Our Journey To Smile

Local peace activist, Maya Evans, is involved with the Afghan Peace Volunteers – and the group have recently sent out an email to supporters about an upcoming campaign coinciding with the International Day of Peace: “The People’s Agreement To Abolish War”. HOT’s Zelly Restorick reports.

Having grown up in a family who, despite their number, were all lucky enough to live through two world wars, I am aware that although they survived, the war experience reverberated throughout their lives. My mother, for example, said that she used to come home from school and not know if her family members would still be alive and their home still standing. This affected her deeply, throughout her life. My father pointed out to me just the other day, a place in South East London where a bomb fell and nearly killed him. This is a not infrequent occurrence. It is hard for me to imagine what it was like to live through a war – or in the case of my older relatives, two wars, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for years on end, but I know that for these family members, everything was dated ‘before’, ‘during’ or ‘after’ the war. Certainly the wars did not end when peace was declared.

Personally, I endeavour to have no enemies and to never respond to any propaganda that encourages me to make someone else’s enemy my own. However, I am privileged to live in a land where no bombs are being dropped, I can walk safely down the road without fear of mines, snipers or drones – and return to a safe home. Not everyone around the world is so lucky – and I am aware that troops from this country are currently involved in conflicts around the world – and as a citizen, I am therefore indirectly involved, even though I would profess that they are not, despite what the government might suggest, fighting in my name.

For that reason, I would like to publicise the following letter from The Afghan Peace Volunteers, in case you would like to be involved – or follow their campaign.

The People’s Agreement to Abolish War

“Dear friends of the Afghan Peace Volunteers,

Salam (peace) from me and the Afghan Peace Volunteers in Afghanistan!

We recognize that abolishing war may take a few generations, and that it’s going to take all of us, so we need to call upon your solidarity.

On the 21st of September 2015, the International Day of Peace, the Afghan Peace Volunteers will launch #Enough!, a global campaign to abolish war, in which we’re encouraging all members of the human family to sign ‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’. It’s not a petition, because we feel that we don’t need permission to live without war, especially from the elite who are the ones who keep waging wars.

We’re excited that Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire and Prof Noam Chomsky have already endorsed #Enough!

‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’ and a Flyer for #Enough! are attached through links (see below). We’ll send an updated Flyer, as well as an FAQ sheet, closer to the 16th of September 2015. Friends can sign the agreement after the 16th of September 2015 at a multimedia website being developed by Laura and Kolja, two German web-designers, who have very kindly volunteered their time and expertise.

We ask that you’ll consider being a contact person or group for #Enough!, to help build a critical mass of small circles and communities that ban weapons and wars, person by person. We need you. You need not be an ‘activist’ to do this.

A contact person or group tries to help with the following once a week:

1. Reach out to contacts, friends, organizations and groups once a week, encouraging them to sign ‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’ ( after the launch of #Enough!’s website on the 16th of September ).

2. Help us find ‘contact persons or groups’ in every country, so if you have interested friends around the world, please speak to the person, and introduce him/her to us via email.

3. Engage in weekly actions of service and solidarity. We will be strengthened by your solidarity as we help 90 street kids weekly at the Borderfree Afghan Street Kids School. Wherever you are, you could use alternative energy, plant trees and assist a vulnerable person or persons in your vicinity.

If you’re willing to be a contact person or group, please let me, Hakim  (hakimoryoung@riseup.net) – or Douglas (dougwmackey@yahoo.com) know.

With warm wishes and gratitude from Kabul,
Hakim with the Afghan Peace Volunteers”

Our Journey to Smile website here.
YouTube link ‘Afghans Transform Borderfree Nonviolence’ here.                        #Enough! Flyers ‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’

Also in: The HOT Planet

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