“Pathways to Peace:  Peacebuilding locally and globally for over 25 years.”

Dear Culture of Peace Initiative Participants (CPI),

During this holiday season, every one of us has the opportunity to be a Peacebuilder!  To engage in the tangible work of making Peace a practical reality, both locally and globally, you are invited to participate as a Peacebuilder by offering your financial support.  Your continued support for Pathways To Peace is making an impact during this challenging economic climate.  Here is how your financial support assisted Peacebuilders in 2009:

For this 27th annual International Day of Peace, the Internet played an increasingly key role in our outreach efforts.  This year, the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI)* quickly amassed more than 16,000 Facebook followers on the International Day of Peace page at facebook.com/peaceday.  In September, about a 100,000 people visited the International Day of Peace website, where we put together a comprehensive page of Peace Day highlights.  A major highlight was the first 24 hour Peace Day Broadcast, which was produced by the Unity Foundation.  Your support will help us better utilize Facebook, online networks and media to bring to light unseen Peacebuilders!

“Celebration Earth Peace Gathering”, a special CPI 2009 program led by Paul Coleman, a CPI Ambassador, brought together thousands in Okinawa, Japan for a historic series of Peace festivals and marches.  Their inspiring, colorful pictures and videos highlight Okinawa’s creative culture and efforts to restore Okinawa to its long held culture of Peace.  As an intergenerational and intercultural program, “Celebration Earth” symbolizes the best of what CPI has to offer!  Your support allows us to share with you how to plan an inspiring “Celebration Earth Peace Gathering” in your community!

A Global Events Calendar has been created to identify the countless events dedicated to promoting Peace. This master calendar invites all to join in these growing celebrations and be in community with others of like-mind. It is a way for all to share inspiration, photos, videos, stories, planned Peace activities.  This year, there were over 600 events shared for Peace Day!  This calendar helps us increase our commitment, by reminding us that we are not alone and, together, we are making a difference.  Together, we also continue to build a Peace community of all cultures, nations and languages. Your support and participation is essential to improving the calendar so that it is accessible to more of our international community of Peacebuilders!

Peace Day has grown from a small gathering of 400 in 1981 in San Francisco, to more than 10,000 events world-wide!  This year, as the result of Pathways To Peace Contributing Writer and Calendar Program Director Melvin Weiner, hundreds of millions of calendars marked the International Day of Peace on September 21!

Culture of Peace Initiative Outreach Coordinator Michael Kwan, a recent university graduate, shares his thoughts on the future:  “I’m excited about the prospects for Peace in our world because of what the Internet provides us.  In a minute I can personally connect with Peacebuilders around the world.  We have an increasingly powerful tool that can instantly focus and amplify our collective work to activate a vibrant, collaborative and engaging culture of Peace.  This year was particularly inspiring because of all the Peace stories and hundreds of comments shared through Facebook and Twitter.  I expect to help inspire more people to act by sharing more detailed examples of Peacebuilding efforts we’ve collected - as well as ongoing Peace practices, Peace Education programs, campaigns and projects to connect to!”

Onwards towards an inter-connected, collaborative and mutually supportive culture of Peace!  We wish you a joyful and Peaceful holiday season with your friends, family and community.

You are a pathway to Peace.

-The Pathways To Peace Team

Please join with us in making Peace a reality by making your generous contribution today!

Checks may be mailed to:

Pathways To Peace
P.O Box 1057
Larkspur, CA 94977 USA

*The Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) is a co-operative Peacebuilding Initiative to unite the strengths of existing organizations, projects and peoples in building a Culture of Peace for future generations.  CPI is a vehicle for bringing to light the previously unseen and unheard Peacebuilders working towards Peace along divers pathways. Through The Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI), Pathways To Peace(International Secretariat, Culture of Peace Initiative) provides an opportunity for individuals, groups and organizations to link with others who are engaging as Peacebuilders through out the year. Peace Day is every day.

Unity Foundation, Pathways To Peace, PeacePortal.mobi and Getzooks welcomes you to the PEACE DAY 24-Hour World Peace Celebration and Global Broadcast commemorating the 27th Annual United Nations’ International Day of Peace on September 21, 2009.

