In recognition of The UN International Peace Day on Sept. 21, and to celebrate with other communities worldwide, the Chester County Peace Movement and the WCU Contemporary Issues Club invite the campus community, the West Chester community, and friends to unite for a candlelight vigil starting at 7 p.m. at the Chester County Courthouse, Market and High Streets, in downtown West Chester.
On Sept. 23 at 2 pm at West Chester University’s Main Hall, the Contemporary Issues group and the CCPM will observe the annual International Day of Peace with a showing of the film “To Catch a Dreamer.” This film illustrates in collage, photography, and narration, the 10 United Nations Human Rights of the Child. Following the film there will be a participatory mural-making activity and refreshments.
Peace Day was established in 1981 by the United Nations (UN) as an annual observance of global non-violence and ceasefire. In 2002, the General Assembly of the UN declared Sept. 21 as the permanent date for International Day of Peace.
“On this International Day, let us promise to make peace not just a priority, but a passion … pledge to do more, wherever we are in whatever way we can, to make every day a day of peace,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
At the Friday night candlelight vigil, a resolution co-sponsored by Pennsylvania’s 19th District State Senator Andrew E. Dinniman will be read, along with the reading of a proclamation signed by Mayor Carolyn Comitta and borough council members. Mayor Comitta is a member of Mayors for Peace, an organization which grew from the second UN Special Session on Disarmament on June 24, 1982. CCPM endorses Mayors for Peace which includes a membership of more than 5,300 mayors in cities across the U.S. and 153 countries worldwide that formally support nuclear disarmament.
The Chester County Peace Movement is a committed group of people who believes simply that human problems can be solved without killing each other. The CCPM holds a weekly demonstration of that belief at the corner of High and Market Streets in West Chester from 11:00 am to noon every Saturday morning. We welcome all “peace people” to join us there!
Additional information may be found at CCPM’s website at www.ccpeace.org.
Andi Hubbard is a member of the Chester County Peace Movement who works in the President’s Office at West Chester University. She can be reached at ahubbard@wcupa.edu.