Peace One Day

From Jeremy

Dear Friends

11 years ago this September I founded the film project Peace One Day to document my efforts to create an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence with a fixed calendar date. In 2001, Peace One Day achieved its primary objective. United Nations General Assembly resolution (A/Res/55/282) was unanimously adopted by UN member states, formally establishing an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace, fixed in the global calendar on 21st September. 

With the day in place, Peace One Day’s aim now is to institutionalise Peace Day across the world so it becomes self-sustaining - a day of global unity, a day of inter-cultural cooperation. This is our strategy:

Through film

My documentary, The Day After Peace, produced in association with the BBC and Passion Pictures, has played at festivals around the world and has so far been licensed for broadcast in over 100 countries. The next film, now in production, is scheduled for seven transmissions over the weekend of 18/19 September 2010 to 200 countries on BBC World. Produced by me and Jude Law, this third film charts the extraordinary progress of Peace Day since 2007.

Through education

Peace One Day Education aims to advance active learning in the areas of conflict resolution, global citizenship, human rights and the link between sustainability and peace, using Peace Day 21 September as a focus. Our goal is to provide free resource materials to every school on earth, inspiring a generation to become the driving force behind the vision of a united and sustainable world. In March 2010 Peace One Day launched the second phase of its USA roll out, with a live webcast from Scholastic Headquarters in New York. All schools teaching at grades 6–12 in a further 11 US states have received a free School Edition DVD of The Day After Peace to accompany the free, online Peace One Day USA Education Resource, now with 21 interactive, student-centred lesson plans, bringing the total to 17 east coast states targeted. The US roll out is kindly being underwritten by Ben & Jerry’s and launched in association with Scholastic. The Resource has been created with special reference to the US National Standards. The fourth edition of the free, online UK Citizenship Resource for Key Stages 3 and 4 is currently in production.

Thanks to the support of Skype, in June 2010 POD launched the new Peace One Day Global Education Resource in the six official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese [Mandarin], English, French, Russian and Spanish. The free, online Global Education Resource (and all new resource editions worldwide) includes a new lesson exploring intercultural cooperation via Skype.

More information about Peace One Day Education can be found here.

Through football

Our One Day One Goal initiative, supported by puma.peace, aims to encourage football (soccer) matches all over the world on Peace Day. Teams are often created with a mix of players from different cultures or communities. One Day One Goal matches celebrate cooperation, unity and the power of football to bring people together on Peace Day. Last year there were over 700 One Day One Goal football matches involving over 75,000 participants in all 192 UN member states and beyond. This year, we will be working to repeat our successful 2009 campaign to instigate at least one football match in every UN Member State on Peace Day and increase the number of matches within each country; we also aim to manifest matches all over the world that focus on using football to strengthen communities and support peace-building efforts; and to instigate hundreds of matches across Africa celebrating football’s power to unite the continent in this year of the inaugural African World Cup.

You can read more about the campaign right here.

Through live events

To date, Peace One Day has produced five high-profile music-driven celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall, London, Brixton Academy, London and Le Grand Rex, Paris, featuring musicians such as Lenny Kravitz, Annie Lennox, Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens), Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, John Legend, Kasabian, Kate Nash, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dave Stewart, Jimmy Cliff, Marc Almond, Faithless and James Morrison, as well as special guests such as Jude Law, Jonny Lee Miller and Emilia Fox, and inspirational video inserts and messages. These events have been televised and broadcast to reach the greatest possible audience, inspiring and motivating individuals to become active on Peace Day.

POD’s 2010 Celebration will take place at the 6,000-seat Zenith, Paris on Friday 17 September 2010. The line-up is Charlie Winston, Patti Smith, - M -, Youssou NDour and Yodelice, hosted by POD ambassador Jude Law and Sharon Stone. The concert will be filmed in HD for international broadcast on Peace Day Tuesday 21 September 2010.

Click here for highlights and more information.

Through you

We want to reach 3 billion people with the message of Peace Day by 2012, and we are working with governments, the UN system, non-governmental organisations, schools and corporations to achieve that; but ultimately it is your support that will help make it a reality. As Ahmad Fawzi (now Director of News Media at the UN) said at our launch in 1999, ‘It is the peoples of this world who can create peace.’

I want to thank the countless individuals - from governments, the United Nations, humanitarian organisations, corporations and beyond, who have supported Peace One Day to make Peace Day a reality. The willingness of people to support the process is what keeps me going. Now it’s up to you. If we’re going to unite the world on 21 September, then every single one of us will have to become involved in the peace process, and 21 September is the starting point.

So please make your commitment to Peace Day now on our site. By working together there will be Peace One Day. Thank you.

>> So what will you do to make peace on 21 September?

In peace

Jeremy

“It is the peoples of this world who can create peace.” Ahmad Fawzi