"Every day throughout history, human beings killed one another. Can we have one day when we pause and stop the killing?" was a poignant question once posed by Jeremy Gilley, Director of the London-based organization, Peace One Day.

In 1998, Gilley began a campaign to persuade governments about the importance of actually setting aside such a day. As a result, in 2001, the United Nations formally adopted September 21 as International Peace Day: a day for ceasefire and non-violence. But this declaration was just the beginning. Today, people not only celebrate the possibility of peace through music and dance, but also by negotiating for actual ceasefires, with those engaged in armed conflicts in different parts of the world.

In India, a number of civil society groups got together to celebrate International Peace Day, extending it into a weeklong event. Conceptualized by Kriti, a Delhi-based NGO, the Peace Week kicked off with an eclectic collection of posters, paintings, poems and pictures on peace put up at India Habitat Centre's Open Palm Court gallery. Each participant lit candles to mark a personal engagement in the quest for peace, and a large white chart paper was put up on which everybody could freely pen or paint what they felt about peace.

The programme was fuelled by a desire to redefine peace. As Aanchal Kapur, a member of the Kriti team put it, "Peace begins with each one of us in homes, families, communities, organizations, countries, regions and the world. Peace is holistic, integrative, ecological. It is a part of our everyday life... For us, peace means diversity, justice, sustainability and nurturing. It signifies equality, compassion and harmony... Peace is a collective effort, which comes through the contribution of many."

Indeed, many people did contribute to the success of the Peace Week. Artists, including Seema Kohli, Praveen Dabas, Sonia Mehra Chawla, Shirin Mehra Agarwal and Subodh Kerkar got together to paint a Peace Canvas. Said Agarwal, "Painting is one way in which I tried to create peace in myself and in the world around me. It is a way to create some beauty in a world that is noisy, violent and difficult."

Jigri, a music band in Delhi, sang songs on the theme. Several civil society organizations set up stalls exhibiting varied material - WISCOMP's scholarly monographs focused on conflict and peace-building; TARSHI's bookmarks were on safe sexuality; Jagori's booklets gave ideas on how to make urban spaces safe; SAHMAT's books threw light on communalism and working class history; and Zubaan's publications focused on critical women's issues. Hosts Kriti presented a collection of books on ecology as well as T-shirts and bags made of recycled material.

The integral links between women and peace were brought out through an exhibit on South Asian women peacemakers - all recipients of the Right Livelihood Award, the alternative Nobel Prize. These included Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the well-known movement against destructive dams; Parmaben, midwife and grassroots community organizer with the Kuchh Mahila Vikas Samiti, Gujarat; Teesta Setalvad, initiator of 'Communalism Combat', which works with children and adults to stem communalism prejudices; and Irom Sharmila, non-violent protestor against militarization in Northeast India.

Charu Shankar performed 'A Gesture of Peace' - a dance inspired by Irom Sharmila and her poetry. A number of powerful plays staged during the week emphasized the fact that culture, religion, environment and livelihoods are all implicated in the search for peace. Pandies Theatre's 'Margins', directed by Sanjay Kumar, depicted the role of communities in forging and maintaining peace.

'The Nandigram Project' brought out the voices of farmers struggling against state takeover of their agricultural land, some of whom were even killed in police firing. This performance was based on texts by Mahashweta Devi and Suniti Namjoshi, and directed by Parnab Mukherjee. Sanjha Manch presented `Dilli Door Hai', a play expressing what peace means to the street people of Delhi. In Safar's street play, 'Swayam', young girls and women expressed what peace means to them - safety, dignity and the opportunity to make a decent living. Ramjas College Hindi Society's play, 'Hatyaare', depicted communal harmony. In a discussion that followed the play, the students said they would continue staging the play at different venues in order to spread their message of communal harmony.

Two films - Parvez Imam's 'Random Voices from Kashmir' and Snehasis Das' `The Lake of Despair', brought to the fore the emotions of ordinary Kashmiris who want love, peace and brotherhood, but are condemned to traumatic violence due to militancy and militarism. Shikha Jhingan's film, `Born to Sing', traced the musical journeys of four Mirasans (women of the Mirasi community who sing songs on life-cycle rituals for their patrons) in Punjab, with evocative memories of Partition and the resilience of the secular and composite culture of the Malawi region of Punjab.

'War and Peace', Anand Patwardhan's classic, brought out the importance of peace activism in the face of religious fanaticism, hyper-masculinity, pogroms and wars. Kavita Joshi's film, 'Tales from the Margins', portraying Manipuri women's dramatic resistance to murder and rape committed by armed forces personnel, under the cover of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, was also screened.

Inter-cultural cooperation is essential for peace to become a reality - and this requires a transition from the present pervasive culture of war to a culture of peace. In the film, 'Peace One Day', a child soldier from Somalia admitted, "It is possible I have killed some people with my gun"; while a number of children from the same country, living in an orphanage, said, "If the war goes on it will not be good for us." The parents of these children died in the war and some of the children were found as babies on the streets, sucking at their dead mothers' breasts.

Recognizing that it is essential to involve children in order to make a difference, the Peace Week included an on-the-spot painting and slogan-writing workshop. Colorful visions of a peaceful world emerged like magic from the young hands as they wielded their crayons with skill and imagination.

Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, has said, "Each individual can make a difference. If each of us does all we can, collectively we can make a difference." It's important to try.

October 14, 2007

By arrangement with WFS 

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