Jeremy Gilley’s Journey for Peace

(Sumaiya Malik, Good News Gazette) It’s impossible not to be affected by Jeremy Gilley’s contagious enthusiasm as he speaks at a rapid-fire pace about what is clearly his passion – peace, or more specifically the International Day of Peace, which takes place on September 21st each year. Gilley doesn’t think small. In 1998 when he was inspired on his mission for peace, he didn’t think about focusing on a town or even a country. His vision was for global peace, starting with a single day recognized around the world – a day that could serve as the foundation for something greater, a day when everyone could become involved in the peace process.

Peace Day was originally established by the UN in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly, a date that varied each year. And for 20 years it was observed primarily symbolically. It was formally established with a fixed calendar date by unanimous vote at the UN in 2001 as a direct result of Gilley’s efforts, and targeted as a global day of ceasefire and non-violence. His next goal? Reach 3 billion people with the message of peace by 2012. Working through his London-based non-profit organization Peace One Day, he is well on his way.

Peace One Day was launched in September 1999 with a kick-off at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Its mission was to establish a single, global day of peace and non-violence as a starting point for global unity. As a filmmaker, Gilley planned to spend a year documenting the process. If he failed, the film would "make a profound statement about the global community’s unwillingness to unite." If he succeeded, he would be making history. Gilley admits that, at the time, he expected to fail.

His turning point occurred during a trip to Somalia early on where he saw first-hand the suffering wrought by war. "What I saw in Somalia moved and changed me, and made me understand that I couldn’t approach this subject being ok with it failing. Given that I had been told that establishing the day would have a profound effect on individual lives, and then having seen so many people suffering, it became very real," says Gilley. "So I then became very determined to kind of go look, you know I'm not going to stop at the end of one year, I'm going to stop when this happens." That determination ultimately led to the designation of September 21st as Peace Day.

Since the launch of his Peace One Day campaign, Gilley has personally traveled to 54 countries and spoken to over 35,000 school children about peace. His vision of peace is not some nebulous concept. He strives to identify the things that each of us can do to make a difference – from offering an apology to putting down arms – and makes clear that peace is not just a concept for the battlefield, but something we can bring into our hearts, and our communities, through actions small and large.

Many might be surprised at the real and significant effect of a single day of peace and the difference it can make in individual lives. From teaching children about the perils of bullying, to obtaining safe passage from warring parties that allowed aid workers to vaccinate over one million children against polio in Afghanistan in each of the past two years, to seeing a 70 percent reduction in violent incidents on Peace Day 2008 in Afghanistan, the observation of Peace Day has proven that the impact can be quite substantial. Gilley’s approach is to make the consequence of peace both visible and tangible, allowing those who hear the message of Peace Day to truly understand the effect that they, as individuals, can have.

Making Peace Day Self-Sustaining

Gilley views the work of Peace One Day in three phases. Phase I was the creation of the day and Phase II was proving that the day could save lives. Having accomplished those goals, as part of Phase III he and his organization are actively communicating the day to the global population – that it exists, that it works, and that it represents an opportunity for everyone to embody peace, in whatever form they choose, in their own lives. He sees his role in helping to institutionalize it, to make it self-sustaining.

As part of his efforts to make Peace Day sustainable, and as firmly rooted in the world’s consciousness as, say, Mother’s Day, Gilley and Peace One Day are using a variety of tools including film, music, sports, educational materials and the Peace One Day interactive website to engage individuals and encourage participation in the day and its message. Gilley’s films Peace One Day and The Day After Peace document his journey and provide a platform to spread his message broadly. This year on Peace Day, Gilley aspires to have The Day after Peace screened in all 192 member states of the UN.

Concerts commemorating the day have been taking place since 2007, and this year’s 10th anniversary celebration of Peace One Day’s founding will take place in Paris with artists including Lenny Kravitz and Kasabian participating.

Working with PUMA, Peace One Day has created One Day One Goal, which aims to unite communities and cultures through soccer. The goal for this year is to see soccer matches played in each of the 192 member states of the UN.

Anchoring Gilley’s belief that people, rather than governments, are the ones who will really enable and sustain peace, the Peace One Day website provides a place for individuals to log their commitments for how they will celebrate Peace Day. An interactive map provides visibility to commitments made all over the world. As of early August, over 3,000 commitments had been made for Peace Day 2009 from individuals in 191 countries, with North Korea being the only UN member state missing.

Education materials have been developed and are being distributed free of charge to teachers in the US and UK. These materials developed by Peace One Day have been particularly helpful in scaling the message to a broader audience, as they provide teachers with ready-made lesson plans and materials to communicate the message and the impact of peace, and Peace Day, to their students.

Debora Ghoreyeb, a Santa Fe, New Mexico teacher who works with special education students, piloted the materials in her classes earlier this year and attests to both the efficacy of the materials themselves and the impact the message had on her pupils. In particular, she was struck by how her students connected with the material. "They did the work and they engaged in it, they were quiet, they got into discussions about it. They brought it up more than once and they brought it up down the road, they didn't forget about it – it stuck with them," says Ghoreyeb. "Whoever is putting [these materials] together, they know kids, they like kids, and they understand kids. It's not someone in an ivory tower coming up with what looks good. It's someone who really understands kids," which, from Ghoreyeb’s perspective, substantially increases the value of the materials as an educational tool.

Not just about symbolism

Gilley ultimately wants to "dispel that myth that one day [is] symbolic, because it absolutely isn't. It isn't in Afghanistan, and in fact, it isn't in schools all over the world because when the day is being observed in schools we know that violence is down, bullying is down, vandalism is down. So from the playgrounds to our communities, to our homes, to areas of conflict, this day brings people together, it inspires and empowers, it allows people to be creative through their art, through their music, through their literature, through any kind of expression which fits for them, and I think that's why it's growing."

He remains sanguine and humbly proclaims "I am a filmmaker who had an idea…we all have the ability to contribute." "For me," says Gilley, "the size of the impact isn't really important, it's the willingness to have a crack, and no matter whether you're saying ‘sorry’ on the day or vaccinating a million children, both of those gestures are as profound and as important as each other. Because ultimately if we're to move from a culture of war to a culture of peace, if we're to lift the level of consciousness that exists around the fundamental issue that humanity faces, i.e., the protection of each other and of our environment, then each and every individual is going to have to become involved in that process. And so that's where it becomes really exciting and empowering. No matter who you are, just do something on the day because if we all just did it together, boy we'd change the world."