I woke up on Wednesday morning wondering if people would take time out to be still for 10-15 min on the same day, to collectively visualise peace, to engage in prayer, meditation, or just breathe and be calm in the midst of strife and violence. And maybe that stillness, if echoed by around the world on the same day will have an effect.
This developed into the global virtual vigil by Southasia Peace Action Network, or Sapan, taking place this Sunday across different time zones. We asked people to spare 10 minutes to #be4peace, in their own way, anytime between 10am-12 noon in their own time zones.
Old friend and fellow peacemonger Mazher Hussain in Hyderabad, India, who runs the Confederation of Voluntary Associations, India, activated his contacts. Interfaith scholar and activist Urmi Chanda in Mumbai made a visual, tweaked by another volunteer, Srinivas at COVA.
By Saturday night, over 40 organisations had endorsed the call, along with dozens of peacemongers around the world, from Australia to the U.S. west coast. We even got pledges from Tel Aviv, France, and Croatia. See list of public endorsements at the Sapan website.
On another note, I am thrilled that the latest Sapan News features includes a piece by Rumi Nagpal, a high school student in Colombo on learnings from an uprising and his late grandmother who was a theatre artist. And Rajeev Soneja in Boston shares his take on India-Pakistan cricket drawing from a great archive of cricket books, with some historic photos shared by my old friend, news photographer Rahat Ali Dar in Lahore.
Lastly, sharing below a compilation of what I’ve been reading and watching, in no particular order.
Continue readingFiled under: Art and activism, Cricket, Peace, Politics, Progressive politics, Resistance | Tagged: #be4peace, Gaza, global vigil, interfaith, nonfiction writing, poetry for peace | Leave a comment »