Chronicle Live - Hari's Peace

Peace walk planned for the spring

2009-02-10T15:43:52Z

Now that the momentum is gathering, I am pleased to write about another event for the City for Peace Initiative which is being planned in spring this year.

That is the Peace Walk. It is hoped that people from all backgrounds are expected to take part in the walk. The details about the event are being sorted out.

This is the first time such an event is being organised in Newcastle.

The aim is to bring people from all communities and organisations together in order to establish lines of communication and friendship among the citizens of Newcastle.

I am extremely pleased to see that in spite of the fact that the world is in turmoil, people in Newcastle have continued to work towards maintaining peace in the city and the Region.

However, it is important to remember that Peace has to be created.

It does not happen automatically. It demands a sacrifice on the part of every individual. It demands sacrifice in terms of time, effort and finance.

Our experience suggests that it is possible to create a successful city for Peace but it needs the backing of all people.

We look forwards to working with caring people in the city.

People shouldn't just treat Newcastle like a hotel

2009-01-12T11:48:52Z

Once again it gives me great pleasure in writing a message about Newcastle City for Peace initiative.

As more and more groups and organisations are becoming involved in the initiative, it is important that understanding what this initiative is all about and why we need it more than ever before.

Newcastle is described as a global village. People from 152 countries have made Newcastle their home.

Therefore it is our responsibility to create space for everyone so that all live in peace and develop a sense of belongingness.

The first requirement for all of us is to regard our city as our home. There are many who treat it as a hotel.

That means when we go on holiday we stay in a hotel whilst we stay there we don't worry about the place and if there is something wrong we will not bother about it, thinking that it is not our responsibility.

So when we live in a city, we accept it as our home and we should concern ourselves for everything that happens in the city.

We need to establish 'new city order'. In order to achieve that, we need to develop discipline in life.

A disciplined city is aware of the obstacles that exist among the people. These obstacles should be discussed in the open and support of the general public should be mobilised to tackle these problems.

At a time of recession, it is more important that all citizens come forward to play their part, however small it may be to encourage people to share with those who need help.

Every effort should be made to help individuals to bring out the best and help them to put it to better use in the benefit of all.

Dialogue is a key to making people understand how people from different sections of our community feels.

Efforts should be made to develop lines of communication with all people. As we progress through the year we hope to walk towards creating "a new city order".

It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness

2008-12-25T11:15:55Z

In order to be peaceful, one needs to be at peace with oneself.

It means to think about being peaceful, it means that you have to be able to describe it in words and action.

Peace stabilizes, peace harmonizes and gently quiets us.

Peace lays the foundation to achieve transformation of consciousness.

Peace is also freedom- freedom from the burden of negativity. We need to let peace find its home within us.

It is necessary to create enthusiasm for the future and to have a more positive view of the present reality. In this way to promote peace.

So it is better to light one candle than curse the darkness.

I'm privileged to write about City for Peace

2008-12-18T09:30:55Z

It is my privilege to write about Newcastle City for Peace.

The initiative is so very relevant to Newcastle and the UK as we see that every stop we take in our city makes a difference to the world situation when people work together for the welfare of all people, they get strength and confidence living together as one community.

The initiative also encourages people the other parts of the country to take similar steps in creating peace.

In order to make this initiative work we need to create a detailed and full programme to explain to people how individuals can get involved and participate in the programme.

We had hundreds of people at a City for Peace event

2008-12-12T10:54:55Z

Following on from my last post, I would like to describe one such event that the BME friends of the N.S.P.C.C organised in consideration of Moorside Community Primary School on Saturday 29th November from 10.00am to 3.00pm.

There are 42 languages spoken in the school.

The multicultural event was organised to celebrate declaration Newcastle as a city of peace.

The event was attended by more than 200 parents and children from all backgrounds. It was very encouraging to see that a large number of newcomers, refugees and the Asylum seekers were present.

They participated in the event with great interest and helped us in organising various activities.

It was a lovely sight to see children from all backgrounds, colour, religion and traditions playing together.

All those attended the function learnt a great deal about people and they said they would support future events.

We're starting to gain momentum!

2008-12-10T08:54:55Z

Newcastle City for Peace has started to gain momentum.

Institutions and organisations have started to think of ways of building bridges between individuals and groups.

When all those efforts are going, it is important to look at some of the obstacles that need to be removed in order to achieve peace.

The first hurdle we need to tackle is to remove ignorance. People from most parts of the world have made Newcastle their home.

The people have brought with them their traditions, cultures and values with them.

As we know each culture is rich and it is vitally important for the people of Newcastle to share their values with one another.

We need to group every opportunity that we can think of bringing people together.

If people are going to change, I'll need to as well

2008-11-25T09:17:46Z

It is my privilege to write again about Newcastle City for Peace initiative.

Peace comes when the world changes. The world changes when people who live in the world change.

We all want people to change so that we have harmony and peace in the world. I agree that people need to change.

