GUERNICA

The first air attack in world history on civilian people was by the Condor Legion on refugees fleeing from Malaga to Almeria. It was 13 Feb 1937, with hundreds of casualties.  Only one month later in March, planes from Mussolini  bombed Durango for 20 minutes. And then another month later, the massive all-day bombing of Guernica, a place of 5000 people with war material factories, by the 24 airplanes of the Condor Legion.

 (Condor birds are better known for not attacking living creatures. They generally survive by scavenging and cleaning-up the environment). Then only seven years later, the atomic  bombings over Japan in August 1945. In all cases, the target was women, men, and children. Only the German government has offered a formal apology for these terrorist air attacks on the citizens of the Basque Homeland, today a world symbol of the horrors of war and a world capital of peace.

Guernica was made famous because of Picasso's large mural; but it was also made famous by Paz and Kike who went to that place of great human suffering, that black spot on the pages of good human history, and just offered

"A Bowl of Tea for Peace into the Four Directions."

"This is a place of the White Hands peace symbol. Just a quiet feeling, making tea here. We were bringing and giving something from all the students at Shotoku-an. Blue sky and sunny day after a long month of rain. At the same time we were offering 'A Bowl of Tea for Peace,' one person was standing there and singing a traditional Basque song of freedom, a song of peace. I really appreciated this chance to make tea at Guernica. It was a new place for me, and I am very happy you asked me to go there."