There are groups and organizations that believe continued and permanent global peace is possible. The idea and goal are for all human beings to live in peace and harmony. One of these group meets in Surrey BC and we are able to present some highlight from the event.
This is how the President of the group describes the day and the organization.
This year Global Peace Alliance, Surrey Society held again its ‘Give Peace a Chance’ Festival and celebrated the International Day of Peace whose theme this year reflects our climate crisis and environmental problems. We opened our festival with a First Nations welcome. We had a wonderful array of speakers, singers, and dancers at our beautiful theatre and atrium at city hall. To name just a few, we heard from Thomas Sandborn, a social justice activist, journalist, and environmentalist, who spoke on the relationship between the Green New Deal and peace and justice. Rochelle Prasad, founder of Camp We Empower and the Climate Change Challenge program for grades 3-12,spoke on her recent trip to the 24th Youth Assembly at the United Nations Institute of Peace.
The well-known Surrey singer and choreographer Jyotika Jasuja entertained us with her beautiful voice as well as folk singer Cici Cox who softened our mood with her original ballads accompanied by guitar. Nicole Whitney of Shimmy for the Soul will entertained us with belly dancing. Raman Sangha of the Surrey Indian Arts Club presented a special collaboration of two Punjabi folk dances, Bhangra and Giddha. The colourful and fabulously energetic Shiama Priya, a First Nations dancer, tore up the stage. We also enjoyed the dancing of AzestA Ballet School, run by Royal Academy dance teacher Elizabeth Lisa.
Dances from other countries such as Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, Vietnam and Greece help us celebrate further our multicultural Surrey. We were inspired by this lineup and There was much more to list here.
However it’s important to mention that We gave tribute to our founder Dr. RB Herath who remains on as an advisor to the organization and we acknowledged and awarded the participants and winners of our yearly ART4Peace Visual and Literary Submissions. Each year we engage the community and receive many beautiful and inspiring works based on the theme of peace. These will form the eventual Children’s Dictionary of Peace and an Adult literary bank. This year we added essays on foreign policy which will be sent to our MPs. Finally, there were peace themed arts and crafts for the young at heart and community and artist tables in henna and calligraphy. Healthy and delicious food and refreshments were served, all free to the public.
Global Peace Alliance was started with the launch of a book A new Beginning for Humankind: A Recipe for Lasting Peace on Earth by RB Harath at a community forum on world peace. Key ideas included solutions to ending wars such as nuclear disarmament, ending superpower policing, reforming the UN, conflict resolution and lastly and more importantly subduing the enemies of peace within ourselves: greed, hatred, delusion. Replaced with caring and sharing; forgiving and forgetting, acting responsibly in a trustworthy, reliable and non-violent manner, appreciation of the well-being and happiness of all humans as one’s own . Global Peace is a non-profit run by directors from varied ethnic, religious and political backgrounds; Asad Syed, Niovi Patsicakis, Furquan Gehlen, Maryam Boukherbani, Rajesh JayaPrakrash, and Annie Ohana. We strive to educate, welcome newcomers to the community, and share our cultures through various events, meetings, workshops, advocacy and support of other groups seeking peace and social justice. Everyone is welcome to join and become an active member.
Please watch the video