But before we think of any aspect to change people, this change should come with myself first.

Therefore I should start with myself. It is only when I change and give up bitterness, I begin to love people and admire them.

Therefore the change should begin with individuals, before we think of changing the world.

At a time when there is crisis in the world market, it is difficult to think in terms of people when his or her mind is occupied with the economic problems of the world.

I'll talk more about this tomorrow.

Hari.

We've made great progress so far

2008-11-19T09:02:43Z

I am very pleased to write about Newcastle City for Peace initiative. Since declaration in July a great deal of progress has been made. As people and organisations learn about the declaration they write in it to express their wish to be included in the programme.

As I have written earlier, the peace initiative is for all. Everyone can play his role because everyone has capacity and ability to contribute to the programme, however small it may be.

So before we embark on the road to achieving peace, we need to understand the issues that are very much on the minds of people.

There are many issues including poverty, unemployment, need for greater support and motivation to young people, and citizenship.

These issues are of a serious as well as complex nature. Therefore the total community we need to get together and take responsibility.

There are conflicts in our community an we need to resolve them by developing the quality of our lives as members of the city community.

We need to recognise and know the need for collective responsibility that make society more than an aggregate of individuals.

Our children experience a culture of violence and no society can allow this and survive.

This first step is to develop dialogue with a view to achieving two objects: one to establish contact between people and second to look at needs of our city together.

Newcastle is a very welcoming city and people have a genuine concern for the well being of its people.

Let us develop a sense of sacrifice and relieve people of pains and misery they experience so that we can have peace in our City.

The Hindu Temple helped the initiative

2008-10-13T12:22:45Z

The Hindu Temple organised a three day event called Shri Laxmi Narayan Mahayagya to pray for peace, prosperity, unity and happiness for the people of our country and the world.

The event was linked with the celebration of declaration Newcastle City for Peace.

On the last day Sunday the 14th of September was devoted to the Interfaith Service. The service, unique in many ways, was led by Bishop Martin, Bishop of Newcastle.

Leaders from all the main faiths participated and recited a prayer from their respective scripture. The service was attended by some 70 leaders including General Sir Richard Dannatt the chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Lord Lieutenant Mr Nigel Sherlock, Sheriff of Newcastle Councillor Cookson, Deputy Leader of City Council Councillor David Faulkaner, Vice Chancellor of Newcastle University Professor Chris Brink, Miss Nichola Reasbeck, Chief Crown Prosecution of Northumbria and many others.

The Hindu Temple on the conclusion of the service, acknowledged contribution made by the leaders to the region and the country and bestowed honour upon them by presenting a momento.

The event was attended by some 1000 people over the period of three days. This was the first major event to celebrate Newcastle city for peace. I will continue to inform you about future developments.

Success for City for Peace campaign

2008-09-17T16:09:52Z

I am very pleased to write that since the declaration of Newcastle City for Peace, the initiative has started to gain momentum.

A large number of organisations would like to get involved by organising social, cultural and religious events.

Schools have started to put ideas together and organise activities for children to gain greater understanding about the world and its people.

Newcastle is truly a multi racial society and there are people from many countries who live in Newcastle. Therefore there is plenty of resource material available for schools to introduce and develop the concept of unity in diversity.

I have had discussions with Newcastle and Northumbria Universities. I am greatly pleased with the response I have had from the leadership. I have been meeting representatives of the students union to discuss possibilities of organising events in Autumn.

Leaders of the Faith Communities under the leadership of Bishop Martin have already started to discuss various activities they would like to organise in November/December time

The Newcastle City for Peace date is getting closer

2008-07-07T13:53:20Z

As the date of the declaration of Newcastle as a City for Peace draws nearer, I would like to share some of my views about this initiative.

This initiative is not only for large and small institutions as well as organisations but it is for all individuals, irrespective of their backgrounds, cultures or traditions.

As we know all individuals have something to contribute to the well being of the people of the city. The starting point for all of us is to treat our city the way we treat our home.

As we make sure that every member of our family who lives in our house, feels comfortable and all her/his needs are properly met, in the same we need to work towards making sure that all inhabitants of our city live comfortably and happily. In order to do this we need to understand what the needs of the people are.

We need to understand people's economic, social and cultural needs. We then find out what is being done about meeting those needs.

We should join hands with those who are involved with various activities and support them. Sometimes there is a tendency on the part of some people who have responsibility for taking necessary action to leave everything to them. Instead of that we need to think how we can support them in order to make their job easier.

The next thing we need to remember is to acknowledge work done by individuals and organisations and we need to say 'thank you' to them. We often take things for granted.

Peace in the city needs to be created. It does not happen automatically. We need to begin by building bridges first with our next door neighbours. We need to get to know them properly and need to take interest in their lives. We need to share our sorrow as well as joy with one another.

We need to be ready to extend our helping hand to them as and when necessary. We need to extend our friendship to people who live in our street and neighbourhood.

