The Journey Begins
The Journey began on June 25, 1998 at the British headquarters of the Church of Scientology at Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead in England. A core group of eight runners ran the marathon, accompanied by a support team and backed up by runners from each country they passed through, who joined them at the border and travelled with them until the next border, when a “Torch of Freedom” was handed over to a team from the country they were entering.
The Torch and a Proclamation for Religious Freedom which the team carried with them symbolised the ideals of the UDHR and the Proclamation called upon European governments to respect them. Thousands signed the Proclamation during the six-week marathon. But the European Journey’s message reached farther still. Through personal contact, events and media coverage, the message of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was heard or seen by an estimated 33 million people. Among them were government officials, mayors, VIPs, human rights leaders, police officers, farmers, restaurant owners, tourists, business executives, housewives, reporters, firemen, printers—the list goes on.
The spirit of the Journey was one of friendship and informality, of building bridges and breaking down barriers. It was an opportunity to realise the universally applicable, non-discriminatory ideals of the UDHR by living them.
Those who took part earnestly hope that the European Journey will inspire more people to make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a reality, and help purge the world of the poison of intolerance.
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