Today is the International Day of Peace and the culmination of Peace Week. Here is the discussion of it and the schedule of web broadcasts.
https://peaceweek.info/
Today is the International Day of Peace, with millions around the world celebrating the hope and possibility of living in peace!
We have a truly fantastic program lined up for today with top leaders like Michael Bernard Beckwith (9:00 am), Nobel Laureate Betty Williams (noon), and an evening peace council with members of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers (6:30 pm)!
We particularly invite your active participation today in:
A minute of silence at noon local time
Community Peace Offering ceremony at 5 pm Pacific time in which we invite our full community to offer poetry, quotes, prayers, or songs that express and invite peace. Bring your favorite and share!
Legislative Action – help pass the crucial Youth Promise Act in Congress (see full description below)
Tweet for Peace – Help send 1 Million Tweets for Peace, using dozens of quotes or options from our sample list here.
Today’s Events
For time zone conversion, click here. Use the call-in sent to you upon registration. If you have trouble with your PIN or never received it from MaestroConference, contact [email protected]
8:45 am to 9:00 am – Songs for Peace with folk legend Pete Seeger
9:00 am to 9:30 am – Personal Peace Practices with Michael Bernard Beckwith (founder of Agape)
11:00 am to 11:58 am- Building Peace in a World of Conflict: A Conversation with 2 Veteran Peace Makers, Susan Collins-Marks and Ambassador John McDonald
11:58 am to 12:01 pm – Million Minutes for Peace – Join Millions Globally for 1 Minute of Silence at Noon with an Introduction starting at 11:58am
12:01 pm to 1:00 pm – Dialogue with Nobel Laureate Betty Williams and Peace Day catalyst Avon Mattison
1:00 pm to 1:30 pm – Economics of Peace with Georgia Kelley, executive director of Praxis Peace Institute
2:00 pm to 2:30 pm – Summer of Peace 2012 with Stephen Dinan, creator of PeaceWeek
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm – How to Enhance the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace and Implement the UN Programme of Action on This Matter with Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations
4:00 pm to 4:30 pm – Youth Promise Act with Aaron Voldman, director of the Student Peace Alliance
5:00 pm to 6:15 pm – Community Peace Offering Ceremony with host James O’Dea, Fred Johnson, and Barbara Marx Hubbard
6:30 pm – Members and Supporters of the Indigenous Grandmother’s Council: Council Ambassador Jyoti, Grandmother Aama Bombo, Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein, Grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyaltong, and Marie Meade
The recordings of previous days are available on the Calendar/recordings page. We also encourage you tune in to PeaceDay.TV, which features live global programming culminating with the International Day of Peace.
Today’s Recommended Peacebuilding Activity – Help pass the historic Youth Promise Act! Here’s a letter from our co-producer The Peace Alliance about this 2-minute Action for Peace:
Dear Peace Weekers,
We hope you have been inspired by the program and are ready to even more deeply engage in work for peace, whether it be in your own life or in advocacy for more peaceful structures in our society. Today, on this Peace Day, you have a chance to help by urging your Senators (for US citizens) to support the Youth PROMISE Act, an innovative prevention and intervention legislation that would go far in reducing violence and cultivating peace among at-risk youth.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS TODAY
2-minute Action for Peace
Call your Senator through our Youth PROMISE Act Senate Call-in line at: 888-743-4385 and/or join our mobile action team by texting “PROMISE” to 738674. You will be connected with your Senator and given a few brief talking points.
Sample Script: “I’m calling to urge the Senator to support the Youth PROMISE Act, bill number S. 435. It is important we give our at-risk youth a real shot at succeeding in life.”
The Youth PROMISE Act (Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support & Education Act, H.R. 1064/S. 435) is a bipartisan measure currently before Congress. The bill’s passage would create unprecedented investments in proven community-based violence prevention and intervention practices, such as mentoring, afterschool programs and other innovative diversion strategies. It is truly a fantastic model for the work of peacebuilding that would go a long way to proving it’s powerful role in society.
Over half the U.S. House has signed on to co-sponsor the legislation with momentum growing rapidly in the Senate.
Our most vulnerable youth deserve our support, this is a powerful step in the right direction and it”s passage is within our grasp. We need you help today by contacting your Senators, urging them to sign on. With your support, we can make this happen. Gratitude!
All in all, today offers a wonderful finale to an incredible week! Thank you for participating and helping to create a truly peaceful world. And do continue to invite your friends and allies to participate.
in spirit,
Stephen Dinan
CEO, The Shift Network
P.S. Here are other great activities to participate in as part of the International Day of Peace:
In celebration of the 2010 UN International Day of Peace, the Partner Cities Network of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions is launching the Peace Cities on September 21, 2010. The Peace Cities initiative is a city-to-city interfaith networking platform for grassroots interfaith groups worldwide, all made possible through PeaceNext.org, which offers community to more than 2,500 members from over 80 countries. It will be inaugurating over 70 cities as Peace Cities in 2010. For more information, contact Partner Cities Director, Zabrina Santiago at [email protected].
Join National Yoga Month events and get ONE WEEK FREE YOGA at over 1,400 participating yoga studios nationwide in support of PeaceWeek and Intl. Day of Peace. www.yogamonth.org.
You are invited to be part of the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), a science based co-creative initiative to unite people across the planet in heart-focused care and intention, to facilitate a shift in global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation and enduring peace. Membership is free at www.glcoherence.org. Explore the relationship between collective human emotion / intention and the Earth’s energetic fields. Join with others in the Global Care Room and participate in GCI’s Peace Week Care Focus.
The Alliance for Peacebuilding is hosting a Collaboration Connections session on Western Sahara on Tuesday, September 21st at American University from 10:00am until 3:00pm in the School of International Service Building, Room 300. All are welcome to attend!