(March 2003)
Peace Event for John
Lennon,
each and everyone can play
a part.
http://www.instantkarma.com/yopeaceevent03.html
Her accompanying advertisements
in US newspapers did read:
IMAGINE
PEACE
Spring 2003
Yoko Ono Lennon
Article about the ads: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/12/MN149056.DTL
Yoko invites everyone to print
T-shirts and posters with this intriguing text.
The newest format is square, and the
small text has disappeared - the idea is now 'for the world'.
http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/imagine_peace_repropc.pdf
----------------------
The weekend of
15/16 Feb 2003 brought The biggest peace marches in
history. Worldwide, 793
cities and places
(webpage takes some time to load with slow connections) planned an
event, on all continents, in all timezones. Countless individuals
and organizations decided to hold protests against a looming war
in Middle-East increasingly. It has gained momentum that weekend
in a worldwide outpour of being a stand for peace. By the hour,
new cities and places joined. (Not) surprisingly, all gatherings
were peaceful, an unprecedented achievement of 'We the People' -
and a promise for future directives. See for ongoing reports and
upcoming actions http://www.unitedforpeace.org
A highly inspiring movement was
the BEYOND WAR movement in the USA in the 80's. One of the
ways to reach an end to war was to challenge the Pentagon
strategists in seeing the military in a new way. What could become
the army's function when peace was attained or endeavoured
for.
By sheer actuality: Can the troops (under supervision of UN
forces) encamped in Iraq honestly fulfill humane tasks like
distribute food, secure clean water, improve sanitation,
facilitate intermediate technology workshops, tackle agricultural
and cultural richness, attend regained dignity for women via e.g.
micro-credits, facilitate or enhance democratic decision
structures. No need then for the soldiers to be drugged... by
opium from Afghanistan?
Side remark: The as horrible presented regime of the once
US-supported Taliban could end opium farming in only a few years.
Afghanistan is back as world's number one opium producer since the
USA invaded in Oct 2001!!!
Accidentally, I found a source
link to the history of Beyond War,
http://www.globalcommunity.org/cgovrvew/beyondwr.htm
and the present
day. http://www.globalcommunity.org
- http://traubman.igc.org/global.htm
We are all one humanity. It is
time to disempower the greedy few grabbing resources and still
believing they are entitled to be dominators. Admittedly, it is a
tough decision for the b'sh's and the(ir) money lenders - the
world as one on the one side, or otherwise possessed by trillions
of dollars in oil and other dead matter after they have seen
themselves winning the war(s).
They have already lost that extremely bloody game by cosmic
decree, only the(ir) mass media do not dare to admit it and make
us believe in the victory of ignorance instead. It is 'We the
People' who are once again called to take a stand NOW. Show that
the emperors are naked. Declare your website a zone of dialogue,
invent a matching content, share inspirational and inspired
projects. Co-creation is fun and joy, and much more challenging
than to be dragged to spying and lying and war.
WAR IS A
BORE.
An exciting approach to
visualize the ridicule of war comes from women. A new movement
http://www.gatherthewomen.org
does various actions to change the war-mongering to
life-preserving and sustainable means that dignify the human
family. They are prepared to take drastic measures to awaken the
sullied and lulled mass media consumers. To give a hint of the
direction this took:
Nude women protest war
[again]; men also
demonstrate
Point Reyes Light - January 2,
'03
BARING WITNESS AGAINST WAR - Ninety-four mostly West Marin
[California, USA] women on Sunday used their naked bodies
to spell out PEACE on Drake's Beach.
This time 24 men also
demonstrated in the buff, creating a large peace symbol on the
beach. Organizer Donna Sheehan of Marshall said the demonstrations
were a "precursor to the mass naked demonstrations in San
Francisco and Washington, DC, on January
18." Sheehan said she
expects "a 100,000 people - men and women - to disrobe for Peace"
at that time. Sunday's female protesters expressed the
"desperation of women" opposed to the Bush Administration's plans
for war with Iraq. Sheehan said, adding that the men by forming
the international peace symbol were showing "solidarity with the
women against global domination and war."
Fifty women mounted a
similar demonstration in Point Reyes Station November 12
'02
---- Photos were at
www.ptreyeslight.com (week Nov 14, 2002 and Jan 2, '03)
This movement has gained momentum, many other places have
followed, see http://www.baringwitness.org
(Updated 6 August '04) Two
stateless World Citizens, Ken Nichols and Chris Smith were
organizing buses for people to act as a human shield in Iraq. It
started in London, with stops in Paris, Amsterdam, Germany, Italy,
etc. They picked up candidates on the way. Ken gave several
interviews on as well radio as TV, and BBC World provided cameras
to report. They were forced to end this action in March 03 and
Chris had then plans for a music peace festival. Most recently,
Chris was stricken with kidnapping of his youngest daughter
http://www.freedome.org
More information:
http://www.uksociety.org
Ken's newest Initiative is to
mobilise 10,000 Western Citizens, the P10K
Force, to the Occupied
Palestinian Territories (OPT) and document all [eventual]
acts of terrorism, as defined by law.
(1 Sep 03) Flash Mobs The newest outrage,
flashmobs http://www.flashmob.com/
have also reached the Netherlands. A mass of spontanely gathered
individuals flock in one particular place (communicated by
Internet or SMS only hours before) and behave in unexpected ways
for a few minutes only. They disperse then as soon as they
appeared. Several websites suggest that it should not be
politically motivated. Noticeably, many of them are happening in
(or somewhat connected with) big warehouses or shops and
consumerism...
In contrary, the website http://www.flashprotest.org
gives interesting background information how this phenomenon could
be used for the growing self-organization of the peace movement.
There, it is stated that one of the initiating moments of swarming
may have been the 1999 World Trade WTO event in Seattle. The idea
of smartmobs derives also from the social communication forms of
large groups of ants and bees. http://www.indymedia.org
had some links in an article on 12 August which point to sources
like the book 'Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution' by Howard
Rheingold. His website http://www.smartmobs.com
provides a growing body of information, a weblog and important
links.
(2007) ImaginePeace.com
is the new website of Yoko Ono and her projects. This year, she
materialized for John's 67th birthday on 9th October a project she
had over 40 years ago: the Imagine Peace Tower. A ray of
strong blue light shining in the sky, realized with all-natural
energy in Reykjavik. It will be shining from 9th October until 8th
December (the day John was murdered by a deranged fan) every year.
Especially this year, due to overwhelming public demand, the
spectacular IMAGINE PEACE TOWER in Reykjavik, Iceland will be lit
and available for visitors between winter solstice and New Year:
Dec 21st - Jan 1st inclusive, too.
(2007) Yoko Ono is hip even
for a young dance generation. Her newest attempt is a CD by
artists she gave the freedom to mix her best songs of choice:
Yes, I'm A Witch on Astralwerks. 
(6 Dec 07) ONO 'No No No' is #3 in Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Chart
