing freight cars fortrains . I love music and I sing in a choir. Weoften perform. We performed at the time ofthe Peace March in a village market in theTosno Region.I am married . I have a 13yea rold dauqhter . I got married whe n my wife got preqnnent : she is 32. Soon there will be a secondchild .I recieved your letter at the time of thePeace March between Leningrad and Moscow, 19th of June , 1987, du ring your tourof Tosno, and I at once decided to respond .

Were we to go on such marches often , wewould together be able to sunnount war andlive in peace. We need to be together asmuch as possible. to exchanqe differentopinions in order to prevent distrust andfalse information. Without question, ourqreat peoples, as all the peoples of the planet ,want peace, happiness, and prosperity! Yourand our problem is to preserve the peace!Your people had to struggle very little forits independence. The Soviet people had touphold its independence through bitter wars;but the most terrible was the war of 19411945. In this war 20 minion people died inthe Soviet Union, while the total for the en-

tire planet was 50 million people. Your pre stdent and all the government, the Congress _those people are adults. But I don 't understand why they do not propose to come tomeet our government [i.e., meet each otherhalf-way ). They constantly avoid makingconcrete /straight answers. You know, the'n!have been enough weapons amassed to des.troy the planet several times over. Where willit all lead? Do not believe/t rust whoever isfor a greater arms buil d-up. They are deceiving you. Do not believe that the SovietUnion is an agqressor. This is the most peaceloving nat ion in the world. Do no t believesuch films as Rambo, Amerika, Red Dawn,EtC. I have seen some clips from these films;to speak honestly, the producers of thesefilms should be ashamed.Write to tell me what interests you ! Askas many questions as you like. Write meyour names, addresses, and I will qive youthe addresses of Soviet people . Let us ex .change all kinds of things : photoqraphs,postcards, lapel pins, etc.I wish you and all the American peoplehappiness, peace, and love.I await your answer impatiently!

Respectfully,Valery Olegovich Rosanov23/06/87

FRIENDS INTHE USA REPLDear Valery:When I read your let ter I shed tearsjoy . I know that we had taken the fstep together to ensure a futu re of pefor ourselves and our children. I too ha 13yearoId daughter ; I am 40 yearsand my wife is 37. I am a high schoolcher (students 1318). 1am the advisothe Intern ational Friendship Club atschool. Then! are 15 members in the cMany will be writing to you . Weare vexci ted to get your let ter . Our dream ibring our peoples together in peace.share the world and must know mabout each other.I believe the people of the SoUnion want peace. How could it beother way considering the brutalitywar your na tion has experienced this ctury ? The people of the United Staalso love peace. It is the most inportissue. You are right - it is OUR problWe must solve i t together !More communications betweenpeople is the way to build trust. If weview each other as members of the safamily - tha t we an! more alike thanferent - then this too can build a briof t rust to cross the wall of fear. Weon that journey. Our hands now touchspirit . Let it soon be in physical realWe would like to know more abyour everyday life and your personalterests and viewpoints. Yes, send usaddresses of other Soviet citizens to crespond with .Our job at school and in the UniStates is to promote peace. We canafford the arm's race . We must kweapons ou t of space. As a teacherteach peace . I am glad to know yWrite back soon.

Leigh NicInterna tional Friendship ClRancho Alamitos High SchoGarden Grove, CalifornTHEPEACE REPORT -


