Photo by: Jacob Rokeach
The PeaceJam convention was held on campus this past weekend and hosted 10 Nobel Peace Laureates and 3,000 high school students from all over the world.
The purpose of this weekend, besides continuing education on peace was to announce a new 10-year campaign called “The Global Call to Action.” This 10 point plan was the collaborative work of the Nobel Prize winners. It was presented to the youth as not only a challenge but as a guide map to what is considered the greatest challenges. The plan was unveiled to the youth on Saturday.
This event drew an almost capacity crowd to Magness Arena to hear the Nobel Prize winners speak. Each laureate spoke and offered his or her own take on the 10 aspects of the plan and personal thoughts on peace. The laureates were also not shy in their criticism of the U.S. government.
The event was opened by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper who welcomed “10 of the great human beings on earth.”
The Nobel laureates who attended the conference were Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams, who won the award in 1976 for their efforts against violence in Northern Ireland, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who won in 1980 for his efforts to end violence in Latin America. The 14th Dalai Lama, who won in 1989 for advocating non-violence. Jody Williams, who won in 1997 for her efforts to ban and clear landmines. Shirin Ebadi, who won in 2003 for her efforts to gain rights for woman and children in the Middle East. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won in 1984 for his non-violent efforts to end apartheid. Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, who won in 1987 for his efforts to end fighting in Central America, Jose Ramos-Horta, who wonin 1996 for his efforts in East Timor and Rigoberta Menchu Tum for her effort on the behalf of indigenous peoples. Another Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi is on the board of PeaceJam but is under house arrest in Burma.
This conference drew participants from all over the world including Argentina, United Kingdom, Burma, Tibet and Costa Rica to name a few. It also drew many participants from the DU community, including 150 DU students who volunteered to mentors the high school students. They facilitated small group sessions and generally interacted with the high school aged kids.
Also on Friday before PeaceJam officially started DU organized special workshops for the participants which were led by the mentors.
The DU mentors all had strong reactions to the impact of the conference.
“I had no idea who many different types of people would be attending all united for peace,” said Charla Agnoletti a sophomore at DU. “All the speakers were great by Rigoberta was probably my favorite. She has such a unique spirit about her.”
“The energy in all the room was enough to make my heart explode,” said Sarah Kornhauser, a senior when describing the impact of the conference.
The Nobel Prize winners led a variety service sessions for participants. An example is the session led by Jody Willaims where she explained the importance of making your voice heard, the students wrote letters to congress urging them to support the Treaty for the Rights of Women. There was also an address by the Dalai Lama just for the participants during the weekend.
Another highlight of the weekend was a ceremony of Inspiration held on Sunday led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He stressed to the participants that they are the ones who can make a difference. And that ultimately the each large task starts one piece at a time.
“There is a saying in my country that the only way to eat an elephant is one piece at a time,” laughed Tutu.
PeaceJam is a Colorado based organization that is committed to educating children about peace. It was started 12 years ago by Ivon Suvanijieff and Dawn Engle. It is the only organization in the world that has this many Nobel Prize winners on its board.
