SICA’s "Poems for Peace” initiative is our inspiration for this project.
Every year, on September 21st, there is a worldwide celebration of Peace Day. It began with a UN resolution in 1981. In 2001, through the efforts of Peace One Day, a UK based nonprofit, the UN resolved that Peace Day also be a day for wide scale community action to celebrate peace. Last year, Peace One Day invited NGOs from around the world to join with them to make a truly global celebration of peace, and SICA joined this effort — encouraging Subud members and their communities from all over the world to participate. “This is about actively sharing one's love of peace through poetry." says Latifah Taormina, SICA's Board President. "Poems live in our music, our holy books and in our hearts. Poems for Peace is an invitation to connect to that place inside us all and share your favorite poems — wherever you are — on Peace Day."
In the testing about the significance and meaning of this years’ Zone4 gathering, a feeling of forgiveness and peace was very strong — as the source of true joy and happiness. So it was just small step to embrace the SICA initiative and to plant the seeds in the ground of our hearts for the celebrations on the 21st of September 2013.
Our Zone4 is one of incredible diversity: it covers central and eastern Europe, Scandinavia, northern Asia and part of the Middle East - with Scandinavia in the North and Greece, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey in the South to Russia and the Ukraine in the East. This extraordinary diversity of cultures, languages and religions will be present in Wolfsburg to share and celebrate our unity and connectedness, overcoming our belief systems and different views on life — understanding diversity in culture and language as an enrichment of our own culture and life.
In Germany, we have a deep feeling for poetry, music and art. At the same time we bear the burden of our history, having committed atrocities against our fellow human brothers and sisters in Germany as well as in our neighboring countries. We believe that asking for forgiveness gives us the inner strength to take on the responsibility to carry the light of peace, compassion and understanding into the future. What better place to do this than in Wolfsburg, a city which has made an enormous development in its own awareness of itself as a city enriched by cultural diversity and mutual understanding.
The arts have always had the power to open up and transcend borders, to foster and enhance mutual understanding and respect, combined with joy and celebration. If we are to develop into a truly human culture, peace and understanding must start within ourselves. Our aim is to create a space and an atmosphere for encounter, interaction and dialogue. Peace in all its multifaceted aspects will be the theme: peace within ourselves (the core place to start), peace within our family, within our community and with our neighboring countries. Peace can be expressed in so many ways. We will focus on words and music — while at the same time encourage painters and photographers to contribute their visual poetry. We want to provide space to explore our talents and express our inter-connectedness in many different ways, fostering peace and true harmony, a message to be taken home to the Zone4 member countries. Peace is a daily, life-long quest- for all of us.