Gradually extend this friendship to all parts of our city. The result will be that we begin to think and regard everyone as part of one big family. I am convinced it can be done with sincere effort, determination and conviction.

There are so many myths about a multicultural society

2008-07-04T09:01:05Z

During the course of my work for the last thirty years I had to dispel many myths that floated around.

A large number of people truly believed those myths and as a result their attitude towards our multicultural society hardened.

I recall one occasion, we organized a meeting for young people from all communities. We had very useful session.

After the session we were having general discussion with some of the participants. A group of four young people started to make comments about the state of multicultural society.

They had heard about certain myths such as, "these people have taken over jobs," "they should go back to their country". I saw that one of the boys in their group was a young person from Afrocarribean background.

When I said that you want everyone from the BME communities to leave this country. What about that young man? I pointed at the young man of the Afrocaribbean background, all three said that they did not include him, he was our friend.

So that shows that people get carried away without really understanding the issues. As time passed, people began to acquire real understanding about our community.

We now agree that multicultural society is an asset and not a liability.

Police and youngsters can work together

2008-07-01T08:46:56Z

I recall another interesting event. In 1985 we decided to organise a weekend camp for young people and police officers.

We invited 8 police officers from the Northumbria Police and 8 officers from the Yorkshire Police Authority. They were all from Sheffield. We also invited 8 young people from the BME communities from Tyne & Wear as well as Sheffield. Both groups had included girls.

The venue was Derbyshire, Youth Camp. We arrived there in the late afternoon. After supper we brought everyone together and discussed the programme with them. We noticed that Police Officers from the Northumbria Police sat together, the BME group sat in another corner. The Sheffield groups separately. We didn't mind.

On Saturday after breakfast, we sat then off to four different activities which were canoeing, rock climbing, archery and full walking. Each group had to participate in all four activities.

At about 10 o'clock we went round to see how they were doing. We saw they were communicating with one another. In the afternoon they were all working as a team and helping one another. We saw the Asian girls who had never taken part in activities of those types were actively taking part. These girls tried rock climbing with the support of the other friends.

After supper we brought them together and saw that they had mixed up quite well.

On Sunday we set them off to take part in group activities. They came back and had lunch. After lunch we had the planning session. We invited comments from the participants.

One young woman police officer said that they were happy about the programme but she said she learnt something which was very important. She realised that young people are young people. They are all capable of reaching great heights provided they were given the opportunity. This weekend had been a great lesson for all of them. They went home making friends. Many of them maintained contacts with one another.

This stay highlights the fact that if a young person irrespective of his/her background or culture is given an opportunity to progress, he/she will definitely achieve success.

Trust between all communities is key

2008-06-27T11:00:11Z

From 1974 to 1994 I had established strong links with the European cities and had great opportunities of sharing ideas with one another.

I recall my visit to Meinheim. We were invited to share some of our experiences with the race workers there. We spent five days there.

Our programme included meeting key people in the city. One of our meetings was with the Mayor of the city. We have a very interesting discussion with him. He was very much interested in finding our how we work with faith communities.

I explained how we had established trust between all the faith communities. He said that there was going to be a council meeting that evening as they were going to decide whether permission should be given to the members of the Turkish community to build a mosque in the city.

He asked me to speak to the council members for about half an hour. I was delighted to accept his invitation. The mayor introduced me to the Council and asked me to speak.

I gave detailed information about our relationships with the Newcastle Mosque and how we all worked together at all times. After my talk members asked me few questions.

After that they continued they continued with their agenda. When the item about the Mosque came the Mayor said that there was so much to learn from the Newcastle experience.

The debate took place and at the end members voted. The decision to approve permission for the Mosque.

There were a large number of Turkish people sitting in the balcony. They came out and hugged us and thanked us for their support. They persisted me with the model of their mosque. I was very pleased that we were able to help them.

Small steps will get us there

2008-06-26T07:01:03Z

The initiative 'Newcastle City for Peace' will provide every member of the city with an opportunity of making useful contributions.

Sometimes people think in terms of big projects which are important. But every small step counts.

We need to create peace. It does not happen automatically. The process involves bridge building between individuals between organizations and between neighbourhoods.

In order to provide opportunity to people of faiths in the Chapel House area, we decided to organize Interfaith Service once a month.

We had the support of the wardens and with the help of the vicar, we held the first service and invited members from the main faiths to recite appropriate prayers from their respective scriptures.

After the service we had refreshments. We were very pleased with the response we had received.

We decided to repeat the service again. We had a reasonably good attendance. As time went on people became used to the service and began to enjoy the occasion.

In 6 months, people became very good friends and whenever they met in the street or at the shopping centre, they stopped and chatted with one another.

We have been organizing Interfaith service for about 4 years and everyone looked forward to meeting one another and learning about different traditions. This idea can be used in different parts of the city to create a service of one community.