In 1982, the United Nations General Assembly declared, in a resolution sponsored by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, the International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, to be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace. The date initially chosen was the regular opening day of the annual sessions of the General Assembly, the third Tuesday of September. This was changed in 2001 to the current annual celebration—September 21.
To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters in New York City. The bell was cast from coins donated by children around the world, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as “a reminder of the human cost of war”; the inscription on its side reads, “Long live absolute world peace.”
In 2017, the theme is “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All.”
The theme honors the spirit of TOGETHER, a global initiative that promotes respect, safety, and dignity for everyone forced to flee their homes in search of a better life. TOGETHER unites the organizations of the United Nations System, the 193 Member States of the United Nations, the private sector, civil society, academic institutions, and individual citizens in a global partnership in support of diversity, non-discrimination, and acceptance of refugees and migrants. It was initiated during the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants on September 19, 2016.
“In times of insecurity, communities that look different become convenient scapegoats,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres when it was launched. “We must resist cynical efforts to divide communities and portray neighbors as ‘the other.’ Discrimination diminishes us all. It prevents people—and societies—from achieving their full potential.” He added, “Together, let us stand up against bigotry and for human rights. Together, let us build bridges. Together, let us transform fear into hope.”
In honor of World Peace Day, we offer Curtis Zahn’s “Antiwarwoman” from Poets of Today: A New American Anthology, edited by Walter Lowenfels (New York: International Publishers, 1964). Poet and playwright Curtis Zahn (1912-1990) was raised in Southern California and briefly attended the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State College (now University), and the Williams Institute and School of Authorship in Berkeley.
He served as a seaman on an oceanography expedition in 1938 and parlayed that experience into writing a fish and game column for the San Diego Tribune-Sun. He served at that paper throughout World War II, except for one year during which he was incarcerated in a federal penitentiary for declaring himself a conscientious objector to the war. He wrote short stories and experimental theatre and established the Pacificus Foundation to assist new writers.
Antiwarwoman
She made the skies with eyes like
Two or three wounded doves
And in a delicate mourn for peace
Forgave them their wars
While the Generals, late for their Martinis & Olives
And, I suppose, destiny
Clicked shut their minds, their brief
Cases, and called
For Cadillacs;
Their famed, buttonpushing fingers
Concealed at all times
From the wistful soil of public gaze
By immaculate gloves.
And she counted the stars
Lately to be subdivided by Nucleotheorists
With their perplexed mathematics of some
Simply smashing plan
For the abolition of hunger, poverty, and world itself
While nibbling an O’Henry bar
Meant for some oriental child.
And now also unsure of her warmth & clothing
In that muscular affluence of cost-plus unity
She put her placard aside
And went into the restroom where unsegregated women
Sat alongside
The bewildered constituents of Democracy.
Article adapted from Wikipedia and the United Nations. An earlier version of this article was published in PW on September 21, 2015.
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