Peace One Day

Social Media

When I founded Peace One Day just over ten years ago, the first thing I did was create a website. As POD moves into its second decade of existence, we will now focus our efforts on social media.

Everywhere I go, everyone I meet with talks to me about what we're doing online - all of our efforts, all of our partnerships in the real world, are now complemented by our connections in the digital space.

Our new offices will allow us the opportunity to expand our team of web experts - they will put their skills to use in the name of peace. The challenge: to reach 3 billion people by 21 September 2012 with the message of Peace Day.

The beauty of social media is that it allows so much more than one-way communication; we must harness this power to get individuals at home, no matter where they live, to say: "I get it. I will make a movie. I will organise a football match on 21 September. I will make a commitment."

The engagement made possible by sites like YouTube, Facebook, Bebo, and Twitter fascinates me - not only as an activist for peace, but also as a filmmaker. Now, anyone can make a film and put it online for the world to see.

For Peace One Day, this has translated into an explosion of interest in our work - we had the most-viewed non-profit channel in YouTube last September, and we remained in the top 3 for months after. Online, we are able to educate, communicate, and most of all, tell stories. And from the beginning, I've recognised that storytelling is the basis for everything that we do because it forms the backbone of intercultural cooperation, and intercultural cooperation is the key to global survival.

This idea has driven Peace One Day from the start. That is why I have filmed every step of this long journey: our stories, your stories, have made everything possible. Without cameras, there would be no 21 September, and millions of children in Afghanistan would not have been vaccinated against polio.

Social media represents a chance for peace - an opportunity for self-expression and mutual understanding - it is vital that we seize the chance. Peace One Day will continue its work online and around the world, but you must join us.

Follow the three steps to Peace One Day:

1. Decide what you will do to make peace on September 21, at school, at home or in your local community;

2. Log your Peace Day commitment at www.peaceoneday.org;

3. Tell others around the world and ask them to complete the Three Steps to Peace One Day.

Together we can change the world.

Make a commitment today.

In Peace,
Jeremy

Partners in Peace

Later this week, the Winter Olympics will begin in Vancouver. Since ancient times the Olympic Games have been associated with peace and intercultural cooperation. The Olympic Truce protected participants as they traveled to the games. The spirit of the Truce has been revived since the emergence of the modern Olympic movement, with its ideals to serve peace, friendship, and understanding in the world.

I mention the Olympics because they set the back drop to two conversations I had recently, both of which could lead to some exciting new partnerships for Peace One Day.

I went to Toronto in January for a series of meetings - part of a larger effort to expand Peace One Day's education program to Canada - and one of them was with Don Green, co-founder of Roots, the Canadian lifestyle brand.

Don and his partner Michael Budman are very cool guys who understand the responsibility that comes with great success. (See: Campaign to help Haiti and Right To Play) They've always recognised the connection between athletics and positive social change. I look forward to the possibility of working with Roots, they're a great organisation.

Shortly thereafter, Jude Law suggested that we approach the Olympics with a view to raising awareness of Peace Day. So we met with Lord Coe KBE, gold medal-winning runner in the 1500m in 1980 and 1984. Lord Coe is now the Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games. We had a fruitful discussion and I really hope that we can work alongside the Olympics to get the message of Peace Day to the world.

All of this proves to me that everyone wants to make a difference, everyone wants to help, and everyone can do something. I want to see these plans through, and Peace One Day must meet its goal of reaching 3 billion people by 21 September 2012.

No matter who or where you are, you can help us reach that target.

What will you do to make peace on 21 September?

In peace,

Jeremy

2010 and beyond

It's the beginning of February, and the strategy for 2010 is complete.

Not only that, but we are also defining a strategy for the next three years - all the way up to 21 September 2012.

A while ago I set that date as a target, by which time POD would have reached 3 billion people with the message of Peace Day. A big mountain to climb.

But it was necessary to set a goal, and now more than ever, I can see it becoming a reality.

In 2012 the Olympics will come to the UK, and just as the Olympics bring the world together in the name of sport, we must do the same in the name of peace.

So in these next three years, every Peace One Day effort must grow exponentially. Our programs in the arts, in sports, in highlighting life-saving activities - all of them - must touch more people, and those whom we reach must pass along the message of Peace Day.

Right now, in fact, we are engaged in sensitive discussions to bring POD's message to new places that need it most - I can't reveal any details, but if we pull this off, we will have taken what we accomplished in Afghanistan to other areas of armed conflict around the world.

And if we do pull this off, we'll be well on our way to meeting our goals for this year and the years ahead. Look to this space for updates on these initiatives and others.

But, by far, the most important part of our strategy is: YOU.

Be a part of the peace process.

Be a part of institutionalising Peace Day.

Be a part of that three billion. Follow the three steps to Peace One Day:

1. Decide what you will do to make peace on 21 September, at school, at home or in your local community;
2. Log your Peace Day commitment at www.peaceoneday.org;
3. Tell others around the world and ask them to complete the Three Steps to Peace One Day.

