maanantai 7. syyskuuta 2015

Peace and love from Finland!




Peace and love from Finland!

Pandin puheenjohtajaEeva-Helena Inomaa (oikella)  ja varapuheenjohtaja Merikukka Kiviharju (vasemmalla) Hiroshimassa 2015


International Meeting
2015 Word Conference against A and H Bombs

Eeva-Helena Inomaa
President
PAND - Artists for Peace
FINLAND

Song: We shall live in Peace (Merikukka Kiviharju, vice-precident of PAND)


The members of our delegation are from an organisation called PAND - The Artists for Peace, P A N D stands for Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament. Our aim is to work for peace, human rights and nuclear free world. Besides of artists our members are from various fields of culture workers wanting to do something for peace.

Finland has committed to work for nuclear disarmament and it is important for us. Finland has been participating many conferences and especially raised the questions about humanitarian aspects and human security.
Finland underlines practical actions and open dialogue between nations about nuclear disarmament. And I really hope that we can also see those practical actions happen, not just in words but in real actions, too. And I also hope that open dialogue open dialogue is so fearless and can be heard everywhere and leads to actions: nuclear disarmament all over the world!

I came to PAND through the story of Sadako. I love the art of origami and when I heard how the paper crane became the symbol of peace, I wanted to tell it to everyone. No more Hiroshima!
So ten years ago I started the project: The Cranes of Peace in PAND. We have had monthly
workshops where I have told the story of Sadako and we have made thousands of cranes.

The workshops are not only for making cranes but also for discussing about the possibility of peace and how to make people work for it. Sometimes we have some visitors, bringing us music, poetry or stories and sometimes our famous peace persons like Helena Kekkonen, our Grand Old Lady for Peace, rewarded by Unesco.
We have had exhibitions of cranes, where we have also sold our works and so raised money for The Red Cross to help the victims of wars.

Every year there is Hiroshima event also in Helsinki and people set candles to the gulf of Töölö and PAND has made the origami cranes "fly" through the center of Helsinki and join the event to honour and remember the victims of Hiroshima.
And now we have created a performance called "The Cranes of Sadako” that we brought here and it will be seen in the workshop: Culture of Anti-nuclear Peace on Wednesday and parts of it some other days.
It includes music, dance and poems. Afterwards we are going to give this performance in our schools with crane workshops and through these tell the children how senseless the wars are.
And that´s how we hopefully get more and more peace workers and peacemakers to join us.

PANDIN Eeva-Helena Inomaa puhuu

2015 Word Conference against A and H Bombs kokouksessa Hiroshimassa


So we remind people how destructive and dangerous nuclear weapons are and especially how important it is to work for nuclear disarmament.

Today, when there are conflicts everywhere in the world and the threat of war is hanging above us, it is more important than ever to take action for peace!

But what happens? It seems that there is more and more armament race everywhere, it has to stop!
Our situation as a neighbour of Russia puts us to special possession and many people think that NATO could bring us security. But in spite of deterrent of war and threats, most people in Finland do not want to join NATO and that´s what PAND thinks, too: no military coalitions!
We don´t want more militarism around us, no soldiers, no weapons, no NATO!

PAND wants to ask you by what kind of weapons do you aim for peace?
We arm ourselves with arts, education and aim for peace. Through music, poetry, acting, dancing, literature and all various arts we can bring hope to despair and overcome fear. And with collaboration we can reach peace, all together!

Thank you!