Saturday, August 5, 2023, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Lovers Point Beach Cove, Ocean View Blvd., at 17th Street, Pacific Grove, CA
On August 6 and 9, the world will commemorate the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The Monterey County branch of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) invites the public to gather to honor those who suffered and still suffer, from the 1945 bombings. This moving ceremony reaffirms the imperative for global nuclear weapons abolition and prohibition so that such a tragedy is never repeated. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, an explicit and comprehensive international law, went into force on January 22, 2021. As of July 5, 2023, 68 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty. The United States has not yet signed or ratified the treaty. (Read more at ICANW). This free event is respectful, inclusive and free of cultural appropriation.
Program:
Emcee: Beverly Bean, Chair of WILPF Monterey County Branch
Guest Speaker: Dr. Sharat G. Lin, medical physicist and writer/lecturer on global economics
7:00 pm: Lantern making and performance of Monterey’s Taiko Drumming group, Shinsho-Mugen Daiko.
7:45 pm: Music, poetry, and brief stories and messages of hope and peace.
8:15 pm: Launching of the peace lanterns. Tai-Chi Master Jim Scott-Behrends will play meditative music on the Japanese bamboo flute while the peace lanterns affixed to rafts are pulled serenely on the cove waters by kayakers.
Event flyer: Peace-Lantern-2023-flyer
Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/events/edit/168475362895672
Photos from prior years: 2018, 2019, 2021
Sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Monterey County Branch in partnership with the Monterey Peninsula Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Peace Coalition of Monterey County (PCMC), Veterans For Peace, Chapter 46, Monterey Peace and Justice Center (MPJC), and Pacific Grove Adventures, Lovers Point, Pacific Grove, CA.
WILPF is a worldwide organization established in 1915. Our vision is a world of permanent peace built on feminist foundations of freedom, justice, nonviolence, human rights, and equality for all, where people, the planet, and all its other inhabitants coexist and flourish in harmony. The Monterey County Branch works collaboratively and in solidarity all across the WILPF movement, and in partnership with other individuals and organizations who align with our vision.
The Monterey Peace and Justice Center 