Peace Initiatives
Peace City
In July 2002 Christchurch City Councillors voted in favour of declaring Christchurch a Peace City. This was seen as a way for Christchurch to celebrate its peace history, as many people involved in the peace movement and some of the movement’s peace initiatives started in Christchurch.
This decision was a way to show our city's commitment to actively contribute to a more peaceful future, through a range of initiatives, starting with new strategies for a more peaceful community, the development of education programmes, and the promotion of peace, non-violence and respect for all citizens.
The Peace City declaration also paves the way forward to create an atmosphere for the development of a Culture of Peace as promoted by UNESCO and will encourage other cities around the world to follow suit.
Christchurch has been at the forefront of the peace movement. “This Peace City declaration takes that a step further and it means that we can reach out nationally and internationally on peace issues”, says Dr Kate Dewes O.N.Z.M. Kate has coordinated the South Island Regional Office of the Aotearoa/New Zealand Peace Foundation from her home in Christchurch for 28 years.
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Mayors for Peace
Mayor Garry Moore was a member of the international 'Mayors for Peace' association. In November 2002, 603 Mayors from 108 countries were listed as members of the association and by January 2008 this had swelled to 2000 Mayors from 126 countries. In August 2005 Mayor Moore was appointed to the Executive of Mayors for Peace and at the 6th General Conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was held in Hiroshima, was nominated and elected to the position of Vice President. He represented the Oceania region until October 2007.
View The Peace Foundation.
Peace Mural
A Mandala for Contemplating the Next Century (IV)' was purchased by the Christchurch City Council in 2002, to commemorate the declaration of Christchurch as a Peace City. The mandala which can be seen hanging in the Mayor's lounge, at the Council offices on Tuam Street, was designed and made by Vivienne Mountfort and Maeve Harrison.
Constructed from a colourful array of fabrics the mandala was designed in August 2000 to focus people's attention on some of the issues that our city, and the whole world, will face during the next century, and it features sections on the depletion of the rainforest, global warming, genetic engineering, nuclear issues, racism and discord.
Peace Mandala
A Mandala for Contemplating the Next Century (IV)' was purchased by the Christchurch City Council in 2002, to commemorate the declaration of Christchurch as a Peace City. The mandala which can be seen hanging in the Mayor's lounge, at the Council offices on Tuam Street, was designed and made by Vivienne Mountfort and Maeve Harrison.
Constructed from a colourful array of fabrics the mandala was designed in August 2000 to focus people's attention on some of the issues that our city, and the whole world, will face during the next century, and it features sections on the depletion of the rainforest, global warming, genetic engineering, nuclear issues, racism and discord.
Peace Awards
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Christchurch being declared a Nuclear Weapons-Free city, Mayor Garry Moore presented Peace Awards to the following Peace campaigners on December 3rd 2002, to recognise their constant commitment to peace in our city:
- Harold J Evans, LLM., QSO
- Lawrence F J Ross, QSM
- Mia Tay
- Reverend Maurice Manawaroa Gray MZNM
- Sumner Peace Group (15)
- Patricia Morrison
- The Christian Pacifist Society (15)
- Dr Neil James Cherry, ONZM
These Peace Award presentations were the first made for Christchurch. Future awards will be presented to people who are actively committed to promoting peace when considered appropriate.
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Peace Park
A resolution has been made by the Council, to find a suitable site in Christchurch for a Peace Park. The initial site proposed for the Peace Park was in the Christchurch central city, as part of the development of the Turners and Growers site (a block on the eastern side of the central city), however a decision on whether or not a Peace Park will be included in the development, will be largely dependent on the proposals received for the site from local developers.
Camphor Tree
A small Camphor Tree, raised from the seed of one of the trees which survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, was gifted to the city by the Mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Itoh during a visit to Christchurch. This camphor tree is being nurtured by the Council's Nursery Staff, until such time as a site has been confirmed for the city's new Peace Park.
Cuttings from this tree have been propagated and 2 of these were gifted to Auckland and Wellington cities as a thank you for hosting the Hiroshima Nagasaki A-bomb Exhibition in 2003.
Trees have also been given to the Southern Wairarapa and Palmerston North and one was planted in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens in Sept 2007 by the then Deputy Mayor of Chrischurch, Carole Evans.
Peace Bell
Christchurch city is now ringing to the sound of a world peace bell.
The World Peace Bell Association of Japan donated this bell to New Zealand and it is now located in Christchurch’s world renowned Botanic Gardens. This project took over 2 years of planning and fundraising to get to the point where we could commission and build the pavilion. The World Peace Bell Association of Tokyo gifted New Zealand’s peace bell to Christchurch seeing as Christchurch was New Zealand’s first Peace City.
The Bell and its stunning pavilion were unveiled by Mayor of Christchurch, Garry Moore and Keizo Ohashi, a Director of the World Peace Bell Association, Japan on 3 October 2006
Read the full report of the project from its conception to its unveiling. (PDF, 621KB)
Since the pavilion was unveiled Ngai Tahu, the indigenous people of the Christchurch/Otautahi region, donated a piece of pounamu/greenstone which was blessed and named Ira Atua Tane (which is the masculine life force of the Divine) . Thanks to a significant financial contribution made to the Chapter by Mark Dacombe and Alison Dalzeil in celebration of their wedding in 2006 (click here for photo), the Chapter was able to have the pounamu sculpted into a pyramid shape and, along with some black granite, placed into the reflection pond beneath the bell. (click here for photo)
In 2007 the pavilion received 4 significant awards:
New Zealand Concrete Society Award for Landscape (2007)
NZIA Resene Local Award for Architecture for the Community and Cultural category (2007)
NZIA Resene Colour Award
and
New Zealand BEST Design’s Silver Award for Public and Institutional Spaces.
