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!