Peace Events

Kids 4 Peace

On 5 July 2002, the Christchurch City Council's International Relations Team, with the support of Globalnet and the assistance of the Council's Events Team, held a ‘Kids 4 Peace' event as a part of the 2002 KidsFest Programme. Children from each of the city's six sister cities, as well as children from local schools, made thousands of colourful paper cranes which were hung amongst the trees at Friendship Corner by the Bridge of Remembrance.

Prior to the march and hanging of peace cranes, a fun lunchtime concert was held in Cathedral Square, the highlight of which was a performance by ‘Ticklish Allsorts' an entertainment troupe from Christchurch's Sister City of Adelaide. Local performers from our Sister Cities: Kurashiki, Songpa, and Gangsu also performed at the concert.

After the entertainment came to a close, the audience marched from Cathedral Square along High Street to Cashel Street then down to the Bridge of Remembrance and Friendship Corner carrying the peace cranes.

The event was a huge success with a large number of children and adults, taking time to show their support for world peace.

Gandhi Exhibition

On 2 August 2002, the start of Schools Peace Week in New Zealand, former Prime Minister David Lange opened a 13 week exhibition of photographs of 'Gandhi' at the Canterbury Museum. Along with the large array of photographs on display were letters and artefacts, telling the story of Gandhi's life.

Since then, the exhibition has toured around the country to museums and galleries and is now showing at the University of Canterbury library until early June. During August it will be exhibited in the Christchurch Polytechnic for 3 weeks when there will be lectures and films shown about Gandhi's life and work. From late October to early December it will hang in the 'Our City' Gallery in the centre of Christchurch.

Two smaller, laminated sets of photos have been produced and are easily displayed in schools and community centres. They are available for borrowing from the Peace Foundation office in Auckland (09 373 2379) and Christchurch (03 348 1353). At present one set is displayed in the Chapel at St Thomas of Canterbury College for 3 months.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi– known as Mahatma Gandhi by millions of Indians – dedicated his life to a non-violent form of human liberation, and was once quoted as saying, "you might of course say that there can be no non-violent rebellion and there has been none known in history to date. Well, it is my ambition to provide an instance, and it is my dream that my country may win its freedom through non-violence. And, I would like to repeat to the world times without number, that I will not purchase my country's freedom at the cost of non-violence."

Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bomb Exhibition

- Remembering and reconciling with the past to make our future a peaceful one.

From 16 March to 21 April 2002, the Canterbury Museum hosted the Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb Exhibition, to mark the 20th anniversary of christchurch becoming New Zealand's first nuclear free city. A collection of photographs and artefacts that depicts the consequences of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, through to the international peace initiatives of today. The bombings left behind a nuclear legacy that still affects the survivors and their descendants.

The exhibition, was co-sponsored by the cities of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and the Peace Foundation, and was put together to promote the total abolition of nuclear weapons through increased knowledge and understanding. Click here to view photos of the exhibition opening.

This exhibition (with the exception of the artefacts) was gifted to Christchurch, and is able to be borrowed for educational purposes. For further information please contact Barbara August at the Christchurch City Council on ph. 941-8251.

Joining Hands

As part of the annual children’s school holidays programme, KidsFest 2005, young people from Christchurch’s ICY(International Christchurch Youth) group encouraged local children and those from Christchurch’s sister cities to leave a painted handprint on a piece of calico. The children wrote their name, age, school and city on their pieces of calico. These were strung together and strung around Cathedral Square in a display of peace and friendship.

2005 Peace Week

This year’s annual Peace Week was held from 6-12 August and involved a wide range of initiatives and activities to promote peace education and raise awareness of Christchurch as a Peace City. The annual lantern ceremony was particularly significant this year as it was the 30th successive ceremony that Christchurch has held. Reverend Ian Dixon, aged 94, spoke on his experience of being in Hiroshima a month after the bombing where he witnessed the devastation caused. A Japanese combined choir of 50 people sang, poetry was read and a candlelit procession floated lanterns down the Avon River. Afterwards, in conjunction with the Arts Festival, there was a Peace Poetry reading with Patricia Grace, Rangi Faith, David Howard, Kathleen Gallagher and John O’Connor which was a great success.

To continue commemorating the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki two exhibitions/displays were installed in the Canterbury Public Library and the Christchurch City Council Window. A smaller version of the Exhibition from the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was displayed in the window, along with paintings by survivors, Christchurch Peace History photos and poetry.

On Saturday 6 August a Community Peace Mural titled ‘Peace Is in Our Hands’ was made in Cathedral Square. Members of the public were free to paint their response to ‘What is Peace?’ It was a fantastic day with the whole 10 m mural being covered in bright images and words by children and passers by. The mural was installed in the City Council Window for Peace Week and was officially presented to Mayor Garry Moore on 13th September 2005. Follow this link for more information.

The mural was also displayed along with Christchurch Peace History banners, artefacts and photos in the Great Hall at the Christchurch Arts Centre for the launch of Tau Te Mauri / Breath of Peace film. Nearly 350 people attended the launch of the film, and 280 stayed on to hear the Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, Marian Hobbs announce that New Zealand will be gifting a sculpture to the Nagasaki Peace Park in 2006. The film was enjoyed and received well by all. It was an amazing product of the oral archives project that Ruth Greenaway and Kathleen Gallagher were involved in 2 years ago.

In a continuing effort to educate the public on current issues, two photographic exhibitions were shown together as A Legacy of Poison, to demonstrate the devastation caused by the nuclear industry and how individuals can help create a nuclear free world. Japanese photographer Takashi Morizumi’s photos Children of the Gulf War document the effects of Depleted Uranium munitions on the people of Iraq after the Gulf War. The powerful, haunting imagery of these photographs reveal the truth of DU weapons and tell the story of these children. The second exhibition International Peace Pilgrimage records the 8-month walk by two Christchurch students Anna Hunter and Chancey MacDonald across Australia and Japan visiting communities affected by uranium mining, bomb tests, power production and waste dumps. The exhibition was held in Our City O-Tautahi Gallery and has moved to the University of Canterbury Library. The exhibition is available for exhibitions around the country. Please contact Victoria Scott for details: victoria.scott@disarmsecure.org