These awards are fine testament to the brilliant skills of its designer, Crispin Schurr, Architect at the Christchurch City Council. (click here for photo).
Peace Studies at the University of Canterbury
The Stage I course in Peace Studies which ran at the University of Canterbury until 2006 has now ended. A new Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies is being established at the University of Otago in 2008.
Oral Archives
In 2003 a small group began to collect oral histories of peace people associated with Christchurch to put into the Macmillan Brown Library.
Funding from the Peace and Disarmament Education Trust was used to pay for these stories to be taped and transcribed. Some of the interviewees were recipients of the inaugural peace awards and include the late Colin Ayres, Sue Taylor and Richard Thompson; June Stroud, Mary Baker, Pauline Tangiora, Larry Ross, Jack Rogers, Murray Horton, Jim Chapple, Norman and Betty Roberts, George and Jocelyn Armstrong, Mary Woodward, Connie Summers, Bunny McDiarmid and Kate Dewes.
Excerpts from these interviews have been used for two Radio New Zealand programmes - one in 2004 to highlight the 20th anniversary of New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy and another in 2005 to mark the 20th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by the French government.
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Peace Films
Some women involved in the oral archive collection were so inspired by the stories of the peace people that they decided to make film.
‘Tau Te Mauri – Breath of Peace’ means ‘to settle the mauri, to breathe peace into the world’. It is a unique documentary featuring stories of 8 well known New Zealand peace campaigners including four from Christchurch – Jack Rogers, Mary Woodward, Moana Cole and Kate Dewes. It also includes natural history footage and contemporary Maori music – waiata and taonga puoro (traditional musical instruments).
The movie is 72 minutes long and has received both national international recognition. Kathleen Gallagher and Ruth Greenaway were awarded the Sonja Davies Peace Award by Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, at a function at Government House on 10 November 2004.
For a DVD or Video copy of this film click here: www.wickcandle.co.nz.
A second documentary film ‘Peaceful Pacific’, also produced by Wickcandle Film originated with the arrival in Christchurch of people from throughout the Pacific for a conference called “Securing a Peaceful Pacific” hosted by the University of Canterbury in 2004.
This film features some of the people who attended the conference; some speaking in session but most speaking in interviews out of session, about their experiences of war, peace and conflict resolution throughout the Pacific over the last 20 years. Pauline Tangiora and Heeni Philips call up each area of the discussion with karanga and Mike Coughlan paints the word on paper.
‘Peaceful Pacific’ was selected for the first Indigenous Peoples’ Film Festival held in Wairoa in 2005.
Peace Archives
RRepresentatives from the Macmillan Brown Library, Canterbury Public Library and the Canterbury Museum agreed in 2004 to house peace movement papers and magazine collections at the Macmillan Brown Library along with audio tape and video interviews/programmes which feature peace people. The banners, posters, badges, paintings, stickers, T-shirts, stamps and other similar material will go to the Museum. The Canterbury Public Library has established a large collection of peace books .
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Nagasaki Sculpture
Barbara August of the Christchurch City Council and Dr Kate Dewes of the Peace Foundation Disarmament and Security Centre co-ordinated a project to gift a sculpture from the people of New Zealand to the people of Nagasaki to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. The money for the sculpture was raised from donations from the Government and the cities of Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Napier, Waitakere and Whakatane. Other donors who assisted with transportation of both the sculptor and sculpture to Nagasaki were Air New Zealand and DHL.
Submissions were sought from 10 artists from throughout New Zealand for the sculpture and the winning proposal (PDF, 696KB) was from well known Wellington sculptor, Kingsley Baird. The sculpture was manufactured in Dannevirke under the guidance of Kingsley and shipped to Nagasaki from Napier.
The sculpture was transported to Nagasaki in September and unveiled by the Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, the Hon Phil Goff on 21 October 2006. The hour long ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Nagasaki, city officials and many hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors). Thirteen New Zealanders participated, along with the Hon Phil Goff, including the Minister’s Trade, Defence and Media advisors, Ambassador John McArthur and others from the Tokyo Mission, the artist Kingsley Baird, Barbara August and Dr Kate Dewes representing Christchurch, a representative of Whakatane, Alyn Ware of the Peace Foundation and others. The Minister gave a short speech and the Ambassador read part of a letter from Reverend Maurice Gray about the meaning and significance of Ngai Tahu’s gift of pounamu. Maori protocol was respected throughout the ceremony. The Minister suggested that kowhai trees be planted near the sculpture to show visitors what the flower looks like. The seeds for the kowhai trees have been sent to the Ambassador who is taking a personal interest in ensuring that trees are planted near the site in the future.
During the ceremony Barbara and Kate placed a substantial piece of pounamu, taken from a larger block which was gifted and blessed by Ngai Tahu, under the commemorative plaque. Another piece is to be placed under the World Peace Bell which was unveiled in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens on 3 October 2006. Further pieces are to be gifted to the World Peace Bell Association of Tokyo, who gifted the Peace Bell to New Zealand, and to the Christchurch Chapter of the World Peace Bell Association who raised the funds to build the structure for the bell. This pounamu links New Zealand and Japan in peace. |
