U.N. peace group

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 26

U.N. peace group

Playing a major role at the Peace and Peoples Day this Sunday, February 16, is the United Nations International Year of Peace Committee. The committee will run stalls on the day which will provide information on the International Year of Peace, and the peace defence review. A post office will be set up where letters to overseas leaders such as President Reagan and Mr Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, can be written to, stressing the need for disarmament and peace. Large pieces of calico will be available to write such messages of peace on. A large tower of bamboo will be provided by the committee, where representations of weapons and war will be hung. Towards the end of the dayigthis tower will be pulled down as a symbolic

protest against war, especially nuclear war. Balloons and face-paint-ing should prove very popular with younger children. The committee also hope to exhibit David Robie’s famous photographs of the Rainbow Warrior’s part in helping to evacuate 300 people from Rongelap. "We still don’t know if this will be possible because we don’t want to damage the photographs in the heat if it is a hot day. But we’re trying our hardest to work some way around it,” said Mr Warren Thomson, one of the committee members. The committee hope to look at areas such as community violence, and peace and anti-nuclear issues this year. They will do this by running public seminars and visiting neighbourhood grows to talk on the issue of peace.