Giving peace a chance
Durango to celebrate International Peace Day

Durango demonstrators take to the streets last Friday during a“walk for peace and show of support for Obama.” The local  march of peace continues this Sunday with an International Peace Day celebration at RotaryPark./Photo by David Halterman

by Amy Donahue

This Sunday, Durangoans can discover a practical definition of “peace.” Amidst lessons on how to fold paper cranes and live music, a group called Durango4Peace hopes to show what peace can be by bringing International Peace Day to Rotary Park.

Durango4Peace is made up of community members looking to organize a local version of International Peace Day, which was first adopted by the United Nations in 2001. The international event is an invitation for countries to honor a day-long ceasefire and period of nonviolence, and local celebrations of the day are meant to promote a day of literal and symbolic ceasefire. Durango’s all-day event at Rotary Park, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature businesses, groups and individuals that promote peace, both locally and worldwide. In addition, Peace Day will feature Leonard “Red” Bird, former Fort Lewis College professor and author of Folding Paper Cranes, An Atomic Memoir, who will speak at 1 and 3 p.m. There will also be performances by local musicians, including Lawrence Nass and Kirk James, and food provided by Zia Taqueria.

One group that will be in attendance is PeaceJam LaPlata, made up of local high school students. The group will have a booth at the event, where they will discuss how a small group of motivated people affect change in their community. Four Durango High PeaceJam members along with five college-age mentors and their adult advisor, Nancy Logan, recently returned from the international PeaceJam Global Call to Action Conference in Los Angeles. The conference served as a meeting ground for PeaceJam groups from around the world, representing nearly 40 countries. At this year’s conference, six of the 12 founding Nobel Peace Prize Laureates spoke to the more than 3,000 young people in attendance, in an effort to spark inspiration and motivation to make change at the individual level.

“There were so many people, all there for the exact same thing: to be inspired to bring about peace,” said Durango High School alum Emma Rejholec, who attended the conference. “I was excited to see the laureates and realize that they are who I want to become.”

Part of the conference focused on PeaceJam service projects throughout the world. The youth-created projects are meant to address one of the 10 worldwide problems identified by the Nobel Laureates, ranging from extreme poverty to the environment to violence. Locally, PeaceJam LaPlata is initiating an education program in Park and Needham elementary schools meant to inspire younger students to be more aware of their world and to carry that awareness with them throughout their lives.

“We hope to inspire more peace in their lives,” said Charlie Erickson, a sophomore at Fort Lewis College. “There are a lot of kids that are desensitized to the world, so we’re just trying to inspire more peace and love and understanding in their lives. A good way to do that is to have them meet and learn about people who are inspiring peace worldwide – the Nobel Laureates.”

The curriculum for the elementary school programs comes from the international PeaceJam organization and is designed with CSAP standards in mind, so it’s easy for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms, said Jenn Wing, an Americorps VISTA volunteer charged with promoting PeaceJam in the Southwest.

“PeaceJam has something to offer that other service learning programs do not,” she said. “It is a trifecta of inspiration, learning and education.”

FLC sophomore Sierra Foster got involved with the group for a similar reason.

“PeaceJam is one of the most sustainable programs I’ve ever seen in action,” she said. “It creates a network rather than having a conference and sending you out on your own. You can utilize the skills they teach you, and refer back to the tools they provide you.”

Students who attended the conference in L.A. hope to spread their inspiration and motivation to others in Durango during Peace Day. Roderick said by having groups like PeaceJam present at the event, she hopes to inspire in Durango residents the idea that peace is possible on many levels, whether globally or in their everyday lives.

“We’re representing peace from personal, environmental and social aspects,” Roderick said. “Durango4Peace doesn’t stand for a specific cause except that peace is possible. We’re trying to create awareness that peace is not always the typical stereotype of anti-war protesters, but that it really does relate to everything.”

Sun., Sept. 21, also happens to be the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Elders organization, created by Richard Branson of Virgin Records, is sponsoring a campaign to sign pledges of support for the declaration. Roderick said pieces of the declaration will be read during Peace Day, and attendees have the opportunity to express their support of the declaration by signing pledges.

“In this way, people can leave feeling as if they have made some sort of difference,” she said. “I hope that people come with an open mind and leave with a new idea of what peace can be. New ideas can cause new things to happen.” •