This year we are moving online for the ANZAC Day peace events, and this note has the details of how you can participate in a range of activities – pictures, posters, photos and poetry for peace, and the ANZAC Day virtual peace vigil – as well as information about the 2020 White Poppies for Peace annual appeal, and the forthcoming release of the 2019 global military spending figures.
The relevance of the key message of the nationwide ANZAC Day peace vigils – ‘honour the war dead by ending war’ – seems more apparent this year than ever before. The absurd folly of military spending and endless preparation for war is highlighted as the death toll from COVID-19 continues to rise. Health systems and social welfare around the world are under siege due to decades of inadequate funding, while military spending continues to increase in all states that maintain combat ready armed forces, including New Zealand.This year’s ANZAC Day virtual peace activities are an opportunity for you to share your hope and dreams for a better world, or your thoughts on one or more of the themes of the annual peace vigils: to remember all the casualties of war, to remember all who resisted war, to call for an end to war, and to promote peace. If you are homeschooling in your bubble, this is a perfect opportunity to add creative peace activities into the curriculum over this week.
Read more about this here.