Flowers play, batons respond

In recent days there has been an interesting exchange of letters between the National Coordinators of "Tavola per la pace" (The Table of Peace) and the premier candidate of the Italian centre-left Veltroni.

From the open letter to Walter Veltroni: Why is the world once again left out of the election campaign?
"After so many years of generous commitment to peace, after yet another march for peace from Perugia to Assisi we want to question the effectiveness of the political and cultural movement for peace. We will march again from Perugia to Assisi. To achieve what? What is the use of marching for peace if politics is increasingly blind and deaf?
On 7 October 200,000 of us marched to build "a new policy and a new non-violent political culture based on human rights. But by nightfall, that same day, the curtain also came down on that extraordinary march by the people. Media and politics have been filed without batting an eyelid. As if nothing had occurred. "

From the response letter of Walter Veltroni
"I appeal to a renewed political commitment for peace. Unless another path is found, the only way to express strong opinions now is through violence.
I believe that the core issue of our century is not a clash between civilizations, but between fanaticism and tolerance. And this is true for major tensions across the world as well as for the proclaimed history of our country: often unbridgeable distance is not so much between the bearers of this or that identity, but between those who choose to stay in the trenches and who discuss, between those who put the helmet and those seeking a virtuous conclusion. The commitment to peace, if not to remain mere talk, starts with these considerations. And so there must be real commitment to the policy and it must be taken to the women and men who aspire to live peacefully."

(In translation, please refer to original Italian text for accurate citation)