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Special to CPNN from David Wick*
“As you think, so you become”, is an ancient and timeless message for humanity. A similar wake-up call is expressed in the preamble of UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” Both the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, and the UN International Day of Peace are dedicated to assisting humanity in consciously living this reality.
The United Nations in a series of resolutions and programs for the 21st Century, called for a transition from the culture of war to a culture of peace. In 1999 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (A/RES/53/243). During the International Year for the Culture of Peace in the Year 2000, one percent of the world’s population (75 million people) took part in the signature campaign on the Manifesto 2000.
Pathways To Peace (PTP) is an international Peacebuilding, educational, and consulting organization. For over four decades, PTP has been actively making Peace a lived reality. PTP is a UN-designated Peace Messenger Organization and has Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). PTP works locally and globally, inter-generationally and multi-culturally, to support Peacebuilding, Peacebuilders, and to collaborate with other organizations in initiatives that advance the Culture of Peace.
Since its inception in 1981, Pathways To Peace has worked with the UN to expand awareness of and engage in the International Day of Peace (Peace Day), which is held annually on September 21. Peace Day has grown from a single event of a few hundred people in San Francisco on September 18, 1984, into a global movement that reaches hundreds of millions to billions of people. Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace. For Pathways To Peace, the overarching mission is cultivating a Culture of Peace for all of humanity with the International Day of Peace serving as a day for all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities, and to commemorate Peace Day through all means of education and communication.
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What is happening this year (2024) for the International Day of Peace?
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The sound of silence reverberated at high noon in every time zone across the globe on September 18, 1984, as it rode a PeaceWave launched from San Francisco.
On that day, Pathways To Peace (PTP) coordinated a Peace Day in San Francisco (the birthplace of the UN) to celebrate the first large-scale, civil society organized, International Day of Peace. As the PeaceWave circled the globe that first year, citizens from 52 countries responded to the invitation from San Francisco to participate in the celebration of the International Day of Peace.
Those numbers have grown exponentially over the past 40 years. This year, organizers are expecting upwards of three billion people to observe the noon minute of silence and to participate in peace building events held in over 200 countries. Major international cities such as Geneva, Hiroshima, and New York will join San Francisco in livestreaming their Peace Day events to a global audience, with more cities to be announced in the weeks to come.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first United Nations International Day of Peace gathering and the launch of the PeaceWave from The City by the Bay, Pathways To Peace is hosting the Peace Day gathering at the Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco this September 21, 10:30 am – 4:00 pm PDT. Tezikiah Gabriel, Executive Director of PTP, said, “As it was 40 years ago, the purpose of the Peace Day initiative is to foster cooperation at all levels of our local-global communities and to demonstrate the difference each individual, group, organization, or nation makes when acting in concert with one another… enough of a difference to change the course of history!”
Additional information can be found on Pathways to Peace . If you cannot attend in person please register to join us online for the Live Global Broadcast at ptp.events/broadcast and join in virtually.
Our shared goal of cultivating a Culture of Peace is doable and right before us. As international futurist and past President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences Willis Harman said, “Perhaps the only limits to the human mind are those we believe in.”
* David Wick is the President of Pathways To Peace and Executive Director of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission.
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