Join us.

In Peace,
Jeremy

My Take On Peace Video Winner

This year, for the first time, we ran our My Take On Peace video contest on YouTube via www.youtube.com/peaceoneday . Peace One Day is an organisation with a global vision whose roots are in film, so there is no better digital platform that we could partner with than YouTube - not only allowing POD to showcase our own content, but also to invite individuals worldwide to contribute and make their voices heard in support of Peace Day 21 September. And the 2009 My Take On Peace video contest is only the start. We look forward to working with YouTube in the years to come to develop and grow this extraordinary initiative, taking the message of Peace Day to millions.

On 15 December 2009, I had the pleasure of visiting the winners of My Take On Peace 2009 - Sackville School in East Grinstead, UK. Aside from the excitement of receiving the most votes on YouTube for their 3-minute video entry, Sackville received a state-of-the-art Sony HD video camera which I hand delivered to them. I then spent the day with Students, firstly teaching them the art of documentary filmmaking and also taking the opportunity to spend some time talking to them all about Peace One Day and my journey to make Peace Day a reality. We had some really great discussions, I always find it fascinating to get an insight into young people's views on peace and Peace Day in particular.

Have a look at Sackville's winning entry here.

I really hope that winning this competition will inspire the students at Sackville to carry on raising awareness of Peace Day; their video in turn has inspired all of us at POD (and I hope everyone who has watched the video) to continue our efforts towards a more peaceful world. We have received so many positive comments about the high standard of the video and how much it has touched people. Well done Sackville...and to anyone reading this, watch out for My Take On Peace 2010!

I'll leave you with some photos from my day with the students.

In peace,

Jeremy

Jeremy hands over the Sony HD Camera.

Jeremy talks to the students about Peace One Day.

Peace One Day and Young People

Of all POD's achievements, the thing that makes me happiest and proudest and which - above all else - makes me feel that what we are doing is truly worthwhile, is our work with young people. Thanks to our free education resource, which in the US is underwritten by Ben & Jerry's, educators in 133 countries around the world are teaching hundreds of thousands of young people about the importance of peace, non-violence, inter-cultural cooperation and the link between sustainability and peace. After Peace Day this year, we received messages from teachers and students telling us what they did for peace on 21 September. It made for cheering reading.

In Seksaria Sushilla Devi Public School in Uttar Pradesh, India, an event involving over 1,000 parents, teachers, students and local government officials saw a peace pole garlanded with hundreds of fragrant flowers. At Banani International School, near Lusaka in Zambia, an assembly was held, during which a speech was made about the origin of the International Day of Peace. After the speech, holy writings from various religions were read out and with each reading a candle was lit to symbolise unity. At Woodlands School in Blackpool, year 7 students wrote beautiful poems about war to recognise Peace Day and at Little London School in Leeds, a ‘peace trail' event took place through the City, taking participants to sites in the city centre that would raise awareness of local and global issues including war, asylum, destitution, equality and human rights. In the Caribbean, the Girl Guides Association of the St Vincent and the Grenadines held a rally to encourage understanding, tolerance and solidarity ‘amongst all people and cultures' and at Sea Cliff Elementary School in New York, USA, teachers and students formed a gigantic peace sign outside in the school grounds to mark the day. Of course, these examples are just the tip of an ever-growing ice burg.

I still go into schools all the time to talk to young people about Peace Day and, what strikes me most, is the positive reception that I get every single time. I often take the kids through an exercise in which I ask them who knows somebody living somewhere else in the world. Out of a class of 37, between them, they usually know, on average, people living in 40 different countries around the world. This, I tell them, is how they can help us spread the message of Peace Day. 

I love the positivity and openness of young people. Personally, I hated school and it doesn't take me long to spot the kid who might be unhappy, perhaps because of bullying, which I experienced myself. It was important to me that there were strong components within POD's Education materials that explored ways to combat bullying; the link between bullying in the playground and bullying on a global scale is becoming more and more obvious to me. I see Peace Day as a catalyst for this important work and our Education materials are the tools that bring it to life.

The week after next, I'm doing a school assembly in Hampshire over Skype and early in 2010 I'll be visiting a school in Budapest. Later this year I'll be heading to Sackville School in West Sussex UK to meet Sammy Purcell, the 14 year-old winner of our recent YouTube My Take on Peace video contest, who made a 2-minute film for peace, Ever since his victory was announced, people from all around the world have been contacting him, via social networking sites or via the POD site itself. I hope he is feeling really good about what he has achieved and I hope that, to some of you out there, what he did might act as an inspiration.

Whether you are a parent, a student or a teacher, ask your school to get involved and make use of POD's free, on-line resources. Young people, more than any other group understand the value and the potential of Peace Day; in the classroom you can find POD at its very best.