The Tehran Peace Museum and the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS) are planning a candlelight vigil at 19:00 local time (10:30 EST) on September 21 to commemorate the UN-designated International Day of Peace. The organized event is a historic first in Iran, where tensions with the United States are causing serious anxiety.
On behalf of the Tehran Peace Museum and the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS), the Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII), Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), Payvand, and Iranians for Peace (IFP) invite your antiwar group to act on September 21 in solidarity with the nascent Iranian peace movement. The Museum was established a year ago, inspired by a Dayton Peace Museum director whose trip to Iran was arranged by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Earlier this year, CASMII-US and Physicians for Social Responsibility organized a U.S. speaking tour for representatives of SCWVS. We hope peace and justice groups like yours will help build on these and similar successes.
We ask that people of conscience in your circle respond to active outreach among Iranians and connect with the September 21 event there. Although this is late notice, we hope you can arrange a candlelight vigil with a few or a few dozen others in your community that evening.
Even a smaller gesture from Americans, such as announcing news of the Tehran ceremony in your next newsletter or at your weekly local peace vigil, will uplift our Iranian partners in peace. They tell us so. Please see below for event details and consider sending a message of support now to the lead international organizer in Tehran, Dr. Shahriar Khateri, at khateri@scwvs.org.
For more information or to contact CASMII please visit <www.campaigniran.org>.
—
On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS) and Tehran Peace Museum concordant with many other people worldwide will hold a candlelit vigil for peace by the Peace Monument in the City Park (Parke Shahr) of Tehran.
The purpose of the ceremony is to commemorate all victims of wars and conflicts and to pray for the establishment of sustainable peace in the world.
Veterans of Iran-Iraq war — including survivors of chemical weapons attacks — and their families, along with peace volunteers, students and other citizens will participate in this vigil.
Representatives of foreign missions, international organizations and news agencies are also invited to attend the ceremony.
The International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) call on individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. It was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982.
In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.
Iran was the first nation to be attacked by chemical weapons on a large scale since World War I. The Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) left more than 250,000 killed and 500,000 disabled, including tens of thousands of victims of chemical weapons, majority of them are still suffering from aftereffects of war and chemical weapons.
The SCWVS and the Tehran peace Museum are dedicated to promote peace and raise awareness about the aftermath of war and weapons of mass destruction as well as their abolition.
For more information contact: Shahriar Khateri Head, Public and International Relations, SCWVS / Tehran peace Museum Project Tel: +9821 22417327 Cell: +98912 3890468 Fax: +9821 22412502
|
| Print