On Saturday, March 14 at 10 a.m., there will be a peace march from Amherst to Northampton. The public is invited to attend all or part of the walk. In rough numbers, with 5 percent of the world's population, the USA spends as much on the military as the rest of the world combined. The USA spends about $2 trillion a year on war.

“Our goal is to eliminate all the world's nuclear weapons,” said organizer Tim Bullock of Leverett, Massachusetts. The march will start at the Amherst town common, across the street from 30 Boltwood Avenue.

Kevin Martin is director of www.peace-action.org which is based near Washington, DC and employs six people. Martin told the Valley Post his group supports the Amherst march. “That's the kind of thing that I find more energizing than lobbying,” he said. Nevertheless, there are some signs of hope for peace lobbying, Martin said. “Negotiations for peace with Iran are promising. On Labor Day 2013, we helped stop a war between the U.S. and Syria,” he said.

Martin urged people to attend a rally for peace at the United Nations in New York City on April 26. Details are at:

www.PeaceAndPlanet.org/mobilization

The Amherst to Northampton march is part of a march from Leverett to the United Nations. It is being organized by www.NewEnglandPeacePagoda.org which the New York Times said is “part of the fabric of the community” of the Valley.

More information about the march is available by contacting Bullock by phone at (413) 485-8469 or by email at walk4newspring@gmail.com.

There are frequent buses to bring marchers back to Amherst from Northampton, or from stops along the march route. Schedules are at www.pvta.com.

Selma, a movie about Martin Luther King, is in theaters nationwide. King said, “Anyone who feels, and there are still a lot of people who feel that way, that war can solve the social problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution.”