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This joint walk of Soviet and American citizens, the first ofkind in the history of relations between the USSR and the USis a specific contr ibution to strengthening mutual confidencunderstanding and friendship, and is a convincing examplecitizen 's diplomacy in action. The Soviet leadership supposuch initiatives because they lead to establishing good neighbly relations among common people of different countr ies, dstroy old sterotypes and help to create the image of partner afriend rather than enemy image.I share the feeling of deep concern expressed in many messagaddressed to me over the threat of nuclear catastrophy loomiover humankind and fraught with the destruction of everythialive on the planet. From all points of view, including certainlymoral one, the time has come to get rid of nuclear thinking, bethe swords into ploughshares and channel the funds thus releasto social needs and creative purposes. We are convinced that tonly alternative to the policy of nuclear suicide and to guaranthe survival of humankind is to build a nonviolent world frfrom nuclear weapons.Everyone who holds dear peace has the Soviet Union as a fiand adamant ally in achieving these truly sacred objectiveshumankind. All our policy is aimed at it. We shall continuebuild our efforts so as to make opening and possibilities for avancing along the way of eliminating nuclear weapons becomereality .I wish you and your families good health, happiness,and wellbeinworld without wars and weapons.

A LETTER VIA TELEX FROM MIKHAIL GORBACHEV TO THE AMERICAN SOVIET WALKERSchildren and guaranteeing the survival of humankind will imprethemselves for long in the memory of the participants in twalk.

3727090Allan Affeldt, PresidentInternational Peace Walk

Dear Friends:I am thankful to you for the letters , cables , and messages inwhich you express grati tude for the cordiali ty and hospita li tyaccorded by Soviet people to the participants in the SovietAmerican Walk for Peace .I believe tha t meetings with thousands of Soviet citizens andlively discussions of the ways of ensuring peaceful future for our

(Following is the reply by Mikhail Gorbachev to the messages of theparticipants in the Soviet-American Walk for Peace:)

Dear Allan:As you know, many participants of the American Soviet Walk forpeace have sent personal and collective letters to General Secre-tary Mikhail Gorbachev. Today, "Pravda" newspaper and theSoviet TV have published the reply of Mikhail Gorbachev tothose letters. I t is a remarkable event in the history of the Sovietas well as American Peace Movements and one more a convincingevidence of the success of our joint walk. I congratulate you mostheartily and I ask you to inform all American walkers on theresponse of Mikhail Gorbachev. Certainly , it would be mostuseful that the American public would have the utmost inform-ation on the Soviet leader 's response and on the walk itself. Withbest regards. " k P id tGennkh Borovi , resr en

Soviet Peace Committee

Mikhail Gorbach

AMERICAN SOVIETWALK DIRECTORY1987 - LENINGRAD TO MOSCOWBUS NO . 1

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BUS NO.2


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BUS NO.3

BUS NO.4

BUS NO .5

BUS NO.6

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NOTE : Should you wish to receive thenext issue of THE PEACE REPORT,please see page 7 for information. Thanksvery much for your interest.THE PEACE REPORT - 15


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BUS NO.7

BUS NO.B

BUS NO.9

BUS NO. 10

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GORBACHEV ON "GLASNOST"

"Openness amd democracy . . . do nomean that everything is permitted," Gorbachev told some edit ors last July. "Openness is called upon to strengthen socialism and the spirit of our people , tostrengthen moral ity and a mo ral atmosphere in society. Openness also meancriticism of shortcomings . But it does nomean the undermining of socialism andour social values. "Soviet officials may speak of Afghanistan as a mis take when abroad, but suchan opinion still doesn 't get into its domestic press.16 - THEPEACE REPORT


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AS WE GO TO PRESS, we've learnedtha t Allan Affeldt and Joe Kinczel areactively working on American SovietWalks for the summer of 1988. While details are not yet firm, they can be reachedat the International Peace Walk, Inc.,Temple Heights Station, P.O. Box 53412,Washington, D.C. 20009, . Phone :202/232-7055 .

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18 - THEPEACE REPORT

AS WE GO TO PRESS, on theSeptember, the United Nationssecond yea r in a row recognizPortner of the Riverdale EleSchool for his "Balloon-MessPeace" effort which involved m1400 schools throughout theStates in the launching of helibal loons with let te rs from schooattached with the ir thoughts forful world. Congratulations!


