ACTIVATING PEACE: THE GLOBAL PROJECT

The project was begun in the summer of 2024 by the first three members of our Advisory Council shown below, the three Davids, David Adams, David Hazen and David Wick. We were appalled by the terrible state of our world, by the suffering from wars, by the suffering caused by the diversion of resources that should be used for human needs but instead are spent on the weapons of war, and by the ever-widening gap between rich and poor people and between rich and poor countries. Something had to be done! We could not sit idly by while our world is destroyed!

With the help of Fred Arment, the director of the International Cities of Peace, we prepared a course Activating a Culture of Peace that you can take for free even if you are not a city of peace by registering here.

To develop the course, we recalled the progress made and the hope generated during the United Nations International Year for the Culture of Peace, the Year 2000, when the United Nations adopted The Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. A simple version was circulated as the Manifesto 2000 and 75 million people signed it promising to work of a culture of peace in their daily lives. There were over a million signatures in India, Nepal, Algeria, Brazil, Colombia, Korea and Japan.

But the project of the Manifesto 2000 was terminated at UNESCO, due to the opposition of the most powerful member states, who denied that there is a culture of war in the world.

One of us, David Adams, was directly involved in this while he was working at UNESCO.

In the course we have encouraged participants to adopt a new Manifesto 2025 based on the commitments proposed in the Manifesto 2000 and to take action based on it. This can harness your fear and anger about the terrible state of the world, use it as a fuel for action, and join with others in their action.

You don't need to take the course. You can begin by simply reading the Manifesto 2025 here, and spreading the word about it on social media. We are developing a website that will publish your media posts as an inspiration to others. We hope that this will develop such a groundswell of support by people around the world that the culture of peace becomes the agenda for the next evolution of human history.

OUR ADVISORY COUNCIL
David Adams


David Adams (born 1939) is an American peace activist, scientist, scholar, writer and journalist. As a professor at Wesleyan University he ran a brain research laboratory and published many scientific articles. Adams then served at UNESCO, where he worked on the Culture of Peace initiative that eventually led to the International Year for the Culture of Peace.
David Hazen


David Hazen, an American born in 1943, has a Master's degree in whole-system design-planning, is a conscientious objector, teacher, canoe-builder, sign maker, certified addiction counselor, author, video blogger, electric vehicle builder, advisor to International Cities of Peace, advocate for a U.S. Department of Peace, organizer of local compassionate action projects, and recipient of two PeaceBuilder Awards.
 
David Wick


In 1983 David helped launch the American NGO, Pathways To Peace (PTP) which had assisted the resolution passage of the UN International Day of Peace in 1981. He has been a leader in organizing the celebration of the International Day of Peace since 1984 and he currently serves as a PTP President. With his partner Irene Kai he co-founded the Culture of Peace Commission of the city of Ashland, Oregon. He is Past President of the Rotary E-Club of World Peace.
 
 
Myrian Castello


From Brazil, founder and Executive Director of Fabrica dos Sonhos and the Right to Dream Movement to transform dreaming into a human right and SDG with projects for a culture of peace that range from entrepreneurial education and income generation to reducing gender-based violence. International facilitator, passionate about developing communities and individuals, and promoting systemic changes through participatory leadership and regenerative strategies.
  		 
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