[The broadcast can be viewed on PeaceDay2009.org]

This broadcast highlights the vitally important work of the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies, as well as organizations and individuals around the world dedicated to creating a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. The broadcast includes Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day of Peace; as well as interviews with present and former high level UN officials and other world leaders. The broadcast also includes videos of the “UN in Action” and Peace Day events around the planet. See the press release.

Do you want to share this broadcast? You can embed this broadcast on to your website, blog, myspace, etc. for FREE!  To add the broadcast to your Facebook profile, click here to download the Livestream application!

This year’s ceremonies at UN Headquarters took place today and will be archived at http://www.un.org/webcast/.  The program featured presentations by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other UN dignitaries, as well as UN Messengers of Peace Jane Goodall and Princess Haya of Jordan.

There were performances by a choir from Japan and musicians from the Vermont Peace Academy; films from Yemen and Albania; and large screen video-conferencing with students in Iraq, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sudan.  This was followed by a presentation of Pledges for Peace, the Minute of Silence, the Ringing of the Peace Bell, and a Flags of the World Ceremony by the World Peace Prayer Society!

Following is the text of remarks made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the student observance of the International Day of Peace, today, in New York:

Hello, everyone!

It’s a great pleasure to welcome you to the United Nations today and thank you for taking part from all over the United States.

As you know, I just rang the Peace Bell.  I think you saw a broadcast of my remarks.  These can be summarized in three words:  We Must Disarm.

I shared some of the messages that we received on Twitter from people just like you –- maybe even some people right in this room.

I also tweeted some of my own reasons why We Must Disarm:

• because the world is overarmed and peace is underfunded;
• because disarmament contributes to development; and
• because nukes threaten humankind.  Let’s get rid of them 4 good.

I sent these messages on Twitter because I want to involve the whole world in the campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.  Not just political leaders but citizens everywhere -– including students like you.  You are the future leaders and owners of this planet Earth.

Seeing you makes me think of my own days as a student.  We didn’t have modern technology, such as the Internet or compact phones that could take pictures and videos and download music.  Such things seemed like science fiction.  Today they are sometimes taken for granted.

In the same way, a nuclear-weapon-free world may seem like a far-off dream, but it is not.

Next week, President [Barack] Obama of the United States will chair a Security Council summit on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.  Next year, the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will hold an important Review Conference in the United Nations.  The prospects for reducing nuclear arsenals are better than they have been for years, though the road ahead will not be easy.

It may be difficult for you to imagine me growing up in a world with no Internet.  I hope that someday, your children will have trouble imagining what it was like to live in a world that could be annihilated at any moment by nuclear weapons.

On this International Day of Peace, let’s pledge to keep pushing, together, for a nuclear-weapon-free world.  And I count on your commitment and your leadership as future leaders of this world.

In Afghanistan, UNICEF (UN’s Children Fund ) and UNHCR (UN’s Refugee Agency) are organizing sport events and art contests for youth. UNAMA is holding peace discussions with religious leaders. DIAG (Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups) is organizing ceremonies to hand over weapons. YIAA (Youth in Action Association) is organizing a Peace march! Thousands of youth are expected to participate. In addition, eight radio stations and two TV stations in the eastern region are broadcasting UNAMA produced 30 second PSAs on Peace Day!

And hopefully - many more lives will be saved through a ceasefire which will allow polio vaccinations for children!

9/1/09 - An Afghan youth puts up a poster for International Peace Day during its launching ceremony at the office of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan today. (AP Photo)

Video:  30 second TV spot on Peace Day in Afghanistan

For more on Peace Day in Afghnistan, visit the UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) Peace Day website.

Every year for one week in September, Londoners of all age groups and cultures come together to celebrate Peace in communities across our great city during the London Week of Peace.

Activities take place in communities in every Borough in London along with high profile central events including:
The Peace Awards and Fund raising Dinner,
The 5K Peace Run
The Trafalgar Square Concert and Talent Quest.
and The Peace Debate.

This year the Week of Peace will take place from the 20th - 27th of September 2009.

For information on geting involved please contact the Peace Alliance on:
020 8808 9439 or info[at]weekofpeace.org.uk

http://www.weekofpeace.org.uk