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GLASNOST - usually transla ted as openness; a dictionary publ ished in Moscow ,however, defines it as publicity , or publicairing .PERESTROIKA - translated as a rebuilding, or reconstruction, reform ing or reorganization .DEMOCRATSIA - Russians usually inferit to mean socialist democracy , which refers to mo re participation by workers inthe choosing of leaders in state-run enterprises. Note: Participant directory information redacted from digitized vers

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AS WE GO TO PRESS, we havefrom many of th e American Sovieters, induding a letter from Russell YHe states that he 's given 14 presentwith his slides and has appointmenseveral more. Responses, he says,been exci ting and very positive ihome area of Kalona, Iowa.


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KD KIDDER, one of the American Sovietwalkers, has a "Peace Act ion Archives"of pho tographs of various peace activitiesdating back to 1983. For $8 .00 you canbecome a part of this Peace Photo Bankne twork and receive a printout of allavailable work. You can reach KD atPhotoworks, 2a Loudoun St. , SW, Leesburg, VA 22075 , Phone : 703/777-4002.Note: Participant directory information redacted from digitized versio

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AS WE GO TO PRESS Carl and CindyDarnell Designs have indicated that Amican Soviet Walk shirts are still availabto you. You may reach "Designs thmake a difference" at 228 West SixStreet , Medford, OR 97501 , phon503/773-5782.


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Note : Participant directo ryinformation redacted fromdigitized version.

A SPECIAL NOTE: Several walkers from America andfrom the Soviet Russia met in Moscow du ring the lastfew days of the Walk to discuss the possibility of ajoin t publication ventu re - specifically, a magazinededica ted to the development of a better understanding between our two countries and other nations of theworld. The magazine is to be a quali ty publication ofapproximately 100 pages, to be published in twobindings on a quarterly basis in two languages -

English and Russian , iden tical in layout and design,except for the two languages . The goal is to create apublication in which the pursuit of peace and thepreservation of the earth 's env ironment are to be theprime subjects of its contents.For any wishing more information on this project,please call or write THE PEACE REPORT, 410 WestCoast Highway , Suite 300 , Newport Beach , CA 92663.Phone: 714/675-1724.

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Peace is bliss . . . Peace is free . . . Peace is love.From Wrmis 'n STuff, South laguna,CA 92677

PEACE . . . A Definition

Peace is the absence of activities and noise . . . a deep st illness. quiet .

Re :orintecl by special penn ,ss,on fromthe Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14, J987

THEPEACECOMMUN ITYContinued from page 1of the budgets of pentagon and de fensindustry lobbyists, these activists havgiven voice to th e hopes of ordinarAmericans, have demanded of officiadom a reasonable armist ice and , perhapmost remarkably. have affected the perceptions and the behavior of the Sovieleadership. The peace community is nowa pennanent fixture in the constellatioof American politics, emi ttin q its owlight and ex ert in q a powerful qravitational force.American and Eurpoean peacenikcannot alon e seize the credi t fo r the INFaccord . Reagan and Gorbachev have beensurprisingly adept and flexible in reachinth is accommodation - one aided by WesEurpoean leaders. But credi t is also duto th e newly mob ilized citizenry that hachan ged the political dynamics of armcont rol forever.

Peace is an infi nite stat e of freedom from outside disturbancesand harassment . . . et erna l repo se.

Peace is thai which gives or maintains tranquilit y . . .the action of quietude and silence.

Peace is a stare of trust between govenunents, the absence of warand tummoil . . . a pact or form al agreement to end hostilities , afonnal recon ciliation between contending parties. as a peace treat y.

Peace is the lack of civil clamor and confusion . . . a sta te of publicquiet or security and order within a community as provided forby law. custom. o r public opinion.

Peace is harmony in human and personal relatio nships . . .mu tual con co rd and esteem.

Peace . . . many seek it. few know its Irue mean ing . . .As more understand. perh aps it could become a reality.

Editor :Thank you so very much fo r yo ur firstdynamic issue of T ~ Report. Itwas wonderful reading the articles andquotes of such aware people like Dr.Helen Caldicott, Carl Sagan, Carol Burnet t , and yourself. Congratulations on afan tastic micro magazine with a macromessage.I' ve been busy mailing xerox letters tofr iends and sponsors of the AmericanSoviet Walk , etc. I'm also in the midst o fpu tt ing my memoirs together o f TheGreat Peace March as well and schedulinglectu res and slide shows. These are allpleasant mino r chores while trying to bestutili ze my energies towards the majorissue - nuclear disar mamen t.

This small donation is to help supportyour very wor thwhile efforts .Freda A mse1Northridge, CA

Peace is a menial or spiritual condition marked by freedomfrom disquieti ng or oppressive though ts . . . a calmness ofmind and heart. a serenity of sp irit.

importan t work. I hope to join and workon ou r next American/Soviet Walk !Anyone coming th rough Sun Valleyis welcome - Please call me. Let 's keepin touch. Lowie Graves, ASW No. 15

Sun VaHey, Idaho208/726-8564

Editor :What a good project . I'm always concern ed about the number of groups involved in peace movements (the numberis good) and the dangers o f territorialityovershadowing cooperation . . .My project is tryinq to collect all thematerial . . '. o r at least know about alltha t is being done about teaching peace inschool systems. I'm especially interestedin the parents and teachers for social reosponsibility. Educators for Social g espcnnsibili ty (ESR) has some excellent eurriculum material . You certainly have bittenoff a big chunk ; I'm a rusty old journal.ism major myself and know how relentless those deadlines are . Peace on earthand qood luck for you r project .Rosemary Dear, ASW No. 58Poulsbo. WashingtOllEditor:Since ret urning home, ta king sometime for.myself. going th rough my photos.no tes. and recordinqs, J am again awareof the very intense experience we allshared on ou r walk in the Soviet Union.

It was as men tally , phy sically , andemotionally demanding as I had expectedit to be!I knew instantly, when introduced tothe staff and the information on the proposed walk in February (1987) , tha t thiswas what I wanted to do - to expand myunderstanding and experience beyond myself and home int o an area of such importance in our world today - the efforttoward promoting true peace for all nations beepnning with nuclear disarmament .We have to begin somewhere and I beIieve each of us will find OUR way toaffec t chanqe in the atti tudes of friendsand family and community.I feel quite frustrat ed to be leaving mycommunity of Newpo rt Beach, California,for the next year - where I already haveavenu es for peace work - to live in SunValley , Idaho, where I am unknown . I ex pect to chanqe that! 1 plan to give talks,receptions, video and sli de showings ofou r American-Soviet Walk expe riences,and I plan to read and study (and ski) so

that I can become more effec tive in th is

Editor :How do I intend to use my experienceas a peace walker?Presently. I have had fou r chu rchappearances, one high school assembly.two Chamber of Commerce sessions. oneLions Club meeting, and in the future willbe malting presentations at two SundaySchools, two Kiwanis clubs. oneOptimist,two Rotary , one community , and threechurches. plus many one-on-one meetinqs.So far, I've also written one article andhave had two newspaper interviews.Russell L. Yoder, ASWNo. 108Kalona, Iowa

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"Imagine hO'N much the cause at peace would be served if more individuals and tarruies trom ourrespective countries could come 10 know each other in a personal way . . . We should broadenopportunities for Soviet and American citizens 10 get 10 know each other better."- Ronald W. Reagan40th President of the United States

"Ewry gun that is made. every !3rship launched. every rocket fired . signifies. in the final sense. a theft fromthose who hlllger and are not fed . those who are cold and are not clothed . The 'M)I1d in arms is not spendingmoney alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers. the genlls of its scientists. the hope of its children .I like tobelieve that people in the kmg run are going todomore toercrcte peace thCll our gCMlmments.lndeed.I think that people want peace so much thai one of these days QOYemmen ts had be tter get out of the w;ry andlet them have ie

- Dwight D. Eisenhower5 Star Ge neral, United States ArmySupreme tomnancer

Documents

The Peace Report: Walking Together for Peace (Issue No. 2)