what its all about

the Idea is to do a Walk around the world with people who want to be the change they wish to see in this world, especially the younger generation including children. People joining this Walk can be everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin, nationality, socioeconomic background, religious faith or philosophical thought, as long as you believe in a peaceful coexistence in the world of tomorrow. The sun shines for everyone.
The idea follows the realization that solving the world’s social and environmental problems – which are inextricably intermeshed – will require a mobilization of communities around the world, a mobilization of such magnitude that it will inevitably grow into a political process. Moreover, the participation of the younger generation is vital to the success of this project. Because it is the younger generation that still has a future to live which many of the older generation don’t seem to care for. The younger generation is the future in the present, and only the younger generation can produce the pioneers to create a less ugly world. Hence the proposed name for the Walk is Future Generations’ Survival Walk (FGSW). Despite the name and its intentions, the Walk will not be possible without the united efforts of both the older and the younger generations; interaction between our elders and our youth, our essential temporal link, is something we cannot afford to lose.
The dominant global business interests and mainstream politicians are not likely to voluntarily take the necessary steps to solve the world’s social and environmental problems. All these problems can be traced back to an authoritarian education system which forbids the younger generation to be and inevitably results in exploitation, wars, and aggressive development. It has also created a generation gap because it makes people unaware of what they are doing. Parental expectations of the older mainstream generation are nullified by the fact that these parents often collaborate with a system which has, in as many ways as conceivable, created survival hazards for future generations by taking our planet to the rubbish dump. It calls for concerted political pressure by the younger generation around the world to bring about a counter development which finds its strength in its internal diversity and will perceive history not as determinism, but as opportunity. Just what course this counter development will take is open for debate, and this debate is just what we need now.
Human history can be perceived as a history of walking. However, nobody walks without having learned to walk by himself, and without having learned to understand the reasons he is walking for. But nobody wanders anywhere alone. No matter how far he travels, and not even if he travels physically alone, unaccompanied by friends or relatives. We always carry with ourselves a memory of many components which is not only sculptured by our past, but also actively involved in creating our present and our future.

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→ the Organization of the Walk cannot be done by one group or a few individuals alone. We need people and organizations on all continents who will initiate “forefield” preparations in their regions and contribute to the Walk through their creative ideas in whatever way they can. In practical terms, this means fund raising, organizing volunteers (coordinating staff, interpreters, medical team, truck drivers, etc.), getting in touch with the mass media, finding sponsors who will make donations like food, clothes, or medical items, organizing places for meetings and concerts, and perhaps even scouting out ships to cross oceans. The Walk will gain significance only if its participants and supporters can show the world that ocean-and-border-crossing solidarity through internal diversity works.
For obvious reasons, the Walk will not have an overall leadership. Those who participate as members of a group or organization may have their spokespeople, but we reject the concept of leadership because it does not correspond with the principle of internal diversity. Once on its way, the Walk will be self-organized by its participants and supporters, meaning that you are expected to be your own leader and take responsibility for where you are.
Among the questions we are facing right from the beginning are those concerning visas and ships for ocean crossings. Every participant who stays with the Walk long enough to cross international borders will need a valid passport or other travel document of equal value. Copies of these should be made to be kept by someone else in the group just in case they get lost or damaged. International certificates of vaccination and extra passport photographs may also be useful. Visas will be fixed en route at embassies or consulates. If visa requirements demand vaccination against certain diseases (as they occasionally do), they have to be done when they are due.
For ocean crossings, the Walk will have to rely on generous shipowners, organizations, companies, and/or other donors who are willing to cooperate by offering a lift across the water. As a “reward”, their names will appear in the mass media and other audiovisual material documenting the Walk. This means that the Walk as such and the message it spreads have to be powerful enough to create positive billows.
The Walk is not an athletic discipline. Nobody is expected to cover distances like twenty miles per day, and baggage and equipment will be transported by truck. There will be parents with children and probably children without parents.[1] No training is needed for normally healthy people who can walk, but your heart should be prepared for walking. Beyond this, practical experience in camping, cooking, first-aid procedures, or the ability to communicate in different languages can be useful but is not essential as there will be some veterans participating in the Walk.
Likewise, nobody is required to do the entire Walk from the first step to the last. It is more likely that many participants will join and drop off en route whenever and wherever they want. The Walk should be a relaxed progression, allowing you to enjoy the movement of walking together for a less ugly world as a conscious experience. During public meetings, demonstration performances, and similar events, children and teenagers will be given a special stage to express their visions and hopes for the future. Remember that nothing in history has ever been achieved without a preceding vision.

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→ the Route we are propsing is a westward walk around the world. However, it must be flexible, always leaving room for changes and for adjustment to local circumstances. Much of this depends on ships for ocean crossings, and, in certain regions, also on the military-political situation. We don’t want to risk any lives, least of all the lives of children.
The Walk is planned to start from Spain in 2012. Choosing Spain as the geographic location from where to start is not borne by some capricious chance. It was Spain where Columbus embarked on his navigation experiment across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, marking the beginning of European colonization around the world.
Westward means that the Walk will leave Spain for the Caribbean, go around South America, and continue northward through Central America to arrive in the United States. In the US, we are planning to show up at the United Nations (New York), then walk through parts of Canada, and embark on a ship across the Pacific Ocean. A few island countries (e.g., Tahiti, Samoa, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea) should be visited before landing in Australia. From there, the route will go through the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagoes up to Okinawa and Kagoshima in southern Japan. Then we can walk to Nagasaki and Hiroshima and cross the Sea of Japan to South Korea. The next step will be a ship to China if there is no possibility to go through North Korea. There are no plans about the route inside China yet (it might link up with a stroll to Mongolia), but in the end, we would turn southward walking through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand to take a ship from the Malayan Peninsula over to India. After walking through India and perhaps Pakistan, there will be another ship to Africa by way of Madagascar. The route inside Africa has also not been planned yet; but it should end by crossing the Mediterranean Sea over to Turkey. From Turkey, we can walk around Europe (e.g., by way of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Belorussia, the Russian Federation, Finland, Sweden, Norway, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy) and come back to Spain.
This is, so far, the route we have in mind at the time of this writing (June 2009). There have been questions about how many years it would take to complete the Walk. Nobody knows the answer, but someone has made a calculation suggesting seven to eight years. However, as mentioned above, nobody has to do the entire Walk from the first step to the last. There will be many participants going on and off the Walk anywhere en route, and those who want to do the whole trip or a major part of it, are people who don’t bother about time.

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→ Get Gear. The FGSW Organization Committee for Spain is situated at Finca Los Albaricoqueros, Apto. de Correos 40, 30850 Totana, Murcia (fran-guitarra@hotmail.com or qijimunah@yahoo.com). So far, we have contacted individuals and organizations in various countries and also received some positive answers. The circle is growing.
If you are interested in the Walk and want to participate or support it, you can start organizing things in your area as described above (Organization). As this involves a wide range of activities, any kind of initiative, preparation work, your creative ideas, and/or your suggestions will be appreciated. The Walk is also meant to create an opportunity for people from anywhere in the world to get in touch with each other and exchange ideas and inspirations. Click here for further links and networking.
[1] There have been questions by parents about children in school age. This is something children should decide by themselves. We don’t share the neurotic fear of the future that seems to plague many parents in mainstream society. If the child wants to quit school for a while to join the Walk, he will not hurt anybody by doing so and it cannot handicap his development. On the contrary, the Walk can be perceived as a travelling school where the child may learn a lot more useful things than by sitting in a classroom and getting stuffed with book learning.