On the 7th of September 2001, four days before the known date of 9/11, the UN passed a resolution bearing much more joy and remembrance than what will ever carry the terrorist’s acts of that day : that is the creation and the celebration of an “international day of peace”, every year, on the 21st of September. This resolution was complemented in 2007 by another UN resolution declaring for Gandhi’s birthday, the 2th of October as an international day of non-violence.
So now we celebrate peace and non-violence every year, raising awareness, hoping and working for ceasefires and truces, for peace agreements and for the betterment of life for each and all.
By doing this, we show that the peace culture has started to reach more concrete steps as we want these two peace days to be and to become concrete peace zones and “no war” zones, in time and space. We do want these two days become bright occasions to bring forward tools for peace building, until we can celebrate peace everywhere and all year around.
This celebration of peace is important, very important.
First of all because peace is in itself a celebration : peace is active and joyful, it is the seed of hope for the future, a seed we do need to create a humane and lasting civilization, to fulfill the dignity of humanity.
Then this celebration is important because a regular celebration becomes part of culture, it is therefore a great step ahead for the culture of peace.
Then please do note that the celebration of peace is also celebration of life and nonetheless because peace is in itself a celebration of our own achievements to bring human qualities to a sustainable stage. Creating, building, living and sharing is doing the best out of our freedoms, out of our respect for one another and out of our capability to handle life in living and lasting way. Said otherwise peace, sustainable peace, is the full achievement, the best frame for our love and our intelligence, for our creativity and for our capacity to create a happy future for all.
Peace is the solid ground of our bloom, of our fulfillment.
This deserves to be celebrated.
Is there a human right to celebration ? Would we need one ? As a fact, celebration is certainly a natural part of the right of free assembly and celebration however planned needs to keep a part of spontaneity.
So now we ask, if there is a human right to peace.
Because of the celebrating power of peace, I did my best to show that peace comes out of and produces a full care for others and that the sole possible environment for all human capacities to express themselves in a sustainable way is through peace. At the opposite, any attitude that does not accomplish full humane awareness and that performs without a total respect for the full sustainability of our future is therefore a breach of peace.
Nevertheless there is here a strong difficulty and that is to achieve peace by peaceful means.
We are all a little less than perfect and through permanent change we evolve, for good or for less. To evolve and to learn, to grow, in peace, wisdom and gentleness, yes we do need a human right to peace. to have a safe environment to better ourselves and our world !
We do need a little bit of time in peace, to learn and to celebrate, to study and to grow for peace. And because of this, because it is only if peace is granted that one can grow in peace, yes, we do need and we do have a human right to peace !
Thank you for recognizing this human right to peace and thank you for making it in due time a humane and legal ground for all human laws.
Thank you for the celebration !
Geneva, 29th